Goldberg defends "Stiff" Wrestlers

[Fansince1992]

I just watched a very recent interview with Bill Goldberg. He made an interesting point, when asked a question about his short (2-5 minute) matches.

Goldberg said that a "Stiff" looking wrestler makes it look more realistic. He stated that it appears less staged and pre-determined. He gave his fued with Scott Steiner as an example. Both men were probably booked for "Stiff" matches during their fued.

I am a bit inbetween about it all. I enjoy 2 brutes going at it, and yeah it probably does look more like a real fight, but on the other hand i would probably get bored if i never saw another 5 star frog splash from an RVD or a Swanton Bomb from Jeff.

Of the current "Stiff" Superstars Ryback gets much flack, but doesn't he keep things interesting?. I think having a mix of different body sizes, wrestling styles, and personality make for a better show/event?

Goldberg stated that the crowd also go mental (on thier feet) when 2 stiff guys go for it.

Thoughts?

 

[Slash-LN]

You don't have to be a brute to work stiff. Chris Jericho is a stiff worker. Bret Hart liked to work stiff and liked wrestlers to work stiff with him.

Some workers don't like it. A lot of guys in WWF didn't want to work with Vader because they felt he worked too stiff.

From what I understand it's pretty common for workers to work stiff with each other in Japan where professional wrestling is still treated as a sport.

It can add to the realism of a match. You just have to be more careful not to go overboard with it I guess.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Working "stiff" does make a match look more realistic, rather than the clearly fake punches and kicks you see in some other matches, but you still need to protect your opponent and ensure that you are performing the moves safely. Someone like Bret Hart, who was a stiff worker and liked to make things realistic, took pride in that he rarely, if ever, injured an opponent in a match. Sometimes, you see guys who take "stiff" to mean "reckless" and don't seem to look after their opponent and this can result in serious injury.

I like a match to look realistic but not when it comes at a cost of the safety of any of the wrestlers.

 

[ABMorales787]

When the biggest money draws on the field are Hulk Hogan and John Cena it's just way too hard to believe working stiff has any actual benefit. Scratch that, it doesn't. At all. There is zero benefit to working stiff because we are already suspending our disbelief for the characters and the overall fact that it's wrestling. If I wanted to watch stiff fights with stiff fighters, I'd watch MMA. But I don't. I want to see colorful characters do inplausable things in real life. So I tune into wrestling.

The only thing being a stiff wrestler ever did was give someone a concussion. Or pop someone's eye out. Or lead a person to killing said stiff wrestler and the rest of the locker room not caring. There are so many reasons that point to it being bad that it just makes Goldberg look like an idiot.

 

[LascoX]

It's possible to work stiff and be safe. The classic example of this is the match Bret Hart had With Chris Benoit ( The Owen Tribute match) Other examples are the matches Bret had with the Dynamite kid. It does add a bit of realism to the bout and if done correctly lets both wrestlers walk away unharmed, bruised a bit but for all practical purposes unharmed. Granted not all wrestlers can work stiff and safe. Seeing how Goldberg ended Bret's career with a stiff kick that's obvious enough. Still , I like it when the wrestlers are good enough to pull it off and deliver a good match. I hate wrestling to look to fake during the match. I am not looking for the entertainers to go away injured so they need to know and respect the limits of themselves and their opponents. If the wrestlers are able to work a bit on the stiff side and do it safely I see no problem with it.

 

[Sundar]

I don't know if Benoit was considered a stiff worker but I always found his moves very realistic and painful yet very elegant and entertaining to watch and his matches certainly weren't short. His chops, kicks, double axe handles, headbutts and even the way he set people up for the Crippler Crossface by yanking their arm felt very realistic even though the Lebell Lock is generally considered to be a more legit, painful hold than the Crossface.