What are the key parts of Wrestlers' Performances?

[Goodear]

So I was reading through Pro Wrestling Only the other day as I am wont to do when I'm bored and came across a snippet in one of those really long threads about Ric Flair.  Namely, that in a shoot Flair expressed the opinion that if he didn't work in all of his spots (like the much maligned getting thrown off the top rope spot) during the course of the match, that he would send the paying audience home unhappy.  This was because at one point he went to see a show and a guy (either Ray Stevens or Buddy Rogers) didn't do all of his stuff and he found it kind of a drag.

 

I thought this led to an interesting question.  Because I personally don't think that spot was really what made watching Ric Flair unique and I don't think I would have been let down if decided to drop it from a match I paid to see.  But what would let me down?  What are the essential things you have to see from a particular wrestler to really say you got the unique experience?   For some guys, like Jimmy Snuka, it may be their finish.  For some, like The Ultimate Warrior, it may be their entrance. 

 

What do you need to see from a guy to really say you've seen a guy?

[cwoy2j]

 

Namely, that in a shoot Flair expressed the opinion that if he didn't work in all of his spots (like the much maligned getting thrown off the top rope spot) during the course of the match, that he would send the paying audience home unhappy.

 

He kind of has a point here but on the other hand, I don't like it if a guy works in a signature spot just for the sake of working it in. I'd much rather see a good match than guys running through stuff just to get their stuff in. Then again, I guess Flair came up in an era where you weren't wrestling on tv every week so even if he did the same spots every night, it was for a different audience and it wasn't televised to millions of people.

[cwoy2j]

 

What do you need to see from a guy to really say you've seen a guy?

 

I'm really bummed I've never gotten to see Jake the Snake ddt someone. If Jake was on the card and didn't ddt someone, I'd be very disappointed. I also never got to see Sandman do his full-on ECW entrance. He was in WCW the couple of times I got to go to ECW shows in college.

[Matt D]

In general, I've always much preferred to watch wrestlers who have to wrestle in front of the same crowd every week. Does that make sense? Memphis, Portland, CMLL. It's way more interesting to watch those guys because they have to change up their act. We just happen to have the tv for them and they had longish matches. I'm sure some of the other weekly loops back in the day would be just as good, for the same reason but we don't have those. 

[OSJ]

I'm with Matt on this. When a guy has to change things up because he's wrestling in front of the same audience, you're going to get a more interesting set of matches. While Flair-by-the-numbers always guaranteed at least *** even when he was stuck with a total choad it also held him back from having great matches with a number of opponents, leaving what could have been ***** a more pedestrian ****. It seems odd to gripe about a "very good" match, but the fact is that with opponents like Terry Gordy, both guys were capable of a lot more than what was delivered. By dumbing things down to his standard "big man match" and getting all his spots in, Flair did still send the audience home happy, but he COULD have sent them home ecstatic if he'd taken a chance and gone off his own script.

[jstout]

I guess the Flair Flop is a sentimental favorite, but I wouldn't have been mad if I'd seen a Flair match live without the top rope slam thing. I don't think anybody's got a checklist or bingo card of moves wrestlers are supposed to hit.

 

Obviously, if you're so freakin' known for a move that you're associated with it (Jake and the DDT, Flair and the Figure Four), you oughta either hit it or tease hitting it, but that's a no-brainer.

[Web Conn]

I've never seen Flair wrestle live actually the only time I've seen him live was at WM19. I saw the fabled Brock Lesnar Shooting Star Press live that same night so I can lay to rest knowing I saw something in person that will assumingly never be seen again. I also saw Brock dance with a sambaro (sp?) on his head to a live Mariachi band at the Tacoma Dome.

[drshowtime]

This one is super minor but I remember for the third Brock/Trips match when HHH ambushed him before the bell I was let down because I didn't get to see HHH's entrance. I wasnt even there live but that's one of my favorite entrances ever/

 

I personally get disappointed if I see a RVD match and he doesn't point to himself at least six times

[NikoBaltimore]

I'm a fan of a good entrance and like seeing that.  I don't get really disappointed if they don't do that, as long as it leads somewhere.  I'm fine if some moves are not in there, and I like when they do something other than their finisher for the win.  It shows depth.  For the actual match, anymore when I read "get their stuff in" I think of it as egotistical in this day and age.  If you're doing a bunch of matches be it weekly TV or on indy shows, you need to know what to leave in and what to take out.  If you're in a small crowd and you have to do something like a 630 degree splash every match then you need to rethink what you can do.  For Flair I can see his point, but it's a different landscape from now.

