WWE: Less is More When Booking Dream Matches

WWE has recently found itself with a great problem to have: dream matches that fans still want to see without any real storylines to them

Within the last few months, WWE has stumbled upon a situation they’re not normally used to: a promotion that houses dream matches. Fantasy booking is a past-time for many WWE fans: what would happen if so and so fought, who would win between so and so. Rarely do these kinds of matches actually play out on TV or on PPV; you’ll likely have more success putting these dream matches together politic-free and without all the red tape on a video game.

WWE’s had a couple of these cross-over era dream matches, most notably Hogan vs The Rock at Wrestlemania X8, and then The Rock vs John Cena ten years later at Wrestlemania XXVIII. Both benefited from having standard WWE soap opera storylines attached to them, the latter having an entire year long build up. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Case in point, the WCW/ECW vs WWE InVasion angle where on paper it seemed like they would have dream matches left and right. In fact, the Wrestlemania 31 Sting vs Triple H match itself managed to be a better Monday Night Wars-centric storyline than the entire InVasion angle.

It was announced that at this year’s upcoming SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar, a month removed from his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200, will face the returning Randy Orton, who has been on the shelf for ten months. The news broke on the Smackdown taping, so it’s tough to know how the crowd in attendance felt initially given WWE’s tendency to edit the show and pipe noise in, but for all intents and purposes, on paper, this is a dream match.

Lesnar and Orton came up through the ranks in OVW, which was the predecessor to FCW, which would eventually become what we know as NXT today. Despite both having tremendous individual singles careers on their own, Lesnar and Orton have only touched twice in WWE: a dark match in 2001, and a match on Smackdown in 2002. In the latter, Brock was already the WWE Champion and essentially the face of WWE in its Ruthless Aggression era, where as Orton was just an up-and-comer breaking onto the main roster. Orton is 0-2 against Lesnar, however, since these encounters over a decade ago, much has changed for both men.

It can be argued that Orton’s rise in WWE during 2004 was single-handedly precipitated by Brock Lesnar’s departure

It can be argued that Orton’s (as well as John Cena’s and Batista’s) rise in WWE during 2004 was single-handedly precipitated by Brock Lesnar’s departure, something that Brock specifically alluded to in his return feud with John Cena back in 2012. Brock left the company after Wrestlemania XX that year, and by SummerSlam a mere five months later, Randy Orton, at the age of 24, became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history.

Orton’s gone on to become a 12 time champion, and headlined two Wrestlemanias (the 25th Anniversary and XXX). He was a central figure in one of WWE’s greatest storylines with Triple H leading up to their Wrestlemania WWE Championship main event in 2009. Brock, the youngest WWE Champion in history; won King of the Ring, the WWE Championship, the Royal Rumble and headlined Wrestlemania XIX all in his rookie year; won the UFC Heavyweight Championship and unified the title by his third fight; returned to WWE and ended the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania XXX. Through all their successes, both men never crossed paths, apart from those early encounters when they were unknown.

More from Brock Lesnar

Interestingly enough, the announcement of Brock vs. Randy was made with little fanfare. Neither man was even present when the news broke on Smackdown. Granted, SummerSlam is still a month out, and the Draft hasn’t even happened yet, but a match of this caliber, you would assume WWE would have built it up. Or, perhaps, just maybe, they don’t need to.

Brock vs. Randy could have a storyline around it, or given what’s happened since Takeover: Dallas, the men involved will sell the match based purely on their respective names and careers. It’s Brock Lesnar. It’s Randy Orton. Truly, as the old saying goes, “it writes itself”, and the match sells itself. This especially works for Lesnar since he doesn’t do much talking anyway, which means it’ll probably be Orton and Paul Heyman dueling on the mic, going over each other’s impressive resumes, but in reality, do they really need to?

you don’t necessarily need a big, drawn out wrestling storyline to get people interested and invested in a match. The marquee example of this is Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Takeover: Dallas proved that you don’t necessarily need a big, drawn out wrestling storyline to get people interested and invested in a match. The marquee example of this is Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. Neither man had ever touched in the ring before their instant classic in Dallas. The match was simply announced and a video package detailing what both competitors had done in their respective careers aired just prior to the match itself, but that was it. There was no real reason for the two of them to fight, and yet, the crowd not only wanted to see it, but the crowd was hot for the entire duration of the match from beginning to end. Without a storyline.

NXT did it again with Nakamura and Austin Aries at Takeover: The End. No storyline, no build up. The match was announced and the fans eagerly awaited for it. Next week, Nakamura will face off against Finn Balor in yet another “dream match”. No storyline, no real build up other than the initial promo, but as was the case in the two previous examples, the fans wanted so badly to see it and could probably care less if there’s a story attached to it. They just want to see Balor and Nakamura fight in the ring.

WWE currently finds itself in a situation where they can simply sell us a match based on the reputations and abilities of the talent themselves

If they wanted to, WWE could have just had AJ Styles vs John Cena without a proper build up or a storyline to go with it. Based on the initial crowd reaction when both men stood together in the same ring for the first time, it was automatic: the fans wanted to see AJ Styles vs John Cena, and they hadn’t even said a word to each other.

WWE currently finds itself in a situation where they don’t have to wrack their brains trying to come up with the most grandiose or epic multiple-month long storyline to fit the personalities of their superstars. They can simply sell us a match based on the reputations and abilities of the talent themselves. Will they come up with a storyline for the inevitable Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles match? Probably. But do they have to? No.

More from Daily DDT

In a way, it’s very UFC-esque. UFC doesn’t have storylines for their fights. The fighters in the fight sell the fight. This of course flies in the face of everything we’ve been trained to come and know from WWE in regards to the presentation of their product. But maybe this is just fine? The writing in WWE has certainly been scrutinized the last couple of years, perhaps this is a great problem for them to have. Simply announce a match and let the fans’ love and appreciation for the competitors drive them to buying a ticket or subscribing to the Network. It’ll allow WWE to focus on some of the other problems they face, such as talent underutilization. Less time hyping up a PPV match with a convoluted in-ring promo or backstage segment to try to advance a story that may be hit-or-miss in favor of more time for others in the roster who the fans haven’t gotten to see or hear from much.

Next: WWE SummerSlam 2016: Brock Lesnar Should Face Kevin Owens Over Randy Orton

Zayn vs. Nakamura. Nakamura vs. Aries. Balor vs. Nakamura. And now Brock vs. Randy. In all instances, fans’ excitement for these matches have happened almost instantaneously and organically, and the best part is, WWE didn’t have to do a lot of work other than make the match. With the incredible amount of talent they have on their roster right now, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if many of their big time money making matches in the immediate future were booked like this, especially the much-discussed John Cena vs. Undertaker match that is almost but a guarantee.

Home/Brock Lesnar