WWE wrestler the Big Show was interviewed on Wrestling with Rosenberg last month and had some interesting things to say. I don’t know why I was surprised to hear this kind of insight from the Big Show. Maybe because his ring work and character makes me think that he goes out there and wings it most of the time. But I guess it just reinforces the idea that people don’t appreciate the amount of thought that goes into even the most basic wrestling match (and the build-up to it).
Below are a few quotes from the interview along with a couple of my comments (transcript courtesy of Cageside Seats). I also changed “sports entertainment” to “wrestling”… just because. (if you want to know why, read WWE: Don’t Call Us Wrestling).
The full video can be seen at the bottom.
…the one big thing that goes on in our industry now, … that bothers me, is most every finish in a tag match has a dip. Why put in a dip in a finish when you’re a new tag team? If you’re a new heel tag team… A dip is (when) there’s a comeback and the comeback stops, that’s a dip. Stop that. When you’re younger, if you’re a babyface tag team and you’re going over, make a comeback and go home. Because the only reason a dip works in a finish or false finish situation is because the audience is emotionally invested in your character. If they’re not emotionally invested in you and you put a dip in a finish, it just looks like you couldn’t get the job done. If you get them to the highest point and they drop, you never get them back…
…I catch sh*t all the time ‘oh, you’re slow;’ I’m slow for a reason. I’m slow because that’s my character and that’s my style. When I accelerate my offense it’s not slow, there’s not a big man who moves as fast as fast as I do. When it’s time for me to bump and feed for a comeback, I bump and feed for a comeback but in the meantime, why am I going to run around looking like everyone else? It’s not because I’m lazy, it’s because I’m telling a story. I try to explain that to some of the younger guys…
…our job as a heel is to get the babyface over. Which means when it’s time for you to get your heat, you get your heat. You know, heat’s not big moves. As a heel, your heat is underhanded, it’s kicking a guy when he’s down, it’s taking the easy route out when you can, bailing out of the ring and bailing back in the ring but as the babyface it’s coming back in cutting him off when he’s trying to get in; it’s a psychological game of America and the human race in general has always fought from underneath, through evolution, through war, through disease, through famine, we’ve always had to overcome these obstacles. That’s where
sports entertainment[wrestling] comes in and has so many fans who are emotionally invested because we all understand that paradox of life, fighting from underneath and having that obstacle to overcome…
I think a lot of people who are long-time wrestling fans (even the so-called “smart” fans) can read the quotes above and look at their weekly shows in a different light. Even the guys that you put down as not being good “workers” have to think about those kind of things all the time. During the match while they have a dozen other things to concentrate on.
And for us that are in the business, it’s good to get some confirmation that what we were taught at the small-time local levels is the same as what the big-time organizations tell their talent.
