Hey Scott. Have cherished the BoD for years. Thank you for keeping it up.
Which specialty/gimmick match concepts stick out to you as the most ridiculous? This could be from a suspension-of-disbelief standpoint, legit danger to performers, or just cringe. I don't mean one-offs or match types limited to specialists (e.g., Inferno Match), but ones that inexplicably stuck around for years with different players.
With due acknowledgement to '_____-on-a-poll' and scaffold matches, I'd like to nominate the First Blood match.
First, most First Blood matches have been No DQ.It is hard to believe that most pro wrestlers would struggle to make their opponent bleed almost immediately. Hell, Sonjay Dutt could give Abdullah the Butcher a run for his money – pencil vs. fork!
Second, why not pull a Lanny Poffo and wear a suit of armor or some other protective gear? I recently watched a First Blood match involving Kane with his thick leather mask.. why should that be allowed?
Third, this match type seemed most common during the Attitude Era, when hardcore wrestling was red hot. Seems the least logical period, apart from the incentive that someone was going to bleed (which happened weekly on TV anyway)
What say you?
Yeah I hate First Blood. It's always an exercise in dumb ways to essentially get out of the stipulation. Although the one you cited with Kane was actually a deliberate attempt to put heat on Vince McMahon for putting Steve Austin in a no-win situation like that, so I can forgive that specific instance.
My least favorite, as everyone should probably know by now, is the goddamn STRAP MATCH. Not just because the point of the match is so counterproductive in the first place (who can win a race to touch all four corners first!) but because 99.99% of the matches have the exact same hackneyed finish and no one ever gets over because of them.