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!