Burials, Or How I Learned To Stop Whining And Love The Shovel

[klunderbunker]

I want to talk a little bit about burying.

This is the term that I hear used the most incorrectly around here and it's time you guys got a brief lesson on what it means.

Let's start by defining a burial. To bury someone in wrestling means that they are shoved down the card and no longer have the spot that they had. On top of that (adding more dirt onto it if you will) it means you're not coming back out of it for a long time. In essence it means you're done. There is next to no hope for your recovery and return to the spot you once had unless something major changes for you and probably others ahead of you.

And now, for one of the most important things I've ever say on here or anywhere else regarding wrestling. If you never pay attention to anything else I say, learn this for the collective intelligence of the planet: You cannot be buried in one match. This is the biggest problem people seem to have with the term. For some reason there's a mentality that says if you lose EVER, your career is over and you're being buried. This is completely incorrect and I have no idea where this notion came from.

People lose matches. It has to happen. Losses mean nothing in wrestling. It's all about the way you lose. Let's take a look at an example. Christian hasn't won a match that meant anything in months correct? I don't think anyone would argue he's anything less than the third biggest heel on Smackdown and arguably the second biggest. He loses all the time and yet he's still every bit as over as he was when he started losing. For an older example, look at Chris Jericho, who lost clean to Evan Bourne on PPV. Did that bury him? Of course not. It put Bourne over, which is the point of a win like that.

So many times people mistake a rub for a burial. Tonight on Smackdown Orton lost to Barrett almost clean. Barrett looks like a bigger star and a more credible threat. Orton is going to be the top guy on Smackdown for a very long time even though he lost here. He's down in the card more than he was over the summer, but he's not being buried. Another reason you might lose a match is to turn. Razor Ramon got beat by a jobber named the 1-2-3 Kid clean on Raw but it wasn't to bury him. It was to start his face turn that put him at his greatest glory ever in WWF.

For our final example, let's look at an actual burial: Drew McIntyre. Drew was once the hottest thing in the company, on an undefeated streak and depending on various reports you might read, in line to win the world title by the end of the year. Then his wife got him in trouble and his push stopped. Drew stopped winning matches, stopped being featured, stopped being talked about, and now is lucky to get squashed once a month. It took time for him to go down the card to the point where it's rare to see him on TV. He's been buried and it took months to do so.

Get the idea now? There will be a quiz later.

 

[Rayne]

I saw the thread title from the main forum menu, without being able to see who originally posted it, and thought "aw, fuck, not again". What a relief to see this!

For all of the people that talk about the psychological mechanics of professional wrestling on these boards, there are probably a dozen that I could say understand it. (At least, amongst active posters- can't really tell the opinions of the lurkers.) What a boring story endless winning would make! One of the fundamental themes in the history of human literature is that of the protagonist overcoming adversity in spite of overwhelming odds, and professional wrestling isn't much more than storytelling, told by oiled up men in spandex clutching at each other. The hero, emblematic of the audience's virtues, is faced with a challenge in the form of an enemy who holds values the audience disagrees with. The hero appears as if victory is in question against the enemy, but using skills which the audience admires, the hero defeats the enemy. (Roman literature features heroes overcoming the villains with brute strength; Asian literature frequently features heroes using cunning against a physically stronger opponent. American storytelling apparently prefers heroes who do cool hand gestures and have good catch phrases.)

It sounds simple, because it is. If the hero constantly beats his enemy in every encounter, where's the tension of the unexpected? Why tune in next week? We all know that the good guy is going to win in the end, but good storytelling still manages to create doubt for the ending.

 

[DirtyD79]

If the hero constantly beats his enemy in every encounter, where's the tension of the unexpected? Why tune in next week? We all know that the good guy is going to win in the end, but good storytelling still manages to create doubt for the ending.

A babyface is only as good as the heels around them. A heel needs to win in order to be seen as a credible obstacle to the face. It'd be like if at the Superbowl The Green Bay Packers beat a peewee league team instead of The Pittsburgh Steelers. That's not drama that's a slaughter. Even if you hate either team you'll get bored. This is supposed to be the big dance. Sure you can blow off a preseason game but this is for all the beer nuts here. The Superbowl is billed as the best of the best.

And This is the biggest knock on John Cena. You can see it in Kelly Kelly in the divas division too. I mean seriously she punks out Beth and Natalya every week. Hell this week she didn't even need to wrestle them. They ran off like scalded dogs just because Eve and whoever showed up. John Cena beat Miz and R Truth clean last week and this week they needed to cheat to beat him. So why exactly does he need the Rock's help? What purpose does The Rock serve in all this? It makes it look like they just shoehorned him in to pump up Pay Per View buys saying "Lookie, lookie, it's The Rock and he's doing stuff." It just looks fake, like he's only there for a cameo and a little extra money between movies. When you're calling yourself "The Leader in Sports Entertainment"or The Best Athletes In The World" fans expect more. They don't expect pooh putts and Venture Bros. level failure they want greatness.

A pay per view is supposed to be the big dance for a wrestling show. Fans are paying money here. Especially for one as vaunted as Survivor Series. You need to build a big match up The Irresistable Force meets The Immovable Object. You don't build big main event matches by turning half the act into soup cans.