How is Pro-Wrestling orchestrated ?

[TheUnfitOne]

How is Pro-Wrestling orchestrated ?

i.e are bouts pre-planned and practised move for move out of the public eye and then re-enacted verbatim ? or is there a degree of freestyling / ad-libbing ?

I've heard stories of the Ref' being the 'director' so to speak but have seen no evidence of it.

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[iandean]

There does seem to be a lot of camaraderie at the grassroots level.

I've been to UK wrestling shows and have seen guys talking over what they plan to do before shows, and talking with each other afterwards too. I think you find that a lot of people who are on the same circuit and travel together have to know about each other to gel.

I'd say the same is for the lower levels of the WWE as well...although if you dig back into history there are MANY stories of people having to pay their dues and politics stopping people from progressing.

Sounds a bit like UK MMA actually

[Xanthic]

sam-bfp on here should be able to answer (or at least on grass roots level).

[Rob T]

When I saw it live I was front row and could hear them (in particular Jerico and Angle) talking to each other.

[CraigSt.Clair]

Generally one wrestler calls the match, the other follows, thats the correct way to do it (imo)

A lot of the modern lot seem to practice then re-do the match (apparently)

[TheUnfitOne]

Some interesting opinions here :-

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3083608AArLnBs

[Shaolin Exile]

I vaguely remember Dave Turton once saying on a forum that he's asked some old-time UK pro wrestlers about this and that generally they would kind of do it as a freestyle exhibition match up to an agreed point and that at that point they would do a set piece with a pre-determined outcome.

I guess there's quite a few variations on how to work a fight ranging from a 'who cares who wins as long as we both look good' spar in which opportunities to finish are deliberately overlooked for the sake of a good show for an agreed amount of time and both go all out to win at the end (at one end of the spectrum) and something elaborately choreographed at the other.

Perhaps the exact nature of the work depends on what the promoter wants and how well the two wrestlers know and trust each other

[bjjguy123]

They usually just call the spots during the match. If they're taping a match for TV and botch a spot, they'll re-do it. Also, they have a 'go-home' cue which is usually a backstage guy or the referee who will indicate when to execute the pre-arranged finish.

Edit: At least this is how I think it's done, I have no personal experience.

[TheJuice]

Theres a few methods:

In the big leagues, WWE ect writers will lay down the storylines and so on, agents will be informed and agents generally come up with the finishs, what will happen in the match and any pivitol moments in the match.

Agents are usually ex wrestlers themselves(Pat Patterson, Dean Malenko, Shane Douglas are all known agents).

Depending on the level of wrestler this will dictate how much freedom a wrestler has in the ring with what they wanna do, for example, the finish and direction of the storyline will be layed out to someone like HBK or The Undertaker, and they'll be trusted enough to carry out the match.

Your lower level guys/workers not respected will pretty much have everything layed out for them with not much flexibility.

Everything you see on TV or PPV will be scripted, from the wrestlers down to the commentators (getting directions givin to them via headset to pimp upcoming shows or emphasise traits of the match/wrestler).

Wrestlers arn't perfect and can't remember every little thing in the match, so the call spots/moves as they go, this is why if you look close you can see them(and the ref) communicating during matchs. If the match is running too long, or someone isnt happy with the match, they cant instruct the ref(via headset) to tell the wreslers to 'go home'(finish) early.

As for the lower leagues:

Depending on the professionalism of the promotion things can vary. Some like to emulate the big leagues and follow suit with their methods, some promotions like to run show to show and are not storyline heavy.

In the lower leagues things generally run as follows, wrestlers arrive at a local venue, meet with opponent and promoter and find out what he wants, then from there the two(or more) wrestlers start planning out a match, some wrestlers like to plan everymove in advance, some only like to plan a few moves and do the rest on the fly.

Wrestlers doing matchs on the fly is very rare but back in the day and in certain situations it happens(wrestlers showing up late to shows therefore leaving no time to plan anything).

Source: Was a pro wrassler...

[Shaolin Exile]

On a related issue: presumably there was a time when pro wrestling was not worked. Anyone got any idea when worked fights became the norm?