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Hello everyone!
With the Boneyard "Match" and the Firefly Fun House "Match" from WrestleMania gathering quite a number of divisive feedback from the CAGEMATCH inmates, I thought it would be necessary to make a comment to present the team's point of view. There was actually a debate going on behind the scenes, whether these matches (especially the FFH one between John Cena and The Fiend) would qualify at all for being on the card or for a matchguide entry. There were arguments for and against, quite similar to the arguments thrown at both events in the comments of their matchguide entries.
Three days ago, the wrestling world only had "The Final Deletion" as a cinematch and as it was a unique experience, we never really questioned its existence or its matchguide entry. Now that WWE has seemingly realized how it could make money off of older stars that are too broken down for regular matches (or wrestlers not good enough ^^), we as a wrestling community may actually be on the verge of something of a revolution in the industry. Lucha Underground was too small to really do it and "The Final Deletion" was done during a time when TNA was dying a slow and painful death. But WWE is on top of the industry in regards to money and fame, therefore these cinematches may actually become something that will happen quite a lot more in the future; naturally, up until the point where it is no longer unique or special (see HIAC, Elimination Chamber or even TLC matches). Anyway, we at CAGEMATCH will figure it out over time and will likely discuss these types of events each time, whether it is worthy of being put on a wrestling event card and whether a matchguide entry is something that fits.
For now, after long discussion, we decided to keep both the Boneyard and the Firefly Fun House "matches" indeed as matches, both on the card and as matchguide entries. They did not have a referee or a bell, usually required qualifiers for being regarded matches. However, WWE through their official website and show reports regards both of them as matches, therefore in this early stage of "cinematches and how to handle them" we think that following the promotion's official ruling is the best way to go. Again, we will probably revisit and review this type of handling if and when cinematches become more prevalent -- especially if other promotions start to follow suit (as they usually do) and the line between wrestling matches and movies is blurred even further.
One more thing: At this point we are very understanding regarding the rating given by most inmates for the matchguide entries. Both 10s and 0s and anything in between are not under observation, even if the 0 was given with a "not a match"-type reason. However, I see quite a lot of attacks happening in these entries, both sides calling each other idiots or people bringing AEW or NJPW into the discussion for no reason. As per our official ratings system rules, this is absolutely not allowed and we will hand out warnings for everyone not focussing on the matchguide entry and engaging in embarassing pissing contests to feel better about themselves. And, also as per usual, trolls coming from under their bridges to rate only the popular entries without following the rules are going to get warned or banned as well.
Also, we should all start using "cinematch" as a term. ;-)