Post by Ro on May 28, 2008 11:28:34 GMT -5
Written by the esteemed Dalby Sound himself (aka Alistair Bain) and posted over at FMW.
Every wrestling match is categorized into five simple parts. By using these five parts, in order, properly, we can build up the most possible excitement in the match. As follows is a step by step on the five parts, and what they consist of.
1. THE SHINE
The beginning of the match, this is where we establish our baby face, or good guy. The good guy is generally the better wrestler, the stronger competitor, there is always something the face has on his side that we can show off at the start of the match.
For the purpose of example, we’ll say that the face is a superior wrestler. When they lock up to start the match, the heel will take a hold, which the face will easily reverse. The heel will continue o try keep up with the face, but the face will maintain control until the heel has had enough, and does something heel-esque. (Powder to the outside of the ring, rake the eyes, low blow, etc…)
The Shine shows the face is a better fighter, and does so using his skills, not cheating. When the heel cuts him off, the shine ends, and we move to the Heat.
As a side note, if a match must be shortened for any reason, the Shine is the only of the five parts that can be cut without hurting the match. This is done by having the heel cheat right off the start, jump starting the match into the Heat. Don’t worry baby faces, you’ll be taken care of in the Hot Comeback.
2. THE HEAT
Why heels love to be heels. We let the fans make a connection to the baby face during the shine, and in general previous to now, now you toy with their emotions. The heel does something dirty to take control of the match, and now will spend the majority of the match beating the hell out of the face.
Before we discuss the finer points of the heat, I must explain that this is necessary, and is not burying the face. The next step is the hot comeback, and the impact of the comeback is entirely dependent on the size of the Heat. The fans hate a heel for beating up their hero. The more you beat, the more they hate. And on the other side, they want the face to come back, they love him. So when the heel beats you half to death, and you manage to fire up, using the crowd’s energy, and make the comeback, they pop like kids!
So, on to the Heat. The heel is in control, entirely. He will dictate everything that happens during this time, including telling the face when to go for a hope spot. A hope spot is where the face looks like he’s making his comeback, but gets cut off by the face. It gives the crowd hope that their hero is back in the match. An example, from the fed, let’s say Randy Orton has Triple H in a chin lock (WHAT?!?!). Trips fights his way to his feet. Couple of elbows, Orton’s losing his grip, another elbow, Trips is free! He hits the ropes! Orton hits a clothesline, back into the chin lock. THAT is a hope spot.
When writing the heat, only include one or two hope spots, TOPS, otherwise you ruin the heat. Never go light on the face either. Write him a good beating, otherwise the comeback means nothing. The heel should also be doing a fair bit of taunting, working the crowd, etc… this is his chance to establish that he is a dick of epic proportions. Cheat, oh my God, cheat all you can.
The one thing you can do is overkill the face. Don’t stab him, don’t have the heel hit his finish, no chair shots unless it’s a hardcore match, that sort of thing.
3. THE HOT COMEBACK
Don’t call it a comeback… but it is. The Hot Comeback is where the face looks superhuman. Finally sick of the dirty tactics employed by the heel, spurred on by the screaming of the fans, the face wants to win, and this is the time!
The hot comeback should come when it looks like the Heel has won. Generally, the heel is either going for his finish, or has the face in a submission hold that has the face fading fast. In the case of going for the finish, the face will reverse out of it, and generally hit a big move of his own, NOT HIS FINISH, on the heel, leading to a double down. With both men down, they struggle to their feet, and the face uses the crowd to get up first and go for the hot comeback.
In the case of the submission, the double down can be used again, but usually, the face fights up out of the hold, and then goes on to the comeback.
The hot comeback should be a flurry of three moves, each causing the heel to bump down, and feed back up. THREE MOVES. Less is not enough, more is too much. An example, John Cena is in Randy Orton’s dreaded CHIN LOCK!!! (OMGWTF) He looks like he’s going to pass out, the crowd starts to scream and beg for Cena to get up. Suddenly, he looks like he’s caught a second wind, he fight up to his feet, elbows his way out of the hold, hits the ropes, clothesline, Orton goes down. Orton gets back up to try regaining control, Cena hits another clothesline. Orton gets back to his feet; Cena comes of f the ropes with his patented diving shoulder tackle.
Cena is now back in control of the match. From here the face should go for the cover, get a 2 count and move on to the next part of the match, OR, if the face has a signature move, ala the five knuckle shuffle, worm, or people’s elbow, this is the perfect time for such a move. The face can then hit the move, or miss it, both allowing us to move to part 4.
