Post by TIA Promotions on Apr 29, 2022 7:33:58 GMT -5
The 7 Stages of Writing a Wrestling Match
Adapted from the original piece by “Nate” which can be found here:
www.tapatalk.com/groups/uwe/7-stages-of-a-wrestling-match-t13127.html
• Stage 1 - The Intro
The introduction is simple: establish to the crowd the roles in this match: Who’s the bad guy? Bad mouth the crowd, or the opponent, or refuse to slap/shake hands. Are you the good guy? Give them the thumbs up, shake the ref's hand. The audience wants to be told how to react, so tell them. This goes for whatever angle you're working in the match: just let everyone know everything they need to know before the actual wrestling and don’t make it complicated
• Stage 2 - The Shine
This is the initial struggle, where the chain grappling takes place. The idea here is to do two things: let the crowd know both wrestlers are trained and talented, and get the face over. If you're going face v. face (good luck) you both need to get over on your technical prowess; if you're face v. heel put the face over!. In the classic heel v. face match-up, this is where you establish that, in a fair fight, the good guy is just that much better of a wrestler. Good thing rules were made to be bent and broken.
• Stage 3 - The Heat
This is where one guy establishes that they're willing to do anything win: the bad guy rakes the eyes, chokes on the ropes, and argues with the ref and the crowd the whole way as they take advantage of the match. This should be slow and methodical: any explosive moves should happen at the beginning of the heat and kept to a minimum as the bad guy plays with his food. When the crowd is ready (get them chanting!) it's time for the tide to turn:
• Stage 4 - The Comeback
The heel has the hold locked in, yells to the crowd that their hero is going to tap, and that's when the face starts to slowly get to his feet and break the hold: everyone knows this basic spot. This shouldn't last very* long, maybe 30 seconds: enough to get the crowd pumped and cheering and excited, but remember: the crowd doesn't want to cheer for minutes straight, and ideally they should always be cheering when the face has the advantage. A couple clotheslines, a couple dropkicks, a big springboard, a close count, and the heel is back on top:
• Stage 5 - The Big Heat
This is where the heel pulls out all the stops: the heavy hitting moves, the explosives moves, the devastating holds, the stomp on the head and the fingers: he's mad and embarrassed and ready to win. This should last several minutes at the minimum (for shorter matches) and include plenty of pinfall attempts: the heel has seen the face comeback from his cheating and isn't taking any more chances. After yet another attempt at the win, only to be foiled by the face's perseverance, the heel goes for a desperate submission, or a big moves off the top; that's when it's time for:
• Stage 6 - The Big Comeback
This is Hogan's "hulk up", Cena's "Can't See Me", The Rock's Spinebuster. The heel has missed a big move, both guys are down, the crowd should be excited for the face to have his opportunity now. This is about as long as the first comeback and even more explosive.
• Stage 7 - The Finish
The finish can be simple or complicated: it's either just hitting your finish and a pin, maybe it's a dirty roll-up by the heel, a run-in, and DQ; exactly what it sounds like: the finish of the match. The point is it takes place after the Big Comeback: if the crowd is hot from the good guy hitting their comeback, they'll pop even bigger when he wins; adversely, they'll be even more devastated when he loses.
"Cool idea, how do I utilize it as a worker?"
Faces control the comeback. Ideally, you should have a set of moves for each stage depending on who is the heel or face, but the idea is the plan out a series of moves ahead of time... and use them in every match as the set up to the finish. As a face, you want to think carefully about how you want to finish matches when you are adding your move set to your profile.
Heels control the heat. Rake the eyes, double axe handle the back, a few kidney punches, then a choke on the ropes; break the hold, argue with the ref, taunt the crowd, and then back on the face with the chin lock, etc. Use variations of the same process every match. Move sets for heels can be a bit more random. The heat is more important than the finish.
The idea here is that if you have a list of moves, especially signature or set-up moves, established for the wrestlers (especially the face), the match writer only needs to write half the match.
I’m no expert. And there's no rule book on how you have to efed. Do whatever you want. But writing a match in these 7 stages may be easier than your current process of match writing. it might help anyone starting a new fed to have a solid matches from the get-go. Let me know what you think or if you want to add anything to this article. And thank you for reading!
