WWE Newbie questions

Ramones

I'd like to ask a few questions as I'm new to WWE however I'd like to point out in advance that my questions are genuine and not meant to offend anyone.

My only previous experience with wrestling was watching ITV back in the 80s with British wrestling with the likes of Mick McManus, Big Daddy, Kendo Nagasaki and Giant Haystacks.

The advent of WWF/WWE completely passed me by but now I have 2 young sons who are big into it and are all questions.

In no particular order the questions are

What is meant when a star is said to be a face and /or a heel?

Exactly how choreographed is each match? I have the utmost admiration for what I have seen these guys do, but is each match rehearsed?

Do they just go along knowing who will win and decide themselves how and when it will be won or lost?

In terms of career decisions who pulls he strings? Does a wrestler genuinely decide himself to cash in a title for the opportunity at another title or is he directed by the heads at WWE? Example - I've read about Mr Kennedy blowing his chance by cashing in money in the bank etc. and will now have to sit back for a couple of years to get another crack at a title.

Do the fans have any input into who is successful or not?

Thanks for any help and again, I can understand if these questions seem basic but I would appreciate any input.

Thanks

Ramones

Sorry one other question - can we view the RAW and Smackdown shows here in Ireland? My kids seem to just watch constant repeats of stuff in the evening from about 5 or 6 o'clock.

I've read some threads here relating to the previosu nights Raw or Smackdown. Can someone tell me when they are on tv

Thanks again

Spud83

Well RAW is on at one o'clock on sky sports on a Monday night so probably not suitable for your kids, repeated on Thursday evening/night though. Smackdown is on at 9 or ten on a Friday night again it could be a bit late.

Face = good guy
Heel = bad guy

Yes all the matches are choreographed and the results are known before hand, some wrestlers can be really bad at hiding the face they are going to lose.

All the decisions regarding carears are made by management and some wrestlers have a bigger pull with management and therefore get bigger pushes.

Hope this helps.

Ph3n0m

What is meant when a star is said to be a face and /or a heel?

Face - good guy; Heel - bad guy

Exactly how choreographed is each match? I have the utmost admiration for what I have seen these guys do, but is each match rehearsed?

Some spots are worked out in advanced, but basically its give and take in the ring. There is a script (like who will win, specific things to happen in the match). Usually the wrestlers will call certain moves to their opponent (normally when in a rest hold or in the corner - their heads are usually together very briefly)

Do they just go along knowing who will win and decide themselves how and when it will be won or lost?

Yup each match is controlled that way - however it can be changed during the match based on injury, crowd reaction, etc - and information is passed from backstage to either the referee (via his earpiece) who then relays it to the wrestlers or the play-by-play guys (announcers at tables at ringside) also can do this.


In terms of career decisions who pulls he strings? Does a wrestler genuinely decide himself to cash in a title for the opportunity at another title or is he directed by the heads at WWE? Example - I've read about Mr Kennedy blowing his chance by cashing in money in the bank etc. and will now have to sit back for a couple of years to get another crack at a title.

Nah tis all based on how the crowd reacts to you, actual talent, who in management like you, etc - various things can swing it. The money in the bank thing was actually part of an angle (wrestling storyline) that went a tad wrong.

Do the fans have any input into who is successful or not?
Sometimes the crowd can decide if a wrestler turns good or bad. Prime example was Hogan vs Rock in Canada - the canadians boo'd the hell out of the Rock, who then decided, by himself or from word backstage, to wrestle as a bad guy (cheating, etc)

Kid Nothing

1. Face is the good guy (Fan Favourites like Shawn Michaels), Heel is the bad guy (Edge, etc)

2./3. The finish of every match is planned aswell as any big spots that look complicated. I think now more so than a few years ago though that a lot more of every match is pre-arranged (mainly due to a lack of experience of wrestlers). When guys like Finlay or Regal are wrestling they'll go on there own ideas a lot more than say Cena and Lashley who'll stick to what they're told.

4. Everything is organised by the people writing the scripts for the shows. All decisions on what wrestler does what are made by the company (mainly Vince Mcmahon).

