Bruises & Contusions

Episode 1
By Dan Madigan

We’ve all seen professional wrestling, all of us. No one in America can say that they are not even the slightest bit aware of it. From the turn of the century when it started in the “carny” circuit to the Golden Age of wrestling when it merged with the advent of television in the fifties to its resurgence in the eighties and nineties right up to the “kid friendly era” of today, wrestling has been a main stay in popular culture, besides being one of the longest running television programs in history, the fans love it. The critics are another story, pro wrestling to them has become the redhead stepchild in sports, in fact many critics don’t even consider it a sport at all, they consider it more of a circus act than athletic competition.

Nowhere in sports will you find athletes like pro wrestlers, they are nomads, road warriors who travel from town to town, arena to arena honing their skills night after night with no off-season. Of course there is a certain amount of theatrics involved, that is why it is so entertaining, the storylines coincide with the action in the ring. In some ways pro wrestling can be considered soap operas with physicality. Many writers I know have a very elitist attitude when it comes to pro wrestling (many writers have elitist attitudes period), they think that the storylines and over-the-top antics of some of the characters aren’t too childish and not up to their standard of expertise when it comes to storytelling.

How do I know this? I worked in professional wrestling for a while, or as it is called by the insiders “the business” and I work in Hollywood as a screenwriter, so I have been on both sides and I can honestly tell you that Tinseltown doesn’t come close to putting on the type of shows and events that these guys in the “business” do several times a week. Not only do the wrestlers have to train and work out constantly to stay in shape, they have to go over their matches in their minds and think about the opponent they are facing that night and how and the best way to combat him and besides all that they have to memorize the lines and dialogue of the storylines they are in and they do this all on the road.

The life of a wrestler is hectic on slow day and there are no slow days in the “business”, it is up early and off to the airport, get a rental car, head to the hotel, check in, get to the nearest gym to work out, go back to the hotel, eat, get to the arena, work out again in the ring, find out who you are wrestling, go over the match in your head while studying pages of dialogue handed to you as you walk in, warm up, cut your promos, wrestle, do some more promos if needed, see the trainer for any aches and pains (and there are always aches and pains), hit the showers, dress, get back in your rental car, go back to the hotel, crash, get up early and do it all again in another state. And it is not just in America, Japan and Mexico and now Europe all have huge wrestling fan bases and their wrestlers are no less dedicated to their sports. The Mexican and Japanese fans are to the point of fanatical when it comes to following their favorite wrestlers. Although there is some cultural difference between American, Japanese and Mexican wrestling, the bottom line is the same, good hard matches to entertain the fans with.

My job was to develop storylines, arc and characters and write “promos” (the heated dialogue that the wrestlers will say), some of the boys are natural on the mic; you don’t have to write a word for them. They know exactly what and how their character would say something because in essence, there are no characters in professional wrestling, they are performers and their personas are extensions of who they truly are. Any great actor has to look deep inside of themselves to find that certain spark that will ignite a powerful performance out of them, the roles they choice echo out another facet of their personality. In wrestling it is the same way, the men and women that portray some of the more “colorful” characters are just acting out another facet of their personality, no matter how “out there” a character maybe, there has to be a shred of reality in the representation of that character to make him human.

When working in the business there is a code of personal and professional conduct that should be adhered to… never, “ever” do anything to denigrate the business or reveal the inner workings. I whole heartily agree with that, much like magicians who vow to keep their silence about the magic they perform, the magic the wrestlers perform is too be kept secret, so I won’t be saying how this is done or why that is done, that is no ones concern outside of the business but I will talk about what goes into building the emotional intensity in a match itself.

As for storytelling, there is no richer field to choice characters than in pro wrestling. The simplest rules of storytelling are presented to you, good versus evil. Conflict, struggle, drama, deception, betrayal, revenge, redemption, all of these important elements of storytelling are found nightly inside the ring. In wrestling as in all storytelling there is conflict, no conflict no story, simple. In most dramatic depictions or soap operas problems are mostly resolved by dialogue and hidden revelations, in pro wrestling everything must be resolved in the ring. Whatever problems or rivalries are created outside the ring, the conclusion of these feuds has to be resolved inside the ropes. That is why the people go to the shows, to see their heroes triumphant over the bad guys, it is a visceral experience where the fans can live through the deeds and actions of the wrestlers.