Adapted from the original piece by “Nate” which can be found here:
www.tapatalk.com/groups/uwe/7-stages-of-a-wrestling-match-t13127.html
• Stage 1 - The Intro
The introduction is simple: establish to the crowd the roles in this match: Who’s the bad guy? Bad mouth the crowd, or the opponent, or refuse to slap/shake hands. Are you the good guy? Give them the thumbs up, shake the ref's hand. The audience wants to be told how to react, so tell them. This goes for whatever angle you're working in the match: just let everyone know everything they need to know before the actual wrestling and don’t make it complicated
• Stage 2 - The Shine
This is the initial struggle, where the chain grappling takes place. The idea here is to do two things: let the crowd know both wrestlers are trained and talented, and get the face over. If you're going face v. face (good luck) you both need to get over on your technical prowess; if you're face v. heel put the face over!. In the classic heel v. face match-up, this is where you establish that, in a fair fight, the good guy is just that much better of a wrestler. Good thing rules were made to be bent and broken.
• Stage 3 - The Heat
This is where one guy establishes that they're willing to do anything win: the bad guy rakes the eyes, chokes on the ropes, and argues with the ref and the crowd the whole way as they take advantage of the match. This should be slow and methodical: any explosive moves should happen at the beginning of the heat and kept to a minimum as the bad guy plays with his food. When the crowd is ready (get them chanting!) it's time for the tide to turn:
• Stage 4 - The Comeback
The heel has the hold locked in, yells to the crowd that their hero is going to tap, and that's when the face starts to slowly get to his feet and break the hold: everyone knows this basic spot. This shouldn't last very* long, maybe 30 seconds: enough to get the crowd pumped and cheering and excited, but remember: the crowd doesn't want to cheer for minutes straight, and ideally they should always be cheering when the face has the advantage. A couple clotheslines, a couple dropkicks, a big springboard, a close count, and the heel is back on top:
• Stage 5 - The Big Heat
This is where the heel pulls out all the stops: the heavy hitting moves, the explosives moves, the devastating holds, the stomp on the head and the fingers: he's mad and embarrassed and ready to win. This should last several minutes at the minimum (for shorter matches) and include plenty of pinfall attempts: the heel has seen the face comeback from his cheating and isn't taking any more chances. After yet another attempt at the win, only to be foiled by the face's perseverance, the heel goes for a desperate submission, or a big moves off the top; that's when it's time for:
• Stage 6 - The Big Comeback
This is Hogan's "hulk up", Cena's "Can't See Me", The Rock's Spinebuster. The heel has missed a big move, both guys are down, the crowd should be excited for the face to have his opportunity now. This is about as long as the first comeback and even more explosive.
• Stage 7 - The Finish
The finish can be simple or complicated: it's either just hitting your finish and a pin, maybe it's a dirty roll-up by the heel, a run-in, and DQ; exactly what it sounds like: the finish of the match. The point is it takes place after the Big Comeback: if the crowd is hot from the good guy hitting their comeback, they'll pop even bigger when he wins; adversely, they'll be even more devastated when he loses.
"Cool idea, how do I utilize it as a worker?"
Faces control the comeback. Ideally, you should have a set of moves for each stage depending on who is the heel or face, but the idea is the plan out a series of moves ahead of time... and use them in every match as the set up to the finish. As a face, you want to think carefully about how you want to finish matches when you are adding your move set to your profile.
Heels control the heat. Rake the eyes, double axe handle the back, a few kidney punches, then a choke on the ropes; break the hold, argue with the ref, taunt the crowd, and then back on the face with the chin lock, etc. Use variations of the same process every match. Move sets for heels can be a bit more random. The heat is more important than the finish.
The idea here is that if you have a list of moves, especially signature or set-up moves, established for the wrestlers (especially the face), the match writer only needs to write half the match.
I’m no expert. And there's no rule book on how you have to efed. Do whatever you want. But writing a match in these 7 stages may be easier than your current process of match writing. it might help anyone starting a new fed to have a solid matches from the get-go. Let me know what you think or if you want to add anything to this article. And thank you for reading!