How Can WWE Spice Up Unsanctioned Matches? | Question Of The Day

Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!

It was announced last night on WWE Raw that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will have an “unsanctioned match” at Elimination Chamber. While it sounds particularly dangerous, we know that it’s just a No Disqualification match like any other (Street Fight, Donnybrook, No Holds Barred, Extreme Rules, etc).

WWE positions this as a match where people sign over their right to hold WWE accountable for any injuries they suffer during the match, but we also know that not only does that kayfabe idea go out the window the moment anyone could potentially be injured (as should happen; safety first over “protecting the business”), but WWE doesn’t really do anything to make this any different with how the matches are put together.

My question for you today is “How would you spice up the idea of an Unsanctioned Match to make it different than the other variations of No DQ?”

Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.

As far as my answer…

To be honest, even though I pose the question, I cannot think of anything worthwhile for an answer. Falls Count Anywhere, making the win only by pinfall, submission, or passing out, Last Man Standing’s 10-count—all of those elements are already covered.

You can’t not have a referee as they need to be able to relay information. This isn’t I Quit, especially since these tend to end in pinfalls.

Realistically, if there are no rules to stop people from fighting, the referee shouldn’t be able to rule a loser via passing out or do any kind of referee stoppage scenario, but that isn’t something that translates to something the audience can really distinguish.

Maybe the trick isn’t to have something as an obvious difference (a la the different cage types or whatever), but to change the booking philosophy. How about starting this match off with Owens and Zayn immediately doing things that are otherwise illegal that aren’t just grabbing a steel chair or kendo stick? For instance, Owens can low-blow Zayn and then just continue to wail on him way past what would normally be a 5-count, and the referee has to just stand there watching. Keep that going for an uncomfortable amount of time, to the point that the fans think the match is completely going to just be a fist beatdown, and then, after Owens does some grandstanding, Zayn can fight back in similar form?

To be honest, I’m glad this isn’t a term that is used all that often, but I do think it’s pretty awful WWE basically did this twice in a week as Je’Von Evans and Ethan Page had what was basically an unsanctioned match at WWE Vengeance Day. One match in 2021, one in 2023, and then 2 within the same month?

What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!