5. The fans can have input in as far as if they keep cheering a certain person then they'll will eventually get somewhere if the company wants them to. The fans decide who they like and that is who the company will make successful, unless of course certain people behind the scenes don't like the guy getting cheered and then they'll just make them look bad so people lose interest.

Almost everything is scripted in WWE and Vince Mcmahon (Stephanie a bit more now aswell) makes almost all of the final decisions so it's down to who he wants to be on top. i.e. John Cena isn't exactly loved by many older wrestling fans due to his preceived lack of "natural wrestling ability" but kids and women love him so he's kept on top cause he makes so much money through merchandise.

That was a mouthful hope it helps

estebancambias

WWE is a facsist organisation. They ban fans from having pro heel signs. If they seen any such signs they are taken by security.

The Sparrow

Ramones: welcome to wrestling! Everyone else seems to have answered your questions but I would like to point out that it might be a good idea to monitor very closely what your kids are watching wrestling wise as the storylines can occasionally be very explicit in nature.

Estebancambias: Your an idiot. Do you even know what a facist is?! I`m gonna report your post and I hope you get banned for stupidity let alone your attempt to hijack this thread with that nonsense

fatal

woooo232 wrote:

Estebancambias: Your an idiot. Do you even know what a facist is?! I`m gonna report your post and I hope you get banned for stupidity let alone your attempt to hijack this thread with that nonsense

co-sign and for the benoit thread aswell

Fozzy

WWE is not fascist. They don't ban pro-heel signs, keep your eyes out for plenty on Raw tonight. There's nothing wrong with them taking signs they don't like anyway, they have that right. Try to post with a bit more sense next time

woooo232, watch the personal abuse

The Sparrow

Fozzy wrote:

woooo232, watch the personal abuse

I didn`t classify it as personal abuse! I think anybody who classifies the WWE as facist for confiscating signs (which they don`t actually do) is an idiot. I mean if that is not the definition of an idiot what is??

Fair enough I will try and sugarcoat in the future!

estebancambias

Here guys I was not trying to be ignorrant or anything. Yes I know what fascism means. Here they do ban people from going in with pro heel signs. I know this from people from the wrestling groups on myspace. If you see people with pro heel signs it is because they have luckily got by security.

If they spot these signs you are escourted out of the arena. This is a fact. ask anyone in this group.

http://groups.myspace.com/wrestlingfans07


I don't think my actions real merit banning. What I meant was it is a dictatorship. This is true. I know you probably wont look up that group, but if you did the answer would be yes. They are Americans, they go on a regular basis.

Terry

amull87 wrote:

5. The fans can have input in as far as if they keep cheering a certain person then they'll will eventually get somewhere if the company wants them to. The fans decide who they like and that is who the company will make successful, unless of course certain people behind the scenes don't like the guy getting cheered and then they'll just make them look bad so people lose interest.

Just to expand on this a bit.
The internet has changed the face of wrestling.
Results of house shows (the midweek shows that are not televised) are broadcast instantly.
Smarks (Basically a person who knows wrestling is fake and possibly has info on the predetermined outcome of a show, but still watches the show and enjoys the spectacle, (this word is derived from the word "Mark". i.e. someone who buys into the whole "wrestling is real" concept, with the "S" at the star to define the word "Smart")) are on the rise due to inside information constantly being leaked on the web and wrestlers writing about their careers on their own websites or on myspace and such other sites.
One major incident where a wrestler spoke out about his personal life and then had that turned into a storyline was when Matt Hardy, Lita and Edge were involved in a love triangle. Both real and on screen. some info here

Other things have happened over the years with wrestlers moving to rival promotions. Most notable was the Madison Square Garden Incident.
Info here. Video clip here.
In short, the wrestlers involved broke kayfabe (basically the rules that say you have to keep up the appearance that you are enemies, even though you are the best of friends) and had a group hug before two of them left for a (now defunct) rival promotion.

Have a root around here for some quick answers about any wrestlers you or your kids might have questions about.
Wikipedia and myspace may also be useful.

