Posted in: The Classroom The Classroom - History Of: Wrestling Language Part 2
By Sean Taylor
Oct 10, 2009 - 2:18:45 AM
"The numbers game is just too much for one man."
- "The Original Thumb" Tony Schivonne. Um, Tony, that’s why they call it the numbers game.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to The Classroom. For starters, I want to address the lack of Teacher’s Lounge situation. It has been a long time and I feel very bad about that. I have been promising that a new episode will be coming soon but alas, we are no more closer than we were before. I have a deep-seated regret for this because a lot of you have been e-mailing me asking when the next one will come out. I want to set the record straight, be open and honest, and tell all of you great TL-ites the reason why there isn’t a show available yet.
It’s all KMA Jackson’s fault.
That’s right. I’m passing the buck and blaming my partner. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Jackson doesn’t WANT to do a Teacher’s Lounge show, it’s just that he hasn’t sat down and decided when he would be available to record a show. I’ve hinted, I’ve mentioned, and I’ve asked. Now it’s your turn. I am calling for a crusade. If you want another Teacher’s Lounge, e-mail KMA Jackson at kma_jackson@yahoo.com and beg and plead with him. Don’t be mean but be firm. I’m sure he won’t take it hard and frankly, for me, this will be funny as hell.
And if Jackson is reading this right now, see below:
Before we get to today’s lesson, I want to review what we learned last time. We learned about the definitions of Kayfabe, Babyface, and Heel. We discussed the reasons why understanding those terms was important. The reason I started with those three specific terms is because they are the three most important terms in the wrestling industry. Not understanding those terms would lead to much confusion later on. As we go forward, we will use these terms keeping their true meanings in mind (if you need a refresher, click here).
There’s one more thing that needs to be understood before we go any further and that is what a wrestler’s goal is. What do wrestlers get paid to do? The answer is simple: sell tickets. They are not there to put on a five-star match, entertain the fans, or showcase athletic ability. Their only goal is to make fans tune into the television show or, preferably, but a ticket to see the show live. Ticket sales, pay-per-view buyrates, and television sponsorship deals are the three main ways a wrestling company makes money. Since a wrestling company is primarily a business, making money is the proverbial bottom line. Everything else is the means to that end. If you are putting on a great match, entertaining the crowds, or performing great athletic feats but no one is sitting in the arena, then you’re not doing your job and the promoter has every right to fire you and hire someone else who will sell tickets. Wrestling companies from the WWE to TNA to ROH to your local independent promotion all thrive to have a locker room full of wrestlers who can sell tickets and make them more money.
So obviously, it’s important to wrestling companies that their wrestlers can sell tickets but it is also important to the wrestlers themselves that they are able to sell tickets. When more fans are coming to the arena and tuning in to the television shows, the company makes more money. When the company makes more money, the wrestlers on the shows in turn make more money. The company can also take their shows to more towns or to a wider television audience, which brings in more fans. That brings in more money, which means the wrestlers can make more money. It’s another important circle that makes the wrestling business work.
So the question becomes how does a wrestler draw fans into the arena and entice them to tune into the television shows? By going to work.
Hi Ho, Hi Ho Work – noun/verb (wurk)
Definition: noun – An angle or a match that is pre-planned but performed in such a way as to create kayfabe
verb – The physical actions in a match designed to illicit emotion from the audience (ie: to work the crowd)
This is likely going to be the toughest wrestling term to define. Working is the single most important skill a wrestler can learn. It is the difference between World Champions and obscure nobodies. Without it, the wrestling business ceases to exist.
The actual term "work" is a word borrowed from the language of carnies (carnival employees) that was brought over from when wrestling separated itself from traveling carnivals at the turn of the twentieth century. Back then, it was a carny’s job to get the public into various tents to see their shows and pay for the ticket to do so. Using mind tricks, false promises, and goading, the carnies drew or "worked" the public into their respective tents. When wrestling broke away from the carnivals, they kept the term "work" but expanded the meaning.
Anything a wrestler does to further the act of kayfabe is a work. From pretending to hate his opponent to signing an autograph with a name that wasn’t on their birth certificate is an example of a wrestler working the audience. The majority of a wrestler’s working is done during the show. A wrestler will work the crowd to bring out the desired emotion that both wrestlers – or teams – want for their particular match. This is partially due to the showmanship in professional wrestling. Many fans confuse the showmanship for being the "sports entertainment" aspect of their favourite sport but that couldn’t be further from the truth. When a wrestler poses, spouts off their catchphrase, leads the crowd into a rhythmic clapping for support, or bad-mouthing them for living in a squalled hellhole, he is continuing a wrestling tradition that started nearly one hundred years ago.
