Professional Wrestling: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Tonight, the arena is sold out. A dozen shades of gray [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|will square off in a pageantry of war. The opponents are unlikely in the real world, but in the amphitheater of our imagination, they're well matched. The punk rockers will battle the mountain men. The black separatists will fight the post-apocalyptic warriors. The gang-banger will rumble with the aristocrat. The future will struggle with the past, and the living will duel with the dead.]] In the end, just like a good [[Soap Opera]], [[Status Quo Is God|no issues will be resolved]]; the story is "[[To Be Continued]]". The combatants will live to fight another night, in another town. Is wrestling fake? Absolutely. It's as fake as your imagination, as phony as your daydreams. Are we celebrating violence when we enjoy a wrestling match? Definitely. Does this mean we're a society in decay? Maybe, but don't forget that, unlike the Romans, we're not throwing Christians to the lions here. [[MST3K Mantra|Maybe we should sit back, relax, enjoy the show, and take comfort in the knowledge that we live in a society that prefers its mayhem to be make-believe]]. Sure, wrestling's fake; we wouldn't have it any other way."''|~ '''Steve Allen''', ''The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling''}}

{{quote|''"To those who believe in the beauty of professional wrestling, nothing needs to be said. For those who don't appreciate wrestling, nothing could be said to change their minds."''|~ '''Vince McMahon'''}}

Professional Wrestling is usually full of concepts from different types of shows. Each match is roughly choreographed (though not usually in much detail since wrestlers don't have much rehearsal time, let alone for whole matches, given that they wrestle twenty-eight days per month on average--manyaverage—many of a match's details will be improvised). [[WWE|World Wrestling Entertainment]]'s programs remind one of nothing so much as a [[Soap Opera]] for guys, complete with all the emotion, melodrama, and occasional comic relief that that phrase implies. Other organizations, such as [[Ring of Honor]], strive for a more gritty, realistic presentation, but still incorporate many soap opera elements.

The history of pro wrestling is a bit convoluted; until the late '80s/early '90s, promoters claimed that wrestling was a legitimate sport, and attempted to hide the fact that it was scripted at all costs. The truth is the performances are as standardized and stylized as Japanese Kabuki theatre, or ''[[Commedia Dell'Arte]]'' -- each—each match is a miniature set piece, using stock characters, "plots" and "twists". This has become more obvious in recent years with the increased sense of theatre provided by the major promoters and programs. As more and more wrestling fans grew wise to the fact that wrestling was scripted and choreographed, promoters had no choice but to reveal [[Kayfabe|the secret]] that everybody already knew by that point anyway. Vince McMahon went so far as to televise a speech on an episode of Monday Night Raw, in which he promised to "stop insulting (fans') intelligence" and referred to Raw as an "action-adventure" series.

All wrestling organizations will have a "booker", or person who decides which wrestlers are going over on any given "card" or event. The larger wrestling organizations will have full booking teams, made of bookers (who help wrestlers lay out the matches) and scriptwriters (who tell the bookers the companies' long-term goals with the storylines). These are often called the "creative teams", or simply just "creative" (as in "Creative has no ideas for your character at the moment"). [[So You Want To/Be a Booker|Booking wrestling matches and storylines is a difficult skill]]; most of the boom times for wrestling can largely be accounted for through good booking of matches. Poor booking can be disastrous: [[WCW]] was literally destroyed through terrible creative decisions, first under the stewardship of Vince Russo and a few others, then through the [[WWE]]'s terrible "Invasion" vanity trip.

However, as many [[Sitcom]] plots (and [[Botchamania]]) have implied, [['''Professional Wrestling]]''' is very real in the sense that mistimed inexperience can leave someone seriously injured. Professional wrestlers are like stuntmen; they're acting out a scene, but ''physically'', and with the chance of injury, not to mention they get no second takes. And whatever you may have heard, they ''do'' hit each other, although their moves are generally designed to seem much more devastating than they are, and they avoid harm whenever they feasibly can without it looking too obvious. A professional wrestler literally puts his life in his opponent's hands several times in a single match; the slightest misstep could result in a broken bone, a broken neck, paralysis, possibly even death. [[Don't Try This At Home]].

* If you see an unfamiliar name, it's very likely that it is a famous wrestler's real name or earlier persona. It's easier to just use the search function at the other wiki rather than try to use a list. As a general rule, the wrestler's most famous persona will be used instead of their real name, although different fans will have a different opinion as to which persona was the most famous, and then to add to the confusion, the WWE/F has the annoying habit of trademarking a wrestler's name so that [[wikipedia:Warrior chr(28)wrestlerchr(29wrestler)#Trademark and libel litigation|the wrestler can't use it after they leave the promotion.]]

* [[B -Show]]

* [[Do Not Call Me "Paul"]]

** [[HeelDeadly Face Door SlamChange-of-Heart]]

* [[NoWon't SellWork On Me]]

* [[X -Pac Heat]]

*== [[AndTropes thewith Fandom Rejoiced/Professional Wrestling|And The Fandom Rejoiced]]: It has had it fair share ofsubpages rejoicing.==

** Or even [[Randy Savage (Wrestling)|in accidents outside the ring.]]

{{quote| "In the real world, the WWE has always gotten a mention or two for two reasons-- the first one being that CM Punk is speaking his mind; the second one is because somebody died."}}

* [[B -Show]]: Xplosion to Impact, Thunder to Nitro. People often cite Smackdown as a B-Show compared to RAW, but it's more like a second A-Show in terms of this trope.