Fozzy

There's not a ban on the signs though. That suggests that you'd be thrown out if you're caught. WWE would obviously prefer if there weren't pro-heel signs on tv though, as it could confuse the casual fan. They want the audience to believe that everyone likes certain wrestlers and everyone hates other wrestlers. That's the way wrestling is supposed to work, there's nothing wrong with them taking signs like that off fans like I said

Ramones wrote:

What is meant when a star is said to be a face and /or a heel?

If your kids are asking you this question then I'd guess that they've been reading up on it on the internet. You wouldn't ever find those terms being used on tv. Big Daddy was one of the biggest faces ever! Literally and figuratively

Just to make it clear, it would be extremely rare for an entire wrestling match to be rehearsed. The wrestlers talk about what they're going to do with each other, but they wouldn't actually physically go through it beforehand

And to answer your Mr Kennedy question, when he had the money in the bank contract it was the "creative team" (a group of writers who script the storylines, headed by Vince McMahon) who decided what he was going to do with it. It turned out that he got injured (in real life), so they thought the best thing to do would be to have Kennedy lose his title shot to someone else. If it was up to Kennedy then I'm sure he would have preferred to hang onto it, especially as it turned out his injury wasn't as serious as first thought

There's a lot of blurring between real life and on-screen stuff. Examples would be Shawn Michaels receiving a "concussion" on tv and supposedly having to quit wrestling. In reality he needs knee surgery and will return eventually. Rob Van Dam is another guy who supposedly got a concussion, but the real story there is that he has left the company

krudler

Fozzy wrote:

There's not a ban on the signs though

when i was at wm 23 there was a TON of anit-cena signs being taken off people,the were stopping anyone from coming in but yeah they do confiscate any anti-face signs

kyp_durron

I'm a bit confused as to what makes a good heel though. I mean a heels job is to generate heat from the fans ie: piss them off and make them boo jeer ect. But the one time I liked Cena was during his heel turn, I thought he played it well and as a result would cheer for him. Same goes for Willian Regal, awesome heel, does really good promos and pulls some fantastic faces . Does that make them bad heels? What I'm getting at is, would the company be pissed off at a heel getting a positive responce from the fans? I know they could just turn him babyface but what if he was scripted as a heel for long feuds storyline wise ect?

Ramones

Wow - thanks a million for all the replies. All very helpful both for myself and the kids

Its interesting to read particularly about the Kennedy money in the bank thing and especially Rob Van Damm - he's one my kids love and always play as on the PS2. I dont think I'll be telling them just yet thats he's unlikely to return.

As I say I'm new enough to it myself so I'm not sure on the characters and what their chances are but the boys love Cena, Rey Mysterio, DX, The Hardys and the Undertaker. Lately I watched Batistas many attempts to beat Edge and would like him to to win myself - I guess thats down to Edge doing a good job at making me dislike him

I brought them both to the RAW show in Dublin last month and they loved it. I must say I enjoyed it myself and I guess it converted me from sceptic to pretty impressed. No way Big Daddy could have pulled off some of the moves these lads do!

Thanks also for the heads up on the TV times - I can set the recorder now for the boys. They have me staying up to watch a Pay per View this weekend!!

Cheers again

Fozzy

kyp_durron wrote:

I'm a bit confused as to what makes a good heel though. I mean a heels job is to generate heat from the fans ie: piss them off and make them boo jeer ect. But the one time I liked Cena was during his heel turn, I thought he played it well and as a result would cheer for him. Same goes for Willian Regal, awesome heel, does really good promos and pulls some fantastic faces . Does that make them bad heels? What I'm getting at is, would the company be pissed off at a heel getting a positive responce from the fans? I know they could just turn him babyface but what if he was scripted as a heel for long feuds storyline wise ect?

