by Daniel Johnson
Gail Kim vs. Candice LaRae
This match from Big Time Wrestling (BTW) isn’t particularly impressive. Despite being a decent indie with a good size crowd the commentators spend much of the match talking about a Bret Hart appearance rather than the in-ring action. Yet, it is still better than about 75 percent of the women’s matches that will be in WWE and TNA this year. Why is that? Part of it has to do with time allotment.
This bout is about ten minutes long and has some decent spots such as Gail Kim hitting a lucha libre armdrag off the top ropes. But how long is ten minutes really? It certainly isn’t enough time to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop and for many it isn’t enough time to tell a complete story in the ring. Sure, there are plenty of exceptions. Just look up Owen Hart/1-2-3 Kid from King of the Ring 1994. Yet, not everyone can bust it out in about 5 minutes like Hart and Waltman could. To make a short match stand out takes talent and to get to that Hart/Waltman level years of finesse. If female wrestlers were given some decent time in the big leagues to work who knows what they could grow into. Of course not everyone would like to see this take place on a program like Raw, but isn’t that what NXT is for?
[...] bout is short, but sweet. Yesterday, I talked about the importance of time allotment and how difficult it is to put on a good match in [...]
[...] A while back I mentioned the difficulty involved in having a sound match without a lot of time to work with. As mentioned this has made women’s wrestling in mainstream American wrestling tough to enjoy since a lot of those women haven’t had time to hone their craft and be able to work short and sound matches. Fortunately, AJPW just posted this match with two women who can certainly work a short and sound match. [...]