What exactly is telling a story in a match?

[TheAlbionist]

A good match, like any story has a beginning, a middle and an end. The characters start somewhere and through the match end up somewhere else... if a strong enough story is told, they could be entirely reversed with the crowd booing the wrestler they cheered earlier. We learn about their traits, their personal strengths and weaknesses... we learn how much they're willing to bend and break rules, to cheat or to be brave and honest.

Hogan/Warrior that got mentioned above is actually a great example of where two sub-par workers were elevated to a classic piece of sports entertainment by the story being told. Even down to the psychology of Warrior focusing in on Hogans "injury" and obviously the handshake afterwards.

What are people looking for that don't appreciate a story being told? Wouldn't you be just as happy watching a stuntman cowboy show at Disneyland?

A good wrestling match (or perhaps angle) should be like a self-contained martial arts movie.

 

[Shadow]

Look at it like this, when you hear 'story' think 'strategy'. What strategy did the wrestlers have going into the match? And how was the strategy represented during the match?

Examples:

-A big monster heel has been bullying a smaller babyface for months. When it's match time the smaller babyface will try to use his speed to get the advantage, the monster heel will try to use his strength to over power the babyface. Will the heel be able to catch up to the babyface or will the babyface be able to outsmart the heel using speed over strength?

-A tag team match where one team has been arguing for months. 1 member wants to control the match and refuses to tag his partner in. The partner gets upset and tags himself in. The story here is that winning the match as a team isn't the main concern, both men are trying to one up each other. Will the team ever get on the same page? Or will they end up losing the match due to poor team work? The strategy of any tag match is to be on the same page as your partner and win the match, this is the story of that not happening.

-A wrestler has just returned from knee surgery and is in a feud with another wrestler. The first wrestler is trying to protect his knee throughout the match to ensure it doesn't get re-injured. The other wrestler is trying his best to attack the other guy's knee because it's an obvious weak point. Can the first wrestler win the match with such an obvious weakness? Or will the other wrestler win due to using the strategy of going after the injured knee?

Some quick stories/strategies.

Spoiler

-1 wrestler trying to get themselves disqualified to escape fighting an opponent.

-A wrestler trying to hit his finisher but it keeps getting reversed and vice versa.

-A wrestler trying to quickly roll up a wrestler who keeps reversing his finisher.

-A wrestler trying to cheat but keeps getting caught by the referee.

-A tag match and a team is trying to keep one wrestler away from tagging in his partner.

-A high flying wrestler trying to do top rope moves but keeps getting stopped.

-A submission wrestler trying weaken an opponent's body part.

 

[R=G]

Telling a story in a match is The Rock vs Stone Cold WM 17, Eddie vs Brock NWO 04, Savage vs Steamboat WM 3, Savage vs Flair WM 8, Rock vs Hogan WM 18, Bret vs Austin WM 13, Savage vs Warrior WM 7

Some of the ALL TIME best storytold matches. It's what this WRESTLING THING is all about. Its why fans care so MUCH about the feuds and the how they get drawn into the sense of the match. It incorporates a lot of crowd psychology.

 

[MightyHealthy]

One of the GOAT finishes That shot of Austin's bloody face in agony right before he passes out is iconic.

I also want to add on Bret beating up on Austin after the match was a great piece of storytelling too, because it resulted in the double turn for the both of them.

I was a Bret stan. They made me think he went too far and that he lost despite winning, then he went bitter Canadian.

Austin went from annoyingly antagonistic to earning respect to heroic while getting his ass whipped.

I also like when wrestlers call back to previous match spots, reversals, chains, etc.

The development of a fighter, adding to/modifying the repertoire, fighting spirit and the growth or erosion of endurance.

Camradery, great or shockingly bad blends of fighting styles and/or character, mercy or lack thereof.

It's a carny business, but most archetypes and story patterns can occur in the ring.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

To people who enjoy wrestling, it's like a movie, a slow beginning, with a great build and epic culmination. The Bret Hart/Stone Cold match people mentioned is a perfect example. To trolls that don't actually enjoy wrestling, "telling a story" is just a bunch of wrist locks and submissions for 20+ minutes to two unknown wrestlers.

 

[Dreamzeedream]

That whole story in a match is bullshyt to me.

I cringe too when they say a good story was told in the ring

It just comes off too "its still reall to me damnit"

A good match is like a good movie - it has suspense, action, and a finish... unless its a Dusty finish, and then it's open for a sequel.

Taker Vs HHH hell in a cell match at WM with hbk as the guest Ref is a good example

 

[MightyHealthy]

Storytelling is how puro Coli enjoys without knowing the language...

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

To me matches like Austin vs Bret and Nakamura vs Sami, for example bring that legit fight feel too them. No outrageous stunts just a pure fight.

 

[mrken12]

One of my favorite aspects of wrestling is the storytelling in the ring. Which is why selling moves and injuries are a big deal to me. It adds authenticity to the match.

