Two wrestlers stand breathless on shaky legs; each has given every ounce of their energy. They exchange blows, each one greeted with raucous cheers or aggressive booing from the crowd of more than 15,000 people.
Blood streams from the nose of one man while the glassy eyes of the other show the damage that has been inflicted on him. With a new found reserve of energy coursing through his body he sprints across the canvas, leaps forward and connects with a vicious knee strike to the temple of his opponent.
So does the referee now end the match and declare the winner by knockout? You'd be forgiven for thinking he must, but this is not Mixed Martial Arts, boxing or karate. This is professional wrestling, regularly described as that fake stuff where winning is not determined by a superior fighter but is a pre-determined decision made by people who own the company. Pro wrestling is not a combat-sport in the traditional sense, how is it best classified? Let someone in the know explain what it is.
Damian 'Big Damo' O Connor a 31-year-old has been a full time professional wrestler, with various promotions across the UK and Europe, for the last seven years. The definition he gives to his occupation is: "Movement based theatre, trained as a martial art."
It is this combination of training that he hopes will mean that each night he hopes will help him achieve his nightly goal of: “no injuries and entertain the crowd."
Back to the fight. Dropping to the canvas and hooking the leg of his opponent to go for a pin, the fan favourite looks for victory, the referee slides to the mat and throws down his hand…ONE …….TWO, the crowd begin to stand as they get ready to cheer their guy's victory.
The referee’s hand is centimeters from bringing the match to a close, when with a burst of sheer will power the fallen opponent throws a shoulder up from the mat to break the count.
Then in a blur of motion he uses his legs to roll over his opponent, who was just mere inches from victory, and then reaches to lock in a submission hold.
Within the space of one second, the three men in the ring have been able to shift the expectations of the 15,000 screaming fans, and change their emotional state as they have become so invested in what they are witnessing.
Referee's in pro wrestling are responsible for so much more than just counting a pin-fall to end a match. John Myers has been a referee in the business for 15 years, working for a number of the UK promotions, and counting and explained just how important that role is: "Really it's all down to communication. I am the liaison during the match at times when the guys (or girls) in the match can't speak. Regarding outcomes it might be that I have a role to play during the that. I might know the outcome, or I might not if there hasn't been a decision made - and I just have to Shoot ref it.
“...or if something goes wrong then the ending needs to change then I might have to call something for the guys to do."
This is a brief example of the complexities involved in Pro wrestling and how stories are told through physical theatre. In order to have people care about the outcomes of these matches character development is also an important factor.
Much like you develop a bond with characters in TV soap operas, pro wrestlers also build up their character in interview segments or with promotional vignettes to make you have a vested interest in the outcomes of their career.
This is lesson one in pro wrestling: build drama, bring the crowd along for an entertaining ride. Described by the wrestling writer Tim Kail as the "moment of pop", the point at which the crowd explode with excitement or shock, every performers job is to build the crowd to this moment. There are many routes to that ‘moment of pop’ and they are reliant on the different elements in play for each individual match, or show taking place.
Wrestling is a skill that is both difficult to learn and almost impossible to master. It takes commitment and comes with a degree of danger for the performer each time they step into the ring.
On top of learning the technical side, a good performer needs to have the ability to act and also be charismatic. As much good work is done outside of the ring in building characters through promo's, calling out their opponents or just entertaining fans with their acting ability, to effortlessly bring about the desired reaction from a crowd to their role.
It is the skill of combining the two main factors mentioned earlier, performance art, and soap opera style writing and character building that the WWE uses to attract millions of people around the world; and the formula remains the same even for the smallest of promotions.
Many TV shows work best when there is a mixture of drama and lightheartedness, this is also true of wrestling, WWE wrestler William Regal talked to me about how this can be implemented and the challenges involved in doing this successfully: "I was doing a comedy 'carry on' style character in WCW that I knew people from the UK were getting, people in America didn't like it at all and took it very seriously"
They had taken it so seriously that six men had smashed up his car outside of the venue one night purely based on the fact that they perceived his character to be belittling their style of pro wrestling. The outcome of this is that understanding the crowd you're performing for may mean you need to make some improvised changes to your character.
While the physical altercations used to draw sympathy for the good guy, by having the bad guy look dominant over him for extended stretches of a match while playing to the crowd, are a an established formulaic approach to matches. The actual moves used to do so will be improvised with his opponent as the match progresses. They must be able to change things fast if a situation such as crowd responses or injuries determine so.
The improvisation of the technical aspects of a matches allows for them to be adjusted if injuries occur to a performer or if previous matches or segments of shows have over run.
Sure there will be certain sequences of the match that the two have talked about doing, these are known as ‘spots’, in order to get reactions from the crowd and help to drive along the narrative. The other thing that will have been discussed is he finish to the match, how they are going to bring their story to its finale with the biggest impact. For example in the video above.
Now you might have noticed that I have not furnished you with the result of the match described above, did the submission hold earn the villain of the match a victory, did the crowd manage to give their hero the will to fight out? As with drama in all it's incarnations, throwing in a surprise towards the end can create a tremendous response from crowds.
The truth is that even at that late stage of a match anything can still happen in the world of pro wrestling, like the example below of that Flash Morgan Webster at the culmination of this ladder match that he wasn't even a participant in.
In typical fashion when asked about the finish to this match, the response from Flash Morgan Webster was: "For months I've proved why I'm not just one of the best in Chaos but one of the best in the UK.
"Yet Chaos seem to ignore any right I have to the no.1 Contendership. So I decided to take my shot, I proved I was smarter than Chaos Management and smarter than all you fans. Then I struck when the time was right and seized the Heir to the Throne contract. Now Chaos have said it doesn't count and they don't recognise me as the Heir To The Throne holder but when have I ever listened to what management have to say. Let the real Chaos begin!"
Sometimes the blur between when they are in character and when they aren't is lost, and that is part of the mystery and entertainment that is Pro Wrestling.