To an extent, they would be pissed off at a heel getting a positive response. It depends really. In the case of Christian, back in 2005 he was starting to get a huge response from the fans even though he was a heel. I remember him coming out on Raw in England and he was cheered louder than anyone else that night! But instead of turning him face and rolling with it, WWE decided to move him to SD and give him less of a role in the show. He ended up leaving not soon after

A great heel should be able to use the fans dislike of him to make them like the face more. Regal is a great heel though, there's absolutely nothing about him that you would like if he was really like that. Generally though, if a heel is doing something that is likeable then he's doing a bad job. It would be like if Edge was telling really funny jokes every week and making the crowd laugh, then they'd all start to like him cos he's making them feel good. When Edge does tell jokes though, it's always something that's funny to him but slagging off the crowd or someone they like

If a heel was scripted to be a long term heel and they started getting positive responses, they'd just get the heel to be more of an arsehole. Like they did with Kennedy when he came back recently. All logic said that he should have been a face, but they wanted him as a heel so they sent him out to whine about the fans and they all dislike him again. Nobody likes a complainer

Ramones wrote:

Its interesting to read particularly about the Kennedy money in the bank thing and especially Rob Van Damm - he's one my kids love and always play as on the PS2. I dont think I'll be telling them just yet thats he's unlikely to return.

I might as well warn you about TNA now. TNA is a different promotion to WWE, it's shown on Bravo 2 if you have Sky Digital. It's got some great wrestlers but they don't usually make too much sense with their storylines. RVD might end up in TNA by the end of the year, ya never know

Ramones wrote:

As I say I'm new enough to it myself so I'm not sure on the characters and what their chances are but the boys love Cena, Rey Mysterio, DX, The Hardys and the Undertaker. Lately I watched Batistas many attempts to beat Edge and would like him to to win myself - I guess thats down to Edge doing a good job at making me dislike him

Ah yeah, they're all the top faces, exactly who you're meant to like the most! Triple H and Rey Mysterio will be returning very soon

Terry

Regarding the moves performed during the matches, if you listen and watch closley, sometimes you can hear the wrestlers talking about their next moves. You'll only get this on live broadcasts though as it would be edited out afterwards.
HHH is easy to spot.
Oh yeah, he is married to Stephanie McMahone in real life, so he has a lot of sway in the company. Expect him to get his hands on the title again soon.

Ramones

again, thanks for all the replies.

Not sure about the explicit storylines mentioned in one of the first replies. I've watched most of this with the kids and apart from some of the novelty diva matches it all seems okay.

Was a bit difficult explaining how McMahon wasnt dead and that Chris Benoit was though especially to a 10 year old and 7 year old!! :rolleyes:

Fozzy

Terry wrote:

Regarding the moves performed during the matches, if you listen and watch closley, sometimes you can hear the wrestlers talking about their next moves.

There was a very clear call by Christopher Daniels during the TNA ppv from Sunday when four of them were doing a big move. "Ready, one, two, three"

To be honest, there aren't that many explicit storylines or segments these days. Sometimes you might get some sort of suggestive segment like there was on Raw last night with William Regal and Jim Duggan, but it's unlikely many kids would actually get that. I think the diva matches are about as bad as it would get at the moment, nowhere near as bad as the "Kurt Angle is a rapist" storyline or the "Tim White wants to kill himself" segments

ShawnRaven

Fozzy wrote:

There was a very clear call by Christopher Daniels during the TNA ppv from Sunday when four of them were doing a big move. "Ready, one, two, three"

To be honest, there aren't that many explicit storylines or segments these days. Sometimes you might get some sort of suggestive segment like there was on Raw last night with William Regal and Jim Duggan, but it's unlikely many kids would actually get that. I think the diva matches are about as bad as it would get at the moment, nowhere near as bad as the "Kurt Angle is a rapist" storyline or the "Tim White wants to kill himself" segments

Hah the Bestiality sex Angle storyline is funny in retrospect. Good luck explain that one to a kid. Not to menion "Triple H just screwed Katie Vicks brains out!" while wearing a Kane mask! Then there was HHH the racist towards Booker T, wonder if that'll come back into play now that Booker is on RAW?

Heh great family TV moments from the past, join us again for part two in the near future

VR!

Ramones

Jaysus!