 

[MrFirst2doit]

Basically the minutia you probably don't think about...like working to the TV audience instead of the crowd...Making pins while facing the hard camera, facial expressions.... which are just as important as selling...having a game plan...next time got watch pay attention to how they try to pin facing the hard camera so it catches thier expressions...or how they sell and don't rush a move to allow the commentary to build things up ....

And also let me caveat that and say sometimes spotfests get a bad wrap...spotfest with limited psychology can be great too....lucha underground doesn't have much storytelling...neither did the tlc matches besides the one with lita, rhyno and spike dudley and those are all entertaining too in a different way

 

[mrken12]

Vader's recent comments made me think of this thread.

Vader Does NOT Like This New Japan Wrestling Match



A recent match (seen above) between two of wrestling’s best modern high-flyers, Ricochet and Will Ospreay, has been getting rave reviews from fans and wrestling critics alike following their performance during night six of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament. However, wrestling legend Big Van Vader – who knows a thing or two about Japan, winning the IWGP Heavyweight title on three separate occasions – apparently isn’t a big fan.

It all started with a GIF showcasing just one of dozens of insane spots from the match:



Vader took to Twitter, harshly criticizing the sequence as a “memorized gymnastics routine” and added that it “saddens” the three-time WCW Heavyweight Champion “to see the direction wrestling is headed”.

For obvious reasons, Vader’s comments have caused quite a stir and riled up more than a few big names on the internet because… well, it’s the internet. Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks has been especially vocal about the issue, arguing with numerous fans and coming to the support of Ricochet and Ospreay.





Vader then took to Twitter again to clarify and back up his words with a string of statements (all of which have been edited for clarity):

“Wrestling is telling a story. This just isn’t wrestling. They’re rolling side by side in sync, they never learned to tell a story.”

“Wrestling is all about telling a story. What you youngsters have seen your whole life is fans that have become promoters and second tier wrestlers.”

“A little real wrestling mixed in with this dancing gymnastic routine would go a long way. Fantastic gymnastics, though.”

“Their moves are athletic, they both are great wrestlers. When it’s done side by side as a routine something has to say ‘I’m trying to win.'”

“I’m all for wrestling evolving as long as it stays consistent with someone winning and someone losing. Tell that story. Demonstrate that.”

There has been an outpouring of support for the Ricochet-Osprey match since then. Joey Ryan sarcastically put out a Twitter poll asking fans who was “killing wrestling” faster, and even WWE Tag Team Champion Big E got in on the madness.

Of course the irony in all of this is that like it or hate it, respect the high-flying form or not, Ricochet and Ospreay’s match has brought a ton of exposure to the New Japan product, and as a result to professional wrestling as a whole. The match, or at least clips and sequences from the match, have found their way onto numerous sports websites in the past two days, even landing on the front page of Yahoo News in an article that mentions both Lucha Underground and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

 

[TheGodling]

It's simply telling a story, any kind of story, in the ring. And that story too can be be two super athletic guys like Ricochet and Osprey showing of their athleticism to each other as a "competition".

But it can also be like on Main Event this week where the Social Outcasts stole Xavier's suitcase, so Xavier came out to wrestle in one of Big E's singlets looking uncomfortable. Big E and Kofi however said he now possessed the power of the singlet, which Xavier dismissed. The whole match then was Xavier going from feeling uncomfortable and not being able to do pull off any moves right, suplexes in particular, to him finally finding and unlocking the power of the singlet ending with him suplexing Bo Dallas.

 

[PlainSight]

I like spotfests too

 

[The Amerikkkan Idol]

I'm sorry, I love the Sexy Star vs. Cheerleader Melissa (I can't remember her Lucha name) match they had in Lucha Underground a few weeks ago.

In terms of psychology, it was off of the chain. These were two women who were in a blood feud, with Melissa having kidnapped and torutred Sexy with her brother Marty the Moth, which left Sexy traumatized and afraid.

The match contained fear, anxiety, anger, pain, and all these emotions that went into it with both women dragging each other through the crowd and beating the shyt out of each other, with Sexy finally prevailing over the woman who had left her so scarred and broken due to overcoming her fears. There was such an emotional release when Sexy screams "fukk YOU!" , at the ref who was asking if she was giving up.

I actually jumped out of my seat watching it.

To me, THAT is ring psychology. When I can feel a woman's pain and torment and want her to overcome and triumph over the person who did it.

I hadn't felt that way watching a match in 20 years.

 

[Bryan Danielson]

I like spotfests too

The irony of "spot fest" is E guys or stans of them like to act like all their matches are story orientated and anything else NON E or indie is a spot fest.

When to me, say on RAW they end up doing a Cena vs say Sheamus match, those matches to me are spot fest in a way too, cause all they do is clothesline, punch, and kick just to set up a Sheamus spot where he will do that Rope 10 Chest pound shyt, or ultimately for Cena to do his few signature spots.

In the so called "spot fest" matches in the indies, there are times where you wont even see the guys do the same moves in consecutive matches but yet in the E every week whether in a 3 mins match or 15, they make sure the guys get all the signature spots in and most case in the exact same order or sequence every fukking week

The nerve of these cats man