Storyline (wrestling)
Storyline is a technical term from wrestling . These are scripts invented by the management of the wrestling promoters , which are laid out for a long time and which are usually concluded at a major event with the main match of the evening, the so-called "Main Event". Successful storylines can span several years.
Purpose of the storyline
Storylines are developed in order to plausibly bring the storylines within wrestling and the wrestlers involved to the audience . That's why storylines contain stories that are built around a wrestler (individual and tag team area ) and his opponents. So the artificial arguments presented as "feuds" are sometimes peppered with private points of reference in order to be able to sell these arguments credibly. This is how the various stables of the leagues run from the point of view of the storyline. But storylines can also develop an unplanned life of their own. For example, the Four Horsemen's stable was founded purely as a gimmick . But over the years this group, which was built up around Ric Flair , developed into a real power factor in both the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling , which dominated the "backstage" area in particular.
Storylines play the most important role in today's “sports entertainment” , as is practiced above all in the major US promotions World Wrestling Entertainment , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on the one hand and Ring of Honor as the largest independent promotion on the other , because this arouses interest in the leagues and their wrestlers. In contrast, the rest of the independent wrestling scene places less emphasis on a detailed storyline. Their focus is not on "entertainment", but more on the " sporty " part of wrestling. In purely independent leagues such as CZW , IWA or wXw, the individual storylines are usually only worked out for four to twelve weeks. Storylines that have been involved for a longer period tend to be the exception there.
The injuries sustained in wrestling that require a wrestler to pause usually correspond to the storyline. If a wrestler - for private or health reasons - wants to take a break, he will be written out of the current storyline with a "serious injury" suffered in a match. The same applies to "dismissals" in front of the camera. These, too, are usually just a stylistic device in the context of a storyline to explain time-outs.
Wrestling title
These form an essential part of the wrestling storyline. With the receipt of a subordinate league title, building a wrestler to star begins. The league thus shows that it sees great potential in this and that it is now being promoted by the doctorate. The title reign is contractually agreed for a certain period.
The climax of a wrestler's career is obtaining the highest title of doctorate. For the large associations such as the WWE, TNA and the NWA, this is a so-called World Heavyweight Championship , for the smaller associations it is the regional heavyweight title (States Heavyweight Championship).
With the National Wrestling Alliance and in the independent scene, only reigning champions get a permanent contract. This obliges the reigning champion to defend his title only in the corresponding promotion. This prevents a champion from defending his title in another promotion without knowing his main league and possibly losing it. Where this happens, however, is again based on a previously worked out storyline, which was preceded by a cooperation agreement between the respective doctorates.
The specialty of the NWA, however, is that world titles are held in all member associations worldwide, but regionally only in the corresponding wrestling territory .
Sudden title losses are usually the result of events that are not planned for. For example, real injuries, a suspension, private reasons of a wrestler or an abnormality in the official health policy ( wellness policy ) of the promotion can lead to the loss of the title.
See also
Web links
- Explanation of terms on soyouwanna.com
Individual evidence
The web links are individual references for a large part of the article.
- ↑ The Jargon of Professional Wrestling , excerpt from jstor.org , 2009, pp. 142-145, English