You likely have noticed the return of ‘enhancement matches’ (or squash matches) to WWE TV as of late. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it means someone on the roster faces a ‘local competitor’. The roster member usually defeats the opponent very quickly (called a squash). The point of these matches are to showcase the talent without having one of your other roster members lose. It also usually makes the person winning look very strong.
In a recent interview with ESPN to promote the WWE section on their website, Triple H spoke about a wide variety of topics. One of these topics was why the WWE has brought back squash matches and what they are designed to do.
Triple H on what enhancement matches are designed to do:
“Enhancement matches on the shows, to me, are designed to get personalities over. It’s designed for one guy to go out there — yeah, he beats up another guy, but what was he doing while he was doing that? He was establishing his moves, so I see what this guy does and see the kind of a style in which he wrestles? But if he just goes out there and just does a few moves with no personality and no charisma, I still don’t care about him. I just know he’s better than the other guy, who didn’t look like he was very good in the first place”(Source: ESPN).
Triple H says they use enhancement matches in order to see different sides of their characters:
“We’re resetting Braun Strowman. We’re resetting who he is, and resetting his character and his personality so that you can learn more about him and feel for him. It’s the same thing with Nia Jax and any of these characters that we do those things with. When I write NXT, I never go, ‘I just need to get so and so a match,’ and give them an enhancement match. It’s not what I want to do. I give it to them so I can see a different part of his personality. If I give [Shinsuke] Nakamura an enhancement match in NXT at this point, it’s so I can get the entertainment side of him out that I can’t get if he’s out there and he’s going to wrestle Samoa Joe. I want to see a different side of him, so I give him something that he can do that different side in and show me that personality” (Source: ESPN).
I personally have been enjoying them. Especially some of the personalities we have seen as the ‘jobbers’… I am looking at you James Ellsworth. Let us know what you think in the comment section below!
I can deal with squash matches up to a point, as long as they don’t continue for months for a character. I really don’t get interested in a character until he/she faces an established wrestler though. They were done with Ryback for months and months before he ever took on anybody that mattered. They’re a waste of time in my opinion.
I thought that is what guys like Fandango, Zack Ryder, and Heath Slater were for.
This is so they build a guy without completely destroying the opinion of a ‘superstar’ already on roster.
Like they already haven’t destroyed Fandango. : D
Whelp…. Time to go to wrestling school and try to be a jobber.
Its just a waste of 10 minutes of Raw, you know when a nobody comes out exactly what type of match its gonna be and its entirely pointless and proves nothing, put them in a match with a low down actual on roster wrestler and entertain the fans for god sake
Not a fan of squash matches. It does nothing for the “superstar”. Let them cut a promo if they want character. They beat jobbers week after week after week then lets say they get into a fued with Sami Zayn, or Cesaro. The “superstar” who was beating jobbers will likely lose his fued against another “superstar”.
Stupid.
Now if you were granting squash matches as tryouts for the squashed, fine. Allow them to display their ring attire, ebtance, personality, gimmick, basic moveset, etc. That would make perfect sense. It’s how you made the 1-2-3 Kid and Jeff Hardy the undisputed kings of cruiserweight in the biz.
Also, giving a squash match to “enhancement talent” as a way to allow them the a taste if the bright lights and sample their reaction and subsequent performance, again, okay. A hometown hero of sorts gets to help fans vicariously live through him their shared dream.
A squash match should never, EVER be “given” to an established roster member, especially in today’s WWE. NXT’s primary purpose is development. If Braun Strowman, Bo Dallas, Nia Jax, or anyone else needs to squash somebody to get over, they’re not ready. If you can’t put together an entertaining match with a viable opponent in the ring with a clean ending while also displaying a character that separates you from the pack, then frankly, you belong in the indies. Not PWG, CZW, or ROH. The indies. Like the regional territories. Somewhere you will be as far removed as possible from TV.
Sorry, HHH but most squashes are boring. Hey maybe they can become the new bathroom breaks instead of women’s matches.
I get squashes are about showcasing and storytelling but overuse is a killer. Watch the old AWA/NWA stuff on ESPN2 sometime. Way too many of their matches were squashes… and boring.
The amount of squashes given to Ryback and Nia Jax is overkill.