The Professional Wrestler in the World of Sports-Entertainment by Matt Murphy

Author:Matt Murphy [Murphy, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Wrestling, vl-wrestling, Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9781438265490
Google: NFXVQQAACAAJ
Amazon: 1438265492
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2008-08-15T19:21:04+00:00

13

believability

We all remember the moment we learned there really was no Santa Claus. It was a little traumatic, but by then we kind of knew anyway and just needed to hear it said aloud, right? Wrestling fans have that same kind of experience when they learn wrestling is a work. But just like we suspend disbelief in Santa Claus at Christmastime (at least I do, Scrooge), we also do so when watching wrestling, movies, the evening news, and reality television.

Wrestling fans want to believe, even if just for a few precious moments. They want to get wrapped up in the drama. It’s no different than any other form of entertainment. To allow this, wrestling must be presented as legitimate competition and conflict. We have to make it believable.

The first step to lending believability to wrestling is not throwing stiff shots. Wrestling is a work; you are selling imaginary pain as legitimate. If you want to find out how tough you are, yell out, “Selena sucks!” at a Cinco de Mayo parade. Landing a stiff shot on a man who is standing still and letting you hit him does not make you tough. It might impress Internet fans and writers, but when your opponent suffers an injury at your hands, you have not done your job no matter how many fans are on their feet at the end of the match.

What if I wrestled for WWE and I had a chance to work a dark match with you? If you threw a dozen stiff elbows that rattled my brain during the match, I’d think, I have to wrestle four nights every week. I’d be brain-dead in a month working with this idiot. If the Talent Relations rep sees potential in you and asks me what I thought about working with you, I’m going to say you were hard to work with and you might not get a job because of it. It’s nothing personal, but I have a family to feed and I wouldn’t want you around to put that at risk.

Many wrestlers don’t appreciate the long-term effects involved with taking shots to the skull: too many wrestlers rattle each others’ brains with striking blows. Sadly, there will be a lot more brain damage before wrestlers get over this stiff, wannabe-Japanese style. It’s easy to watch Japanese wrestling videos and imitate what you’ve seen, but I’ve worked with a couple Japanese guys whose years of taking stiff shots are evident in their slurred speech and vacant looks.

A good worked shot looks better than a real one, anyway.

The referee should be presented as the figure of authority inside the ring; you should work accordingly. One of the best things WWE has done for the business in recent years is give authority back to the officials (at least when it’s convenient for them). WWE sets the industry standard, and in this case we should all follow suit. Some of the rules they enforce (at least for now) are:

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