4. THE FALSE FINISH
If we just ended the match here, it would be kind of anti-climatic. That’s why we tease the fans for a bit before giving them the end. This is where we can tease finishes, both men reversing the other’s finish, both men hitting big potentially match ending moves, but only getting two counts, if a worker has a submission finish, he locks it in, but the opponent gets to the ropes, etc… High impact stuff, this is where the writer can really have fun. For an example of this, look at Savage-Steamboat from Mania 3. They had a record amount of false finishes in that match, but it never lost the fans. They convinced everyone watching that every pinfall could very well be the end.
5. THE FINISH
This will be given to you by your head writer, but it’s up to you how to incorporate it. This one doesn’t need a lot of explanation, but there are a lot of ways it can go. A sneaky quick pin, a submission hold in the middle of the ring, a finish move, there are millions of ways to end the match. Look at what the match has been so far, and find a way that fits what you’ve written to end this 5 star match you just wrote.
THE BITS AND PIECES
A few things to keep in mind throughout the match.
- Have your workers focus on a single body part. If the heel starts with a move to the face’s leg, he should focus on that leg for the rest of the contest. Pick a part, and stick with it. Head, back, leg, arm, chest. These are your options. Keep in mind any injuries the worker may be coming into the match with. If he has an injured arm, the heel should work that arm. Also, keep in mind finishers. If the finish is a figure four, he’s going to work the leg.
- Remember the rule of three. After three moves, the man on the offense should go for a pin. Both men are here to win to some extent, so they should be going for the cover.
- The face is here to win, and only to win. He should try to out wrestle his opponent at all times, and needs an incredible amount of goading to cheat. Face cheating should only come near the end, if the heel has cheated his ass off the whole match. These are our heroes; they shouldn’t sink to the heel’s level without complete provocation.
- Make sure you thoroughly understand the characters you are writing. Don’t have them doing things they wouldn’t normally do. Read their promos, check their roster info, if they have a wiki, read that. Know your subject.
- Try to avoid cheating in front of the ref. If it’s against the rules, try to distract the ref first.
That’s about it. If you follow this guideline to basic psychology, you’ll find your matches capture the reader far more effectively. You’re already great writers; this should help you pump out a five star, every time.
Cheers,
Sound
Every wrestling match is categorized into five simple parts. By using these five parts, in order, properly, we can build up the most possible excitement in the match. As follows is a step by step on the five parts, and what they consist of.
1. THE SHINE
The beginning of the match, this is where we establish our baby face, or good guy. The good guy is generally the better wrestler, the stronger competitor, there is always something the face has on his side that we can show off at the start of the match.
For the purpose of example, we’ll say that the face is a superior wrestler. When they lock up to start the match, the heel will take a hold, which the face will easily reverse. The heel will continue o try keep up with the face, but the face will maintain control until the heel has had enough, and does something heel-esque. (Powder to the outside of the ring, rake the eyes, low blow, etc…)
The Shine shows the face is a better fighter, and does so using his skills, not cheating. When the heel cuts him off, the shine ends, and we move to the Heat.
As a side note, if a match must be shortened for any reason, the Shine is the only of the five parts that can be cut without hurting the match. This is done by having the heel cheat right off the start, jump starting the match into the Heat. Don’t worry baby faces, you’ll be taken care of in the Hot Comeback.
2. THE HEAT
Why heels love to be heels. We let the fans make a connection to the baby face during the shine, and in general previous to now, now you toy with their emotions. The heel does something dirty to take control of the match, and now will spend the majority of the match beating the hell out of the face.
Before we discuss the finer points of the heat, I must explain that this is necessary, and is not burying the face. The next step is the hot comeback, and the impact of the comeback is entirely dependent on the size of the Heat. The fans hate a heel for beating up their hero. The more you beat, the more they hate. And on the other side, they want the face to come back, they love him. So when the heel beats you half to death, and you manage to fire up, using the crowd’s energy, and make the comeback, they pop like kids!
So, on to the Heat. The heel is in control, entirely. He will dictate everything that happens during this time, including telling the face when to go for a hope spot. A hope spot is where the face looks like he’s making his comeback, but gets cut off by the face. It gives the crowd hope that their hero is back in the match. An example, from the fed, let’s say Randy Orton has Triple H in a chin lock (WHAT?!?!). Trips fights his way to his feet. Couple of elbows, Orton’s losing his grip, another elbow, Trips is free! He hits the ropes! Orton hits a clothesline, back into the chin lock. THAT is a hope spot.
