Five Keys to a Successful Match
Five Keys to a Successful Match
By Marcus K. Dowling
Before I launch into this week's column, let me say that I feel that the World Wrestling Federation is doing something intelligent for a change. Realizing that their strengths at the top of the card currently lie in wrestlers who have always been storyline-driven performers, they have constructed interesting stories that have both depth and complexity -- and are moderately interesting, to boot. Big Show, Scott Hall, X-Pac, Bradshaw, The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho, Steve Austin and Triple H (in his present condition) all have glaring deficiencies as workers that have been masked through storylines.
However, I must mention that as a smart observer, the holes in their in-ring approaches are all generally in the same area, which causes a major issue. All nine performers that I have mentioned above are all at least average, if not passable microphone guys. But, insofar as workrate is concerned, all of these men have glaring weaknesses. Booking a hot storyline is one thing, but translating that heat into a match is another. A great many bytes have already been shed on the sub-par performances of the Austin/Flair/Undertaker and Hogan/HHH matches at Backlash. Both of these matches were hurt significantly because the match itself did not match up properly with the pre-match hype. This leads directly into this week's column.
Currently, I am attempting to lure a long-time friend of mine into the world of professional wrestling. It has worked so far, as I have used the academic arguments centering on the drama and passion of the action to make the pseudo-sport appeal to her. So, basically, she now can sit and watch a match and cheer and boo and be mentally invested into a match. Now, for the hard part. She generally sees all matches that she watches as being good, and cannot separate between good and great. She can't understand why I say that the Lance Storm/Mike Awesome v. Edge and Christian match at InVasion was good, and why the Rob Van Dam v. Jeff Hardy match was outstanding. Or, from Wrestlemania, why the Unified title match was good, and why Hogan and Rocky was incredible. So, for the benefit of my friend, and also for you, the reader to gain a deeper insight into what I look for as a fan, I present the five keys to a great match.
#1 Crowd Heat
A "hot" crowd is the foremost key to a stellar match. I can watch people perform corkscrew elbowdrops for ten hours and go to sleep. However, when The Rock engages me, the fan, by removing his elbow pad, throwing it toward me, heightens my anticipation by crossing over his fallen foe twice, and then dramatically dropping his corkscrew elbow, I am going to cheer fervently. The key to making a crowd hot is making them want to care. If you are wrestling a match and never acknowledge the people who paid their hard earned money to watch you in the ring, then of course you will get a negative response, or none at all, because you are not catering to the reason why you are there to begin with.
A great example of a match that brought an incredibly-told story to an end was the Royal Rumble 2000 street fight between Triple H and Cactus Jack...
A lively crowd makes a match spectacular because it heightens the importance of the match. When a crowd is chanting Hogan's name, they desperately want to see him win, as they feel that his win would, for that three-second pinfall of their existence, make their lives complete. Basically, a crowd enjoys being spiritually divested in the entertainment that they have paid to see. When two athletes are interacting with the crowd, and interacting with each other through pulse-pounding athleticism, a hot crowd will certainly be the result.
#2 Workrate
I am not going to sit here and write that the reason why the Hogan/HHH match sucked is because if Chris Benoit were there then he would have put HHH in so many different holds that by the end of the match he would have been a pretzel. This is not me stating that workrate rules all, nor is it me stating that all five-star matches have to include enough holds and reversals to make you think you are watching the Olympic games. Basically, my point here is that whatever it is you do in the ring, you have to do it to the best of your ability. Hulk Hogan doesn't have much of a workrate, nor is his move set very impressive. But, the difference between his matches with The Rock and HHH is that against The Rock, Hogan did everything in his power to make sure that the four moves he does know, that he did them as well as he could. Against HHH, he went too far, too fast, and ended up looking like a backyard wrestling twelve-year old in the poor execution of the simplest of holds. As well, in the final ignominy, he just laid on his back, and forced HHH to work harder than he ever should have in order to create a passably interesting match. A well worked match should feature a synergy between the two individuals in the ring, as each athlete, to the best of their ability, fires off their moves and holds until the finish of the match.
#3 Selling
To me, selling is the art of letting the fan know that you are in serious peril, and must mount a Herculean effort to be successful in winning a match. Again, selling is another key component to getting the crowd to divest their interest fully into the match. One of the greatest feuds of all time, to me, is the epic series of 1989 battles between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat in the NWA. To me, this entire feud was built on Ricky Steamboat's ability to sell a leg injury.
