“This show does not pretend to be an athletic competition. Instead, it’s a TV show about a wrestling show. It has more in common with Game of Thrones than it does with UFC.”
Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling (2015), directed by Max Landis (liked and shared by WWE’s Chief Creative Officer Triple H)
From next week, I’m commencing a year-long project to examine the characterisation in pro-wrestling. I have chosen one male performer and one female performer, and every week I’m going to close-read all their TV segments, following their arc over a one-year period. I will apply film-criticism, creative writing, literary ways of reading to trace character motivation, and how this characterisation links to wider narrative themes, and post a report every week.
I acknowledge that it may be a little unfair to apply techniques associated with film, TV and literature to pro-wrestling. After all, these forms hone, edit and crystalise their narrative before going to print, or screen. They work with a definite beginning, middle and end in mind. Meanwhile, famously, pro-wrestling’s storytelling never ends, there’s no ‘off-season’. Also, in pro-wrestling the narrative is somewhat co-constructed between performer, booker and audience, meaning it is always subject to change. Even in the modern era, where promos, even matches, are often scripted, improvisation is inherent to pro-wrestling. So while I acknowledge these close-reading techniques aren’t a perfect fit, I’m hoping that applying them will further my goal of analysing pro-wrestling as art. And this approach may identify gaps that these analytical tools can’t reach, and so offer opportunities for new ways of reading to emerge.
This project is not about fantasy booking or digging through dirtsheets; I will only be close-reading what is presented to us, the viewer, on Raw, Smackdown, Saturday Night’s Main Event and premium live events. I have in mind two performers for this. I have chosen them due to their popularity, high position on the card, and their proven ability to play both face and heel to a high level. Also, because their WrestleMania storylines should offer a clean, interesting break the next night on Raw, when this project starts. Finally, I’m choosing these two because I find pinning down their character and their motivations difficult. Despite their success, their characters, in my opinion, are not well-defined. They are stars that could be megastars.
Let the project commence!
Credit: Stanislav Costiuc
Work Shoot Confessional 
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