When writing the heat, only include one or two hope spots, TOPS, otherwise you ruin the heat. Never go light on the face either. Write him a good beating, otherwise the comeback means nothing. The heel should also be doing a fair bit of taunting, working the crowd, etc… this is his chance to establish that he is a dick of epic proportions. Cheat, oh my God, cheat all you can.
The one thing you can do is overkill the face. Don’t stab him, don’t have the heel hit his finish, no chair shots unless it’s a hardcore match, that sort of thing.
3. THE HOT COMEBACK
Don’t call it a comeback… but it is. The Hot Comeback is where the face looks superhuman. Finally sick of the dirty tactics employed by the heel, spurred on by the screaming of the fans, the face wants to win, and this is the time!
The hot comeback should come when it looks like the Heel has won. Generally, the heel is either going for his finish, or has the face in a submission hold that has the face fading fast. In the case of going for the finish, the face will reverse out of it, and generally hit a big move of his own, NOT HIS FINISH, on the heel, leading to a double down. With both men down, they struggle to their feet, and the face uses the crowd to get up first and go for the hot comeback.
In the case of the submission, the double down can be used again, but usually, the face fights up out of the hold, and then goes on to the comeback.
The hot comeback should be a flurry of three moves, each causing the heel to bump down, and feed back up. THREE MOVES. Less is not enough, more is too much. An example, John Cena is in Randy Orton’s dreaded CHIN LOCK!!! (OMGWTF) He looks like he’s going to pass out, the crowd starts to scream and beg for Cena to get up. Suddenly, he looks like he’s caught a second wind, he fight up to his feet, elbows his way out of the hold, hits the ropes, clothesline, Orton goes down. Orton gets back up to try regaining control, Cena hits another clothesline. Orton gets back to his feet; Cena comes of f the ropes with his patented diving shoulder tackle.
Cena is now back in control of the match. From here the face should go for the cover, get a 2 count and move on to the next part of the match, OR, if the face has a signature move, ala the five knuckle shuffle, worm, or people’s elbow, this is the perfect time for such a move. The face can then hit the move, or miss it, both allowing us to move to part 4.
4. THE FALSE FINISH
If we just ended the match here, it would be kind of anti-climatic. That’s why we tease the fans for a bit before giving them the end. This is where we can tease finishes, both men reversing the other’s finish, both men hitting big potentially match ending moves, but only getting two counts, if a worker has a submission finish, he locks it in, but the opponent gets to the ropes, etc… High impact stuff, this is where the writer can really have fun. For an example of this, look at Savage-Steamboat from Mania 3. They had a record amount of false finishes in that match, but it never lost the fans. They convinced everyone watching that every pinfall could very well be the end.
5. THE FINISH
This will be given to you by your head writer, but it’s up to you how to incorporate it. This one doesn’t need a lot of explanation, but there are a lot of ways it can go. A sneaky quick pin, a submission hold in the middle of the ring, a finish move, there are millions of ways to end the match. Look at what the match has been so far, and find a way that fits what you’ve written to end this 5 star match you just wrote.
THE BITS AND PIECES
A few things to keep in mind throughout the match.
- Have your workers focus on a single body part. If the heel starts with a move to the face’s leg, he should focus on that leg for the rest of the contest. Pick a part, and stick with it. Head, back, leg, arm, chest. These are your options. Keep in mind any injuries the worker may be coming into the match with. If he has an injured arm, the heel should work that arm. Also, keep in mind finishers. If the finish is a figure four, he’s going to work the leg.
- Remember the rule of three. After three moves, the man on the offense should go for a pin. Both men are here to win to some extent, so they should be going for the cover.
- The face is here to win, and only to win. He should try to out wrestle his opponent at all times, and needs an incredible amount of goading to cheat. Face cheating should only come near the end, if the heel has cheated his ass off the whole match. These are our heroes; they shouldn’t sink to the heel’s level without complete provocation.
- Make sure you thoroughly understand the characters you are writing. Don’t have them doing things they wouldn’t normally do. Read their promos, check their roster info, if they have a wiki, read that. Know your subject.
- Try to avoid cheating in front of the ref. If it’s against the rules, try to distract the ref first.
That’s about it. If you follow this guideline to basic psychology, you’ll find your matches capture the reader far more effectively. You’re already great writers; this should help you pump out a five star, every time.
Cheers,
Sound