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I'll try to make my instructions as simple but also as specific as possible.
Where appropriate, I'll include pictures that illustrate the steps.
Who are the Principle Participants?
Participant 1: The Promoter
This is the guy who hires the wrestlers and rents a field house, high school gym, bingo hall or 87,000 seat arena for
your entertainment. It's his job to also make sure plots are written and followed and that every one not named you, gets paid.
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| Vince McMahon is the most successful wrestling promoter of all time |
Participant 2: Wrestlers
Also known as Workers.
Generally you need at least 2 of them acting roles called "Baby Faces" or faces for good guys and "Heels"
acting as bad guys.
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| The Rock was a pretty good "face" |
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| The Undertaker sometimes is a "heel" |
Particpant 3: Marks!
This means you. A "Mark" is the audience.
These are the guys who pay good money to see if the Rock is going to beat the crap out of the Undertaker for trying to
turn him into a Zombie on TV last week. Marks generally don't really know what's going on behind the scenes and the promoters
love it that way. Without the audience, pro-wrestling is just a bunch of grown men rolling around in their underwear, trying
really hard to remember what they are supposed to be mad about.
If you think about it, it sounds like the end of many Thanksgiving family gathering doesn't it?
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| wrestling promoters want to turn this guy... |
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| Into these guys... |
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The Process:
Basically the promoters decides what sort of match needs to be had or a story he'd like to tell. He gathers his workers
and tells them what he wants done and also informs them of who he has decided has to win the match in order to draw the largest
possible dollar value from the crowd.
The workers then have to decide is they like winning or losing. Usually that agree because the promoter is the boss.
Occasionally the promoter isn't the guy who makes the matches. Sometimes a guy called a "Booker" is used in this capacity.
If the workers don't like what the Booker is doing, then they can conspire to get him fired. Wrestling has as much political
back stabbing and butt kissing as the company you work for, only with more back flips and underwear.
If the workers like what the Promoter or Booker is laying out then they have to go to the ring to perform. Once in the
ring, they are largely on their own as to what happens. All the moves are agreed upon by the particpants. Every punch, kick,
toss, splash, or head butt is agreed to. Usually with a series of codes, gestures and signals.
Sometimes a wrestler is not particularly bright and the other wrestler has to yell, "Clothesline!" and hope the fans
don't hear it.
The blood is real but the part where the bleeding starts is pre-arranged and done with a blade.
- The wrestlers are generally not really angry at each other at all.
- If you see it on TV it's probably not real.
- Wrestlers work 250+ days a year and pay for their own travel, clothes and insurance.
- The job of the referee is to tell the wrestlers when the crowd is bored so they pick it up a notch.
Tools and Materials
Because sometimes you need more than a few fat guys and a wrestling zombie.
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| pulling this from your undies and punching a guy with it was very popular in TX |
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| Sometimes climbing a pole for a glove to punch a guy with was popular in TN |
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| The steel chair is a prop as classic as 69 Corvette. May it never go out of style... |
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These are just a few of the many things that can be used in a wrestling match. I have personally seen the following:
Thumbtacks
Staplers
Sledge Hammers (sort of)
Ladders
Caskets
Food (you name it)
Prostetic Legs
Flash Paper (popular in memphis)
Bull Ropes (popular in Florida)
Barbed Wire
A Purse with a Brick in it (Texas)
Electrified Barbwire (Popular in Japan)
Ring Bells
Stop Signs
Childrens Toy Popcorn Lawnmowers
Frying Pans
Cacti (They do crazy stuff in Japan)
Scaffolding
Beer
Milk
A Stop Sign (In Philly. Same company as the popcorn lawnmower)
And I have also seen Santa Claus get beat up more than once...
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