If wrestling is fake, then why are we so obsessed with storytelling?

[Wrath]

I've been watching wrestling for a long time, but if you ask me why I became such a huge wrestling fan, the reason is because I've seen things that I couldn't see from any other sport. Cheating in matches, climbing the top rope, gimmick matches, characters, etc. I became a huge fan of wrestling because wrestling was fake. When I first saw Rey Mysterio's high flying moves, I said to myself, "Holy shit." Then I grew up and I still watch wrestling.

Right now, we all know that storytelling and in-ring psychology are some of the factors along with excitement, athleticism, etc. that make a match good. Some wrestlers like John Morrison, Jeff Hardy and many of the indy wrestlers have been criticized for being spot monkeys. Because storytelling is a factor that makes matches more realistic. What we don't realize is that wrestling is fake and is an entertainment business. So yeah, flashy moves and some exciting spots in matches started to take over the place of storytelling in matches. But if we watch wrestling to entertain and if we are entertained from flashy moves and spots, then what's the problem?

I'm not against storytelling in matches, but if a spotfest is entertaining then why do we have to criticize it? We watch wrestling to entertain. Who the fuck cares if starship pain is an unrealistic move? It looks really cool. If you watch wrestling for reality you can easily watch some other sports like boxing and MMA.

I'm not criticising storytelling. It's a great element that's used in matches. But if the match is entertaining and don't tell a good story then why do we criticize. Who cares if ROH wrestlers don't know how to tell a story, as long as they put on exciting and entertaining matches? I'm watching wrestling to entertain and yes, storytelling is a good factor. But what I'm trying to say is we shouldn't care about storytelling if the match is entertaining and exciting because that's the whole point of this business... to entertain you.

 

[proofinlife]

I've been watching wrestling for a long time but if you ask me why did I become such a huge wrestling fan the reason is I've seen things that I couldn't see from any other sport. Cheating in matches,climbing the top rope,gimmick matches,characters etc. I became a huge fan of wrestling because wrestling was fake. When I first saw Rey Mysterio's high flying moves I've said to myself holy shit. Then I grow up and I still watch wrestling. Right now we all know that storytelling and in ring psychology are some of the factors along with excitement,atletishim etc. that makes a match good. Some wrestlers like John Morrison,Jeff Hardy and many of the indy wrestlers have been criticised for being spot monkeys. Because storytelling is a factor that makes matches more realistic. What we don't realise is wrestling is fake and is an entertainment business. So yeah flashy moves, some exciting spots in matches started to take over the place of storytelling in matches. But if we watch wrestling to entertain if we entertain from flashy moves and spots what's the problem ? I'm not against storytelling in matches but if a spotfest is entertaining why do we have to criticise it. We watch wrestling to entertain. Who the fuck cares if starship pain is an unrealistic move. It looks really cool. If you watch wrestling for reality you can easily watch some other sports like boxing and MMA. I'm not criticising storytelling it's a great element that's used in matches but if the match is entertaining and don't tell a good story why do we criticise. Who cares if ROH wrestlers don't know how to tell story as long as they put on exciting and entertaining matches. I'm watching wrestling to entertain yes storytelling is a good factor but what I'm trying to say is we shouldn't care storytelling if the match is entertaining and exciting because it's to whole point of this business to entertain you.

Storytelling is one of the most major factors because that's what continues a feud. If you didn't have a story being told in the ring, such as a wrestler focusing on one body part to set up for his finisher, it wouldn't make sense when a wrestler just randomly hits his finisher and gets the 3 count.

The problem with spots, imo, are that they expose the business. My opinion is that high-spots make wrestling so unrealistic that storytelling is thrown out the window, and goes against all basic foundations that make a truly great match.

Not trying to be a dick or anything, but I believe fans of highspots are the same people that need quick fix entertainment and don't have the patience to sit through a good match with a truly fantastic story being told. They'd rather watch people dive from top ropes and do flashy moves that would otherwise have absolutely no more impact than a top rope full body splash or leg drop.

I also believe high spots are what expose wrestling as being 100% fake, because it makes absolutely no sense how someone who is visibly not unconscious can lay on the mat for nearly 30 seconds, visibly readjust his position, and wait for a wrestler to some sort of spinny flippy flashy move that, like I said, would have absolutely no more effect than a simple Full Body splash or some other simple top rope move. People defend spots as saying "Aerial maneuvres" have been done for decades, which is true, but not in the way modern spotmonkies overkill them. 20 Years ago, Snooka's top rope splash nearly "Killed a guy" (in kayfabe), whereas nowadays a 1080 Senton Splash a guy can just get up and start wrestling again. It makes absolutely no sense for them to expose wrestling like that, and I've always been an opponent of high spots for these very reasons.

Back to storytelling, if we didn't have it, wrestling would be boring. There would be nothing making matches personal, developing feuds, or creating marquee matches. If every match was just a bland match with a bunch of guys flipping around the ring not selling any moves and just generally looking like ******s, wrestling would have been in the gutter many, many, many years ago.

 

[D-Man]

Wrath, I think you're missing the point of storytelling.

For those that are more interested in the entertainment aspect of pro-wrestling, storytelling is the art of convincing an audience member to suspend their disbelief through a specific chain of events that occur during a match.

A lot of fans love watching matches that involve flips, high-flying, and a sequence of moves that aren't on a parallel with any type of realism. I believe that you fall into that category. You don't care if a wrestler works on his opponents arm during the course of a match and once they hit a move such as MVP's Playmaker (which appears to damage an opponent's back, if anything at all) the opponent is prone to a pinfall. Basically, the ending of the match makes no sense if you look at it from a realistic perspective.

But for many of us, we want to easily suspend our disbelief and forget that pro-wrestling matches are actually scripted. We want to watch a match and believe that a win or a loss was justified. We want to see a wrestler appear to be injured to the point where his or her shoulders can be pinned to the mat for a three-count. Storytelling allows that to happen.

It's like having acts in a murder-mystery story. If the beginning of the story claims that Jennifer got murdered, and the only suspects are Tom, Dick, and Harry, it makes no sense for the bulk of the story to point to Dick as the obvious culprit when it was Tom that did the deed all along... especially if the pieces don't fit together. This is what happens in a ROH match compared to most of the WWE and TNA matches. We are lead to believe that one thing is supposed to happen during a match, but in the end, nothing winds up making sense except that a definitive winner was decided.