When we watch action movies, we watch them for the drama, the story, and the humor that is there to relieve the tension, the characters and most of all the action. In wrestling you get this every night. My job was to create a world and character for wrestlers in which they lived in and wrestled in, everything that character did or said I was in charge of (with the help and input of that wrestler, of course). Everything they did from once they entered the arena, to their backstage personas, to the promos they cut right up until they walked out the curtains and head-up the stairs to the ring was up to me.

Once they stepped through the ropes my job was finished. I had nothing to do with the action in the ring and no writer should (unless he is a former seasoned wrestler who knows the business like the back of his hand). No writer can assume to know what goes on inside the squared circle, that task is left up to the wrestlers who have the knowledge and the “road agents” who help guide them and train them for the ring. The “road agents” are seasoned pro wrestlers who have the experience and knowledge that is needed to be passed down to the next generation of wrestlers.

Once inside the ring, the wrestlers just don’t wrestle. They tell a story through their actions and in any dramatic story one need at least two conflicting sides, that is the good versus evil aspect of it. In wrestling your hero is called the face (short for babyface, because of the idea of the hero being the wholesome All-American boy) the villain is called the heel (In Mexico the “faces” are called técnicos” derived from the older term “científicos” because of their mastery of wrestling and their technical proficiency, the “heels” are called “rudos”, because, well…. they’re rude, simple.) The majority of the matches in America are “face vs. heel” matches (occasionally there will be “face vs. face” or “heel vs. heel” matches).

A good match has two things going for it, great physicality and great ring psychology. It is not just two big men pounding away at each other; it is about the hero’s journey trying to overcome the odds. First off, you must have empathy with your characters, especially your hero if you are going to be living vicariously through him in his match. Emotional investment in the match by the fans is paramount to having a good match; if not, why would anyone care what happens? That is why the charismatic and colorful wrestlers that can cut a promo and wrestler well are fan favorites; people want to cheer for the good guy. That is were personal conflict comes in, I have always rooted for the heel my natural inclination has always been for the bad guy, but with out a formidable bad guy you do not have a strong hero.

Once two wrestlers step in the ring it is usually after some altercations and out-of-the ring attacks, this is how a feud or “program” is started. It is best to match up a face and heel with the same intensity and equivalent skill level. On many occasions in a wrestlers career he will switch from face to heel numerous times, this turning from good to bad and back again actually help build a more three dimensional character, not many people in real life are Mother Teresa!

In a match the heel seems to have a natural advantage because he is not above breaking the rules to get over on his opponent, as long as the referee isn’t looking the heel has an arsenal of dirty tactics he can pull out. One way to really get the crowd enticed (to get “heat”) in the match is to have the heel really piss off the audience before the match begins. Legendary heels have manipulated the crowds to near frenzied states in the past, that is part of ring psychology.

The best wrestlers know how to use it, you just don’t step into the ring, you take your time getting there. Build the heat, the more heat from the crowd the hotter the fans get and it is that heat the wrestlers work off of. In the past such classic heels like the Iron Sheik or Nikoli Volkoff would wave the Iranian or Russian flag around the ring before the match then proceed to sing their national anthems while denigrating America all the while, the fans hated them that equals good heat. It is better to have the fans be incensed and hate a wrestler sometimes than to cheer for a hero. When a heel is so despicable that the fans are willing to pay to see anyone kick his behind, that is good business, the heel is doing his job. And it is the heel that dictates the match, the seasoned heel sets the pace and it is through his use of ring psychology and expert physicality that the match comes together.

A main event match should have all the anticipation of a big time prize fight behind it, two men in one ring battling it out. With a big build up that sometimes starts weeks before the two combatants face off, the anticipation level from the fans is should be at a fevered pitch. One good way to get the fans involved is to have your face ambushed or disgraced before he even has a chance to get into the ring against his adversary, the heel at times jumps the face on-screen when the face doesn’t expect it and gives him a horrendous beat down or the heel may interrupt a match that the face is in against another wrestler and his interference causes the face to lose, there are different ways for the heel to draw heat. Once again, the more heat from the fans the better the match usually is.

Nothing is easy in life, and winning a match in professional wrestling is one of the hardest things to achieve no matter what you say about “predetermined” outcomes, the amount of energy, skill and blood given by the wrestlers on a nightly basis is staggering. I have seen incredible accounts of bravery and athletic skill within the ring. I was fortunate enough to work with some of the best names ever to work in the business, to watch Chris Beniot, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Ultimo Dragon, Rey Mysterio, Jr. and the late great Eddie Guerrero was treat for any fan and to watch them work nightly was a education in physical and emotional storytelling.

