Every week we write about WWE Raw, and every week the complaints feel the same. “Another match ended in disqualification. Why can’t any of these matches have decisive endings? Why is everything so 50/50 and wishy-washy? If you can’t book a match to end, why are you booking that match?”
The folks at Moron Ball did the math, and the numbers are depressing. In 52 weeks of Raw in 2014, only 18 episodes had a decisive finish to a main event. The other episodes either ended in DQ or count-out or some other schmozz finish, or they were main-evented by a segment. A contract signing, an announcement, whatever. That’s 34.6%. 34.6% of Raws ended with somebody winning a wrestling match.
Here’s the complete list. *** denotes the clean endings.
Reigns beat Punk***
Usos beat Wyatt & Bryan***
Orton beat Kofi by DQ
Cena/Bryan/Sheamus beat Shield by DQ
Bryan beat Orton***
Cena beat Orton***
Sheamus beat Orton by DQ
Wyatt beat Reigns by DQ
Bryan beat Batista by DQ
Bryan & Show beat Batista & Orton***
Wyatt beat Kofi (not main event)
The Shield beat Real Americans (not main event)
Orton vs Batista in a no contest
Bryan vs HHH in a no contest
Shield vs Raw Roster in 11-on-3 no contest
Cena beat Wyatts by DQ
Reigns vs Orton no contest
Wyatts beat Shield***
Reigns beat Batista by DQ
Cena beat Harper by DQ
Sheamus beat Del Rio (not main event)
Orton vs Reigns never got started
Ambrose/Cena/Reigns beat Wyatts***
Cena beat Kane***
Cena/Reigns/Sheamus beat Orton/Wyatt/Del Rio/Cesaro***
Cena & Reigns beat Kane & Orton by DQ
Cena vs Rollins no contest
Cena/Reigns beat Kane/Orton/Rollins by DQ
Cesaro beat Ambrose by DQ (not main event)
Rollins vs Jericho no contest (not main event)
Slater beat Rollins (not main event)
Orton beat Sheamus (not main event)
Rollins vs Ambrose no contest in falls count anywhere match
Cena/Henry/Show beat Wyatts***
Cena/Reigns/Jericho beat Orton/Kane/Rollins***
Reigns beat Orton by DQ
Reigns beat Rollins (not main event)
Cena beat Orton by DQ
Cena & Ambrose beat Kane & Orton by DQ
Cena beat Orton/Kane/Rollins by DQ
Ambrose beat Cena in contract on a pole***
Kane/Orton/Rollins beat Cena & Ambrose***
Cena beat Rollins by DQ
Rollins beat Orton***
Cena beat Ryback by DQ
Goldust/Stardust/Miz/Mizdow beat Matadores/Usos (not main event)
Cena/Ziggler beat Rollins/Noble/Mercury***
Cena/Ryback/Ziggler beat Rollins/Kane/Harper***
Cena beat Show by DQ
Rollins beat Cena in steel cage match***
Wyatt beat Ambrose in a street fight***
Ascension beat Miz/Mizdow (not main event)
A couple of notes:
1. Cena won 8 of the 18 clean finishes. He lost 3. One was a contact on a pole match, one was a handicap match inside Hell in a Cell where his partner (Dean Ambrose) got pinned, and one was a cage match he lost because of a Brock Lesnar attack. No pinfalls or submissions. If you count the non-finishes, he was 19-3 with one “no contest.”
2. Around WrestleMania, there’s an 11-week stretch with only one real finish. From June until August they went 8 weeks in a row, including 4 straight weeks where the show was main-evented by a segment.
Let’s hope 2015 cracks 40%, at least.
