Wrestling Analytic 7: Importance of Wrestling Psychology *long read*?

Question

A term thrown around in the unique language of wrestling that I often seen misused is psychology, hence why I afacilitatingng a discussion on the topic. 

In ring psychology is an complex issue that when in its simplest form is doing the right things at the right time. When evaluating a wrestler on his in ring ability, his usage of psychology should be one of the top keys to high marks and great status.  Wrestling psychology chiefly involves doing the moves in your moveset that make sense to the character the wrestler has developed. For instance, a overly muscular wrestler should not be isolating limbs of their opponents to set up submissions, as they should be using the advantages that their frame provides over their opponent. Instead, power moves like powerbomb and suplex variants should be the basis of the moveset unless they are an heavy striker. On the flip side, someone who is a submission artist with great technical prowess should center his strategy around working the limbs of his opponents and not be pulling off burning hammers. When a wrestler constructs his moveset, he must be aware most of his finishing maneuver and plan his in ring strategy accordingly. To use an example, one can analyze HHH's moveset in its prime form. His finisher is obviously the daunted Pedigree, which mechanics in essence are an double underhook facebuster, which anatomically affects the neck and face. HHH adjusts his regular power moves accordingly. The man frequently uses the DDT in an regular and dangerous variant to impact the same areas, uses the high knee lift as not only a tribute to the great Harley Race, but also to soften up the face. HHH also frequents the neckbreaker and turnbuckle choke to affect the neck area so it is completely done by the pedigree. No good fighter can focus on one plan however, so HHH adds his  backbreaker variants and his trademark spinebuster when facing large opponents he can't pedigree or when his initial strategy isn't working. 

When watching wrestling, one must remember that wrestling is an attempt at simulating parts of the real world particularly the attempt at simulating fighting amongst the wrestler's styles. In MMA which is completely unscripted "real" fighting, fighters must work on theigame planan in camp according to their opponents strengths and weaknesses. Wrestling's aim being emulation of real life, the great in ring workers must do the same in a match. An awsome recent example of this is Wrestlemania 25. Shawn Michaels who is an in ring master adopted his fighting strategy among utilizing his agility advantage and quickness to quickly elude taker's premium striking and attempt to close the distance so Taker couldn't utilize his many powerhouse moves. He knew Taker operates off of his arms, so you saw more short arm scissors and ground submissions than Shawn usually does to adapt to Taker. Shawn also had a volume advantage but certainly not power, so his counters and timing were more crucial in that contest. On the flipside, Taker as always had to play role of the stalking play and had to aim his technical attack on Shawn's back, hence the utilization of rare Undertaker moves like the gorrilla press slam and the bearhug into the post spot. Undertaker is in my opinion the greatest wrestler in the in ring  adaption department, as you can see through his career progression as he got older and had less power, he used more veteran savy and leaned more on his striking attacks, which in turn freshened him from getting boring, which Taker never was. Much like real MMA fighters adapt their strategy throughout the fight based on what happens, as like the Tyson quote "everyone has a gameplan until they have been punched in the face". 

Psychology has an certain building element to it when a wrestler is in an ongoing feud. It is a shame that matches in the US  usually don't have the building element matches in Japan do, as adaptation is key in real fights. Notice  that in most cases, the most acclaimed matches in america occur between wrestlers who have wrestled numerous times. False finishes and reversals create excitement, and are prominant among wrestlers like Benoit/Angle who put on a masterpiece at Royal Rumble 2003 because the two developed a chemistry and "learned each other's moves", so theanticipateded things. Note the progression of the great Steamboat/Flair series as one match plays off another. Notice that Wrestlemania 26 match between HBK and Taker featured more counters than Wrestlemania 25  because of adjustments made and the feel the two legendary veterans had for each other after squaring off once. In Japan, Naomi and Liger had a series where one match Liger got his arm destroyed brutally, so the next match, Liger brilliantly fought one handed and more aggressively, as Naomi focused his moveset attack on Liger's hand. THAT is psychology at its finest.

WS Historian · Accepted Answer

Yeah, Wrestling Psychology is so important.

No matter how great a match is, but without wrestling psychology included in it, the match would turn very decent. And instead a good match could turn into 5 star with great wrestling psychology. Just see CM Punk/John Cena at MITB 2011 and The Undertaker/Triple H at WM 28. Those matches are actually just good, but the story being told into the match are awesome that makes them 5 star matches.