Working a crowd into the arena is only half the battle. Once they are in, a wrestler must give them a reason to come back. So it’s important to continue working them throughout the match itself. This is where the wrestlers have the best opportunity to prove that they can draw money and therefore deserve to be trusted in a main event position. The best way to do that is to tell a story during the match. A wrestler strives to tell a story during the match that is complimentary to the story he and his opponent are telling outside of the match. Both wrestlers have promised to win and, of course, both can’t. But they have also puffed out their chests and touted their abilities as better than the other’s. So they must try to save face by telling the oldest story in the book.
They are trying to win and trying not to lose.
In various situations, telling a different story during the match is required but the easiest story for a wrestler to tell is that he’s trying to win and trying not to lose. Every member of the audience can relate to being in a fight. Everyone has fought to save face in front of their friends so it’s very easy to relate to the story of trying to win/trying not to lose. Wrestlers must work inside the ring to make the audience believe that what they are seeing is real. If they tell the relatable story of trying to win/trying not to lose, the audience is more likely to suspend their disbelief and allow themselves to be worked. The greatest example of this is Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels match at WrestleMania XXIV. Ric Flair was fighting to keep his career and Michaels was challenged to maintain his show-stopping "Mr. WrestleMania" reputation. Neither man could afford to lose. Almost every fan expected Michaels to win the match but when he did, nobody cared that they had called it. They were engrossed in the story that the two men had successfully told. If Flair and Michaels were ever to agree to square off again, fans would come out in droves to buy their tickets and see the match.
And that means that what Flair and Michaels did that night worked.
Burning Down The House Heat – noun (heet)
Definition: The desired hatred a heel draws from the audience.
Have you ever been so mad at someone that your face turns red and your blood boils? That’s where wrestlers get the term "heat". If you have heat, someone is hot (or mad) at you. This term is used not only in the ring but also backstage. When a wrestler does something that the head office of a company doesn’t appreciate, it is often said that that wrestler has heat from the office. The original and more important use of “heat”, though, is desired heat from the audience to the heel.
Heat is what drives the audience to be emotionally drawn into a match or feud. As we discussed in our last class, a babyface with no reason to fight is not interesting to watch at all. So the heel must create heat with the audience and give them a reason to want the babyface to fight them. Traditionally, a Heel would enter the match first. This would give them time to work the crowd for heat before the babyface comes in to "save the day". Before the match begins, a heel can generate heat by faking a slap to the fans at ringside, arrogantly ignoring them, or if they have good mic skills, they can insult the fans (or the city they are in). The latter is the easiest way to generate pre-match heat and therefore sometimes referred to as "cheap heat".
After the match officially begins, it’s the heel’s job to begin generating heat by his actions in the ring. Terry Funk and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase were masters at garnering heat with one simple trick – they backed off from the fight. Funk was famous for leaving the ring and not returning until demanded by the referee. Then he would act like he was going to get back into the ring but baulk and return to circling the ring. This incited the fans’ rage because they believed that he was wasting their time. DiBiase would wait until the babyface started to get the upper hand and then retreat to the outside to regroup thus slowing the babyface’s momentum. DiBiase – along with "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels – was also a master at shielding himself behind his female manager. The act of hiding behind a woman and then sneak attacking the babyface is cowardly and unmanly.
For narcissistic heels, the opportunity for generating heat opens a bit more. The power of taunting has been a heel’s greatest asset for generating heat. After knocking down the babyface in an impressive (or sometimes not so impressive) way, the heel will brag about his physical superiority. In conjuncture with that, the simple act of posing or taunting the crowd is a tried and true method of generating heat. A more subtle way is the cowardly act of begging off. This is where a Heel will back away from the babyface asking not to be hurt anymore. Usually, begging off is a plot to lure the babyface into a position where the heel can utilize an eye poke, face rake, or some other cheap shot to gain the upper hand.
However the heel generates the heat, it is also important for him to keep it. Any time the babyface starts to make a comeback, the Heel’s heat is lessened so it’s crucial for the heel to build up enough heat so that when the babyface makes his comeback, it means something to the audience. This is the reason that, in the old school way of wrestling a match, the Heel is one who calls the action in the ring. The advantage to this is that while the babyface is being beaten down and acting hurt, he can’t be focused on how the crowd is reacting. Thus, the heel must judge the heat level coming from the audience and notify the babyface when it is the right time to begin his comeback. Nowadays, with wrestlers pre-planning the match’s action in the back, it doesn’t allow for the wrestlers to adapt to the audience’s reaction. They will continue to the next move regardless of whether or not the audience is into it. This leads to the babyface starting a comeback without the proper amount of heat built and the audience isn’t as involved in the match as they should be.
There is one final remaining type of heat that we should touch on. That is negative heat. Negative heat is when a heel generates too much heat and the audience hates him so much, they are taken out of the realm of kayfabe. Consider this analogy: You have a piece of candy and there is a little child in front of you who wants the candy. You extend the candy towards the child and the child is excited because he thinks you are going to give him the candy. But, just before he can take the candy from your hand, you pull it back. You enjoy your laugh and do it again . . . and again . . . and again. Congratulations. You’re building heat with the child. The more you do it, the angrier at you he will get. However, if you do it too much, the child will think that you are never going to give him the candy and will simply walk away unwilling to play your game. That is negative heat. Negative heat is also referred to as "Fuck You heat" or "X-Pac heat" – so named because the fans never cared about X-Pac whether he was a babyface or a heel.