The hero cannot come out and destroy his opposition quickly, if he does the heel was never a formidable opponent in the first place and then in return the hero is not that strong. There are some fast matches in the business, they are called “squash matches” and it is usually an up-and-coming powerful heel that eliminates all opposition in front of him, these quick and brutal endings build the heel’s aura of invincibility, then he gradually goes through higher caliber of talent before he is pitted against a name face.

When the face and the heel finally lock up, it should be after a long build up and tension should be at all-time high level. In North America for the most part the matches are “one fall”, that means when one wrestlers in pinned or counted out, he loses. In Mexico the matches are usually “Dos de tres caídas” {two out of three falls}, a different ring psychology is used when putting together a Mexican lucha libre match. Your face will take everything the heel throws at him in stride, but your heel has more tricks up his sleeve, eye gouges, face rakes, low blows, elbows to the throat, using the ropes for leverage, there are a myriad of dirty tactics the heel can chose from to get the upper hand in the match and he will use them, laws and rules mean nothing to him, just like the classic screen villains, the heels do not adhere to the morays of society, they make themselves outcasts from the rest of us and alienate the majority of the fans by their antics and foul behavior. Win at all cost, that is the goal of the heel, he has his own code he lives by, the code of the treachery. Even if the heel has a tag team partner or an ally he will eventually turn on him when the times suits his needs. There is no loyalty within the heel’s code, that is classic movie villainy.

When constructing the elements that go into a good match you see how Hollywood and wrestling is not too far apart, in Hollywood today there is system of not making one movie but a franchise. Movies today have sequel after sequel, the idea being that you can always beat a few more pennies out of the carcass of a dead horse. In wrestling nothing is really resolved in one match. The hero comes out on top but the heel usually has a built in return clause in the contract or some other nefarious way to have another match with his rival. Then comes the second match, and in a business sense it is smart money for the winner of the first match to lose the second match, now the score is even and they wrestlers will have a third match or the “blow off match” (the equivalent of boxing’s “rubber match”)

Before the invention of television wrestlers could have played out this same scenario all over the territories they traveled sometimes getting months of matches out of a particular feud, with TV and internet fans know too much of what is going in the wrestling world, it has become harder over the years to build meaningful feuds between top quality opposition but when a classic grudge match or feud is developed it is the same degree as if two gunfighters square off. The build up, the stare down, the look the wrestlers exchange before the bell rings is right out of Leone; it is match up of the Good, the Bad and the Fans.

Next time you are channel surfing and you came upon a match in progress, whether it is one of the major promotion or one of the smaller ones or even our Mexican counterparts, watch the match as it develops, look for the ebbs and flow of the match, observe how the physicality goes back and forth, see how the face is trying to make a comeback and it beaten down by the heel, watch when the referee turns his back for a second how quickly the heel will seize the opportunity and use it to his advantage, notice the face is facing insurmountable odds being beaten down but yet finds it deep within himself (and with the help of the crowd’s cheers) to dig down deep within himself to mount a comeback but before he can gather enough steam the heel stalls his counter-offensive and puts the face back in the hole (always keep the face at a disadvantage).

It is through guile, skill, toughness and intestinal fortitude that the face rallies to gather enough strength to overcome the heels final onslaught and come out victorious and yet it many times it is the heel that will come out on top with the guarantee of a rematch that the fans will be screaming for, and the harder the loss for the face the more the fans will want to see him redeem himself.

At the end of the day, storytelling is storytelling; whether it for the pulp novels or television, the movies or within the wrestling ring. You need interesting characters, intriguing set-ups, conflict, drama and resolution. No place are those fundamentals seen more than in the arenas, venues and halls every night of the week throughout the world were skilled athletes compete and resolve their conflicts the oldest way how.

So the next time you pass by wrestling on TV or should happen to walk by the advertisement for a local event realize that the hard work on putting on a small scale show is amazing and that having a promotion of any size being run on competent level is incomprehensible. The work and dedication of wrestlers, road agents and the behind the scenes staff accomplishes every night is pretty spectacular and it’s done for one reason; the love of the sport.

Dan Madigan, author of Mondo Lucha A Go-Go, former WWE Creative Writer and screenwriter for WWE Films, “See No Evil”

Maskbook username: Baron Von Bava 13