* [[Balls of Steel]]: This trope was used once when Chyna was wrestling Road Dogg and he wore a cup.

* [[Brains Evil, Brawn Good]]: Most face/heel rivalries in Professional Wrestling play out like this, with most of the drama centered around the heel cheating and tricking his way to victory against a more powerful and/or skilled babyface. Whereas a heel who's legitimately skilled gets cheered a lot of the time, the heel still gets booed because the fans know he doesn't "deserve" to keep winning and are waiting until he finally gets demolished.

* [[Chickification]]: Happens to women wrestlers often when promoted from a indie promotion to a major one and or because of a poorly-executed gimmick change.

* [[Do Not Call Me "Paul"]]: Triple H and The Big Show have both said this to fans that have called them by their birth names. If you meet a wrestler, it is usually a good idea to address them by their ring name.

* [[Double Standard]]: Many but one of the more recent ones involves the infamous "Piggie James" angle. People were outraged at Michelle and Layla making fun of Mickie's weight and anyone who called Mickie overweight on the IWC was immediately vilified. Yet many people started cruelly calling Michelle "Skeletor" on the internet and calling her underfed and a stick insect. Anorexia is just as big a problem as obesity and Michelle has struggled with anorexia in the past.

* [[Fan Dumb]]: Like you wouldn't believe. From the people who say that only WWE matters to the elitist snobs who only watch ROH and NOAH, wrestling fandom is filled with back-biting [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys]] and fans who invoke [[Ruined FOREVER]] a bit too often.

* [[Four Is Death]]: The four-way matches, most [[Power Stable|Power Stables]]s.

* [[Ham -to -Ham Combat]]: Naturally, since hamminess is any wrestler's stock in trade.

* [[Muscles Are Meaningless]]: Somewhat surprisingly, you don't have to have tremendous physical strength to execute a number of non-luchador moves. Part of this is the fact that a large number of moves require (or are much more safely performed) with the cooperation of the person getting slammed or what have you.

* [[Punctuated! forFor! Emphasis!]]: For all we know, WWE may have INVENTED this trope. Just ask The Rock ("If ya suh-mellllll....what the ROCK....is....COOKING!") or Booker T ("Can you dig it....SUCKA?!) or especially the guy who stamped his whole goddamn meal ticket with this trope ("MMMMMisterrrrrr....Kennedy....KEN-NE-DY!")

* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: Wrestlers' real-life issues often provide fodder for their self-based characters' wrestling storylines.

** The DDT was once a devastating maneuver but it is now a standard move so watching an older match end with one stretches fan's willingness to suspend disbelief. Ditto for moves like the Power Bomb, Superplex, Stampeder (running power slam), and -- goingand—going back even further -- thefurther—the Thesz Press.

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: The Hurricane may be a parody of the almost cartoonish characters of the 80s, though [[Your Mileage May Vary]].

* [[Serious Business]]: There is absolutely no situation that cannot be resolved with a wrestling match on PAY PER VIEW! ORDER NOW!

* [[She's Got Legs]]: Often used with the female manager/valet -- whichvalet—which see Miss Elizabeth in the 2-on-3 match at [[Summer Slam]] for when used minimally for maximum effect. Taken to the extreme during the Attitude Era (and similar on WCW) with Stacy Keibler ('nuff said).

** Completely and utterly averted and destroyed with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. During the '70s and '80s, tag teams like the Beauty Pair and Crush Gals enjoyed massive mainstream popularity among girls to the point where arenas were packed mainly with screaming girls.

* [[Ultimate Job Security]]

* [[Wham! Line/ProProfessional Wrestling|Wham Line]]

* [[What Could Have Been/ProProfessional Wrestling|What Could Have Been]]

* [[World of Ham]]: Wrestling is home to so many enormous slices of ham. When someone as hammy as John Cena looks fairly normal by comparison, you know you're in a [[World of Ham]].

=== [[Professional Wrestling]] promotions of note: ===

* [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] (World Wrestling Entertainment; the biggest professional wrestling promotion in the world, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110508175312/http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/61411 as much as they would like to pretend otherwise])

* [[All Japan WomensWomen's Pro Wrestling]] ([[AJW]])

==== Known wrestling fansites: ====

=== Names To Know In Professional Wrestling: ===

* [[Randy Savage (Wrestling)|Randy Savage]] - One of the big names in the 1980s, and later WCW. He was known for his [[Large Ham|over-the-top persona]] as well as being the spokeswrestler for Slim Jims.<ref>Snap into a Slim Jim! OOOOOOHHHHH YEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!</ref>.

* [[Rob Van Dam]] - One of the cornerstones of the original [[ECW]], he made stops in [[WWE]] and [[TNA]] as well, where he has more often than not sat very firmly in [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] territory.

==== Stables: ====

* [[The Corporation]] - Taking [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] to a whole new level.

==== Miscellaneous: ====

* [[New World Order]] - The [[WCW]] angle that helped bring WCW on par with [[WWF]] during the [[Monday Night Wars]].

=== Fictional works featuring Professional Wrestling: ===

==== {{smallcaps|Anime and Manga}} ====

=== {{smallcaps|WebcomicsWeb Comics}} ===

* ''[[Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling]]''

* ''[[Pixar Shorts|''MonsterTruckMater''Monster Truck Mater]]''

* ''[[Mongo Wrestling Alliance]]''

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