Without heat, there is no reason for the match to happen and therefore no reason for the audience to be interested. Also, without heat, you’ll miss out on one of wrestling’s greatest moments – the pop.
Monkey, Mulberry Bush, . . . Wait, What Happened To The Weasel? Pop – verb (pop)
Definition: A wrestling audience’s loudest reaction after being emotionally drawn into a match or happening.
Warning: The following discussion contains mature themes and adult language that may offend younger/immature minds. Please hand in your parental consent forms before reading on.
The term "pop" is one of the most bastardized terms in professional wrestling. Nowadays, the term "pop" refers to a very loud and passionate crowd reaction following a popular wrestler’s entrance, a great put-down during a verbal exchange, or a highly athletic maneuver usually risking personal safety. This definition has been accepted by fans and wrestlers alike and is often worn as a badge of honour by wrestlers (example: "Did you hear that pop I got when I hit the 450 Splash?"). It is also believed that only babyfaces can receive a pop from the audience. All of these current definitions stray very far from the original that was taught to several generations of wrestlers.
To understand the term "pop", one must understand how a match is meant to be played out. In the beginning of the match, the playing field is level and even. Both wrestlers (or teams) are well-rested and prepared. More importantly, the audience is settling into their seats preparing to be emotionally drawn in to another storytelling match. The basic match story arc breaks down a match into four acts.
Act 1 – The Opening (sometimes referred to as "The Shining"). This is the time where the babyface usually fends off the heels primary attacks proving once again that he is stronger, faster, and smarter than the heel. During this time, the fans begin to cheer the babyface and are beginning to get behind him. After several failed attempts to gain the upper hand, the heel will become frustrated and resort to cheating to finally take control of the action.
Act 2 – The Heat Build Up. This is the middle and often the majority of the match dedicated to the heel’s dominance of the babyface. This is the heel’s opportunity to work the audience into hating him generating heat. The more heat the heel can generate, the better. At this point, the audience is now booing the heel’s cheating tactics and cheering on the babyface to make his comeback.
Act 3 – The Comeback. Finally, the babyface has taken all the punishment he can stand. Thanks to the cheering support from the audience, the babyface fights back. Still working the injuries he has suffered from the heel’s beat down, the babyface begins to dominate the heel. If the heel has generated enough heat, the audience is now cheering on their hero and they know that he is setting up the heel for his finisher and thus the end of the match. They want the babyface to win because they have invested their support in him. Essentially, the babyface is now the audience’s representative in the battle against the heel, who now stands alone. The audience is literally on the edge of their seats willing the babyface to win.
Act 4 – The Finish. The final part of the match is all about how the match ends. Obviously, the match can end one of two ways. Either the babyface wins and gives the audience the result they want or the heel pulls a fast one and steals the victory for himself. Once the decision has been officially determined, the audience pops.
The term "pop" refers to the crescendo of the audience’s emotional involvement in the match. The actual word "pop" comes from the phrase "pop a nut" or to literally "cum in one’s pants". It’s a direct relation to sexual intercourse. During a sexual interlude, there is build up to the orgasm. The pop, like the orgasm, is the highest point a wrestler can bring the audience to emotionally. If an audience pops when a wrestler first enters, the wrestler should then turn around and go to the back because he’s not going to be able to get the audience any more higher emotionally. It would be akin to having an orgasm immediately after taking off your pants. Why would you continue? It’s just wasted motion.
So if the babyface wins the match, the audience pops because they are given what they have wanted throughout the duration of the match. Any good movie, television show, or fireworks builds to a finale in the same fashion. The difference is that in professional wrestling, the final pop can be negative. If the heel wins, they are denied what they wanted and therefore, they pop in a negative way, giving the heel even more heat that he takes with him as he leaves.
So as a heel, work the crowd to generate heat and allow your babyface to get his pop. It’s your one-way ticket to the main event.
That about wraps up this edition of The Classroom. As always, I welcome your feedback both positive and negative. You can send me an e-mail here or if you’re a member of the Columns Forum, drop me a line here. In Part 3, we’re going to rapid fire a lot of different wrestling terms as well as discuss the answer to this week’s Pop Quiz. Until then, don’t forget your assignment from earlier and hopefully KMA_Jackson and I will talk to you soon.
Pop Quiz Which one of the following is not an actual wrestling term?
Dusty Finish
Gorilla Position
Hot Tag
Hulk Up
Juice
Mark
Rib
Sandbag
Smart
Shoot
Trachoma
Wheel (or Wheelman)
Wrestler’s Court
