This is one of my biggest pet peeves EVER.
In the context of the match, wrestling is real, and HHH does not know how he is going to eventually beat Benoit. He works the leg to break him down, but should he not go for the Pedigree for the victory because leg work will be wasted? Hardly. You do what you can in the beginning to break down your opponent. It may win you the match, it may not. If every match that started with legwork ended in a leg submission, that would get quite repetetive wouldn't it?
I'll put it to you this way. You want to get a girl to go out with you, so you send her chocolate and flowers and cards and talk to her friends to talk you up, but in the end you just use some sweet talk and she says yes. Was everything before that a waste? Not in the least, because you didn't know what it would take to get her to say yes.
You need to explain to me why it's a waste to use legwork/armwork and not end with something that has to do with that. Please tell me.
You are 100% correct.