To the uninitiated, a given match in this classic feud would witness Rick Steamboat's using his advantage in foot speed to confound the Nature Boy's devious attacks. However, Flair would finally catch up with Steamboat, and systematically destroy Steamboat's legs. After the attack, Flair would back away, and we would see the injured Steamboat limping wildly about the ring, frantically attempting to gain his balance. Alas, it never worked, and Steamboat would fall prey to a figure-four leglock. Given the fact that he had just limped wildly around the ring like a madman, the crowd would fear for Steamboat, and begin chanting his name in order for him to break the dreaded hold. Surprisingly, he would break the figure-four, but at this point, standing without aid of the ropes isn't even an option. Furthermore, Steamboat's karate kicks were no longer an option, as he would have to resort to using chops in order to fight back against Flair. Basically, to make a long story short, when Steamboat won the title from Flair during this series, it drew for the NWA because Steamboat and Flair had chemistry, largely due to the fact that Steamboat made Flair look larger than life by selling the leg masterfully.
#4 Highspots
Again, I am not advocating that every match needs to have a phoenix splash through three flaming tables, off a ladder, to the outside of the ring to make it a great match. In fact, the opposite is true. In fact, in the aforementioned Steamboat/Flair matches, the closest thing we got to an aerial highspot was Ricky Steamboat's flying chop to the head, and flying bodypress finish. To me, a highspot is any maneuver that heightens the intensity of an already-riled crowd. I am so terribly happy that John (Johnny Ace) Laurinaris is in the WWF, because he is a major proponent of the near fall. To me, the near fall is an almost forgotten art form. You can't go for a near fall every second of a match, or else it weakens the heat of the crowd for meaningful near falls, and, as well, the actual finish. A near fall is usually perfect directly after a brilliant highspot. If I legdrop my opponent off the top rope after we have wrestled tooth-and-nail for twenty minutes, and he kicks out, then that will get a crowd's attention because it draws a crowd's attention to the fact that the two combatants have a never-say-die attitude -- which is something the audience can appreciate from their modern-day gladiators.
Furthermore, loading a match with too many highspots can kill a match because the match is not predicated on the athletes in the ring, it is predicated solely on the fans' enjoyment. A great match should focus on the two in the ring, with the crowd subtly, then suddenly swept up into the frenzy.
#5 Successfully Telling a Story
Every match either does, or eventually should tell a story. Many great matches occur without the WWF style of pomp, with the promos and sneak attacks. Often, a story can be told through the interplay of the two athletes in the ring. The aforementioned point of selling here is key, as the come back by a babyface can effectively seal the end of a well-fought match.
A great example of a match that brought an incredibly told story to an end was the Royal Rumble 2000 street fight between Triple H and Cactus Jack. The hype before the match was exquisite, as Foley's turn from the lovable Mankind to the sadistic Cactus was told in such a way that anyone would be scared for Hunter's life. As well, Hunter's claims to be "The Game," the best wrestler in the world because he would stoop to any depths to keep his legacy was brilliantly told and got the fans primed for the epic battle ahead. The crowd was already pretty hot for the event; however, the successful completion of the story between the two combatants lies in the match itself.
Successfully telling a story relies heavily on the fact that you cannot believe that your own fans are idiots. As smarts, we know this is true. Smarts and mainstream fans alike remember much of what they are shown on television, if they are told that it is important. Therefore, the involvement of barbed wire and thumbtacks on the body of both Cactus and his opponent were necessary, as it harkens back to the brutal IWA Japan matches that Cactus fought, which heightens the importance of the Royal Rumble match by telling the fan that this is an important moment in Cactus' career. As well, the handcuffing of Cactus Jack and the chairshots delivered by HHH take us back to the 1999 Royal Rumble, and the brutality of the "I Quit" match, in which The Rock destroyed Mankind and almost legitimately ended Mick Foley's career. Add to the that the mainstream coverage of the incident by 20/20, and the crowd is ready to kill Hunter: He has made the match very real to them. One important note to remember here about wrestling is that there is no match nor character that will work without some element of a person's reality added into the mix. The key point of wrestling is to get the fans to suspend reality, and to sometimes question if they really should. Hence, by adding these elements to the match, an edge of your seat thriller is had.
Well, that's it. Please let me know what you think. On occasion you will continue to be let into my mind and how (and why) I understand the fundamental tenets of the professional wrestling world. Thanks for reading!
Reference: AltWrestling.net
Marcus K. Dowling of Washington D.C. has been an avid wrestling fan for the past two decades. He writes columns every Wednesday and Saturday for AltWrestling.net.