Matches that didn't age well

[Guest Brian]

"the match has a TON of near-falls, & that's good enough for me."

 

But that's still against the conceptof the match, where at least two nearfalls should have gone because neither guy should be thinking that they can afford to get hurt in the short run and be fine in the long run . Then again, selling wasn't great.

 

"i think with the dueling headlocks & armbars, they had enough reversals to keep it interesting.  and, unlike trips/rock, the match actually BUILDS as it goes on."

 

IT does? Lost me there. None of the "deuling headlocks or armbars" actually leads anywhere, so what is it building to?  

 

"i'd rather have a slow beginning & a hot ending than a fast beginning with a finish that drags."

 

Yeah, a slow forty minutes and twenty minutes worth of match is the way to go. Face it, they re-started in the last half of the match. Selling prior to that wasn't happening. That's the hot finish. It's two different bodies of match, with no flow in between, no adjoiner. It's just shift, and than forget. This is what I hated most about this match, that pretty much at this point everything went out the window. What's the point of doing tons of wear down moves, and sticking to the mat (though this makes a little more sense because of HBK's style), if you're just going to speed it up at the end?

 

"the bret/hbk iron man match holds up better, first & foremost, because the wrestling itself is beautiful."

 

Yes, the mat work is good. But that doesn't make the match, but is what usually hooks people on to this match.