The best storyteller ever IMO are Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and The Undertaker. These three are perfect guys to tell the story in the ring. Thus, they are having great Wrestling Psychology. Another great wrestler with great in ring psychology is John Cena. You can look at Cena's expression while telling the story. He's a very good storyteller. I also hear Ric Flair is also very good at his back in his prime, but I never actually watch him in his prime.

But, the greatest example of them all is Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant for WWE Title at Wrestlemania 3. The match was very bad, very poor. It was a match between Hogan who can't wrestle against the aging Andre who can barely walk anymore. But, the story was great between a 4 year reigning WWE Champion against the 15 year undefeated giant. That can explain why it draws 93,173 Fans and belongs in the top greatest matches list in WWE History.

Spyro · Answer

Thanks. I now understand it more. I agree with Taker too. As Taker got older,he added submissions,and learned more moves, holds. He know works on the arm,and even targets the arm, or head when doing the "Old School". He became smarter,and knows more counters,and he focuses on the head for his finishers(And the arm for the Traingle Choke). Same with Shawn. Psychology, im my opinion is not only doing the right moves at the right time; its also outhinking your opponents in kayfabe. As he got older, he made less mistakes. An example of no psychology, was Essa Rios. His match at Wrestlemania. He was a great flyer, but thats all he had. The crowd wasn't into that match,cause he was doing mostly tope rope moves the whole time. Same with Jeff Hardy. He wrestles considerably better,than he did in his earlier WWE career-there is more transitions,better timing,and he doesn't do flying moves with no setup. Imo, brawling is a good style, but if that's all someone does in a wrestling match(punch,kick),with a bunch of chinlocks to get through the match.... then there not putting much effort into keeping us in the match.Selling is a great part of telling a story too.

The Dragon · Answer

An easy way of explaining "psychology" in a wrestling match is "make it as believable as possible".  That doesn't just mean "don't make your punches look fake".  It means matching your style of wrestling (and your gimmick, as well) to what you do in the ring; you explained that, I don't need to.  It also means to have a reasonable, uh, reason for having a match.  A reasonable reason would be something like "if I beat this guy, I move up the ladder, and can wrestle that guy, which gets me closer to a title shot", NOT accidentally bumping into a guy backstage and making him spill his coffee.  They're supposed to be adults, not children in a lunch room at school.  Another example of a reasonable reason is "dammit, you cost me that match with your interference and now I don't get a title shot; watch your back, I'm going to cost you something that matters to YOU", NOT "you lookin' at my girl?"

Psychology basically means to make what you do look reasonable and logical and doesn't require a complete suspension of the fans' belief in reality and the "laws" of good sense.  It HAS to be believable.  If the fans are just shaking their heads in disgust, then you've failed.  If the fans are laughing at you, then you've failed.  If the fans just get up and leave, you've failed.  Pro wrestling fans are willing to put up with a lot of...nonsense, but there IS a limit to how much they'll put up with.  If a storyline is humming along nicely and the fans are into it, you don't just Russo the thing and throw in a jarring illogical twist to "shock" the fans; all that accomplishes is to ram it home to the fans that this stuff IS "scripted" because real life does not "act" that way.  The best wrestling storylines are those that are so interesting and compelling that you "forget" they're "scripted" and you react is though it IS real.  That goes for the storyline writers, the commentators, and the wrestlers in the ring.  They all have to do their part, pull their own weight, to make it believable and "real" or the psychology falls apart.

You gave a couple examples of "good" psychology.  Here's an example of "bad" psychology:

Angle vs Benoit on Smackdown several years ago.  Stellar wrestling matches, the best in the business.  But the storyline writers added a ridiculous "twist" to it by having those two fight over Stephanie McMahon.  That was out of character for both of them, especially Benoit, and brought down the quality of their feud because it wasn't "real" (to their gimmicks) and thus wasn't believable.  It added an illogical "prize" to their feud and that negatively affected the psychology of their matches.  They stopped focusing on being the best wrestler in the world, and shifted to something that would "impress Stephanie" so that she would choose one over the other.  Ridiculous.

Cʰᶤᶜᵃᵍᵒ Kᶰᶤᵍʰᵗ · Answer

I agree 100% mainly because I can't contradict anything that was written.But one wrestler you neglected to mention was Jake Roberts.That man was a master of in ring psychology.

Trending News

Wrestling Analytic 7: Importance of Wrestling Psychology long read?

4 Answers