[Ultimo Necro]

As long as I can suspend the disbelief of why the 2 guys are fighting.  I mean, plenty of boxers have had 3 or 4 matches against an opponent, but each match is different and both guys look interested to be there.  This is why Memphis worked, Portland etc.  Yeah we had seen Lawler and Dundee a billion times, but they gave us a new reason each time.

 

The worst thing a wrestler can do is phone it in, and plenty of guys do that, particularly on TV level, whether its because they don't feel they are being pushed or whatever. To me, even a thrown together match should be treated like a big deal, but often times its not which I find a shame

 

Its probably also the reason I watch the indies way more, the guys want to be there and generally bust a gut regardless of who their opponent is.

[Goodear]

While I agree that there is something to be said about coming up with unique matches night in and night out, there is also something of value to having some things being the sole domain of a particular character.  When we talk about wrestling as a performance peace, I think the wrestlers are more character actors than anything else.  The Road Warriors should be doing things differently than Demolition and should have things unique to their performance.

 

For example, if I go out to see Jerry Lawler work as a face (which I would know going in) I expect two things almost every time, great punches and the strap coming down.  If I was in Memphis for a week and that was the one week Jerry decided to just put on headlocks, I would disappointed.  If I went to see Ric Flair and he didn't throw a single chop or give me a 'Whoo' I would have to wonder if he broke his hand or had strep throat.  I 'bought a ticket' to see wrestling, but also to see particular wrestlers do their particular acts.

 

I feel as though someone like Buddy Rose who put out great matches with a ton of variety never really became as big as he could have because nothing seemed to have his personal, unique stamp on it.  He was very good in a small setting, but what did he do that was 'classic Buddy Rose?'  I will admit not being a Buddy Rose expert by any means so he very well might have had these things but I hadn't noticed them looking at his stuff.

[Johnny Sorrow]

If I went to see Ric Flair and he didn't throw a single chop or give me a 'Whoo' I would have to wonder if he broke his hand or had strep throat. I 'bought a ticket' to see wrestling, but also to see particular wrestlers do their particular acts.

And that explains Flair's mentality. He was a touring champ. And in the territory days before cable some fans only got to see him once or twice a year. If he didn't put on his full show for them he'd be ripping them off.

[Curt McGirt]

 

 

 Namely, that in a shoot Flair expressed the opinion that if he didn't work in all of his spots (like the much maligned getting thrown off the top rope spot) during the course of the match, that he would send the paying audience home unhappy

 

The fucked-up thing is a lot of this is the basis for much of the WWE we currently watch and pretty much collectively enjoy. 

[LooseCannon]

How relevant to this discussion is Mick Foley's anti-hardcore ECW heel run?

[Parties]

Not to make this entirely about Flair, but most of my favorite Flair matches are the ones where he strayed from his formula. His routine is excellent and served him well, but the matches where he works Wahoo, Bobby Eaton, Ricky Morton, Jake Roberts, Jumbo, etc. are exceptional because you see what's succeeded in the past fused with a hybrid of the other guy's style. I'd even say the '89 Steamboat trilogy has him often working either moves (Wrestlewar) or a pace (Chicago) different from what we expect of him.

 

When I read this thread's name, I had a different reaction and thought it was essentially asking, "What must a wrestler do well?" I immediately thought of selling as the key part of all wrestling performance. It's the thing you typically won't get credit for, but it's the most crucial element of having a good match from the perspective of making an opponent look good. And in the case of many great workers, their selling is as much what you pay to see as anything (Fujiwara and Terry Funk come to mind).

[Jingus]

It's true that the fans come to expect certain things from certain wrestlers.  Jake's DDT is a great example; Austin's Stunner would be another one.  If those guys ever get in the ring and DON'T do those moves, there's a nearly palpable "what the hell?!" feeling from the audience.  (With occasional rare exceptions, like the brilliant talkfest which opened up Wrestlemania 30.)  I once called a juniors scramble match about eight years ago which included a young Ricochet, and on the tape you can actually hear me get pissed off and frustrated when at one point he teases the double moonsault but then gets cut off and never tries it again.  Which is really unfair of me, it's such a stupidly risky move that Ric doesn't even do it anymore, but it was something I'd expected which was promised and then taken back.  

 

While working in front of the same crowd every week can have its advantages, it's also got drawbacks: namely, that guys can get lazy and just figure "it doesn't matter what I do tonight anyway, the people are coming back next week no matter what".  For every brilliant Jerry Lawler epic brawl, there's probably quite a few throwaway five-minute episodes where the King damn near sleepwalks through the match and maybe doesn't even take a single bump, stall stall stall punch punch stall stall before finally going to some cheap-ass feet-on-the-ropes or DQ finish which does nobody any favors and makes everyone from the wrestlers to the booker to the company in general look like shit.