The 7 Stages of a Wrestling Match

Hello everyone;

I'm a former professional wrestler of some number of years and figured I'd share something that was taught to me (and works very well) when I was first starting out. Some of you may already know this, some might not, but if you're a wrestling fan this should make sense after you're done reading it.

The 7 Stages of a Wrestling Match

The concept of the 7 stages is to outline a standard approach to every match you perform in front of a crowd; even after a year of training, preparing for your first matches can just be intimidating as you try to think of how you're going to use what you've learned. The 7 stages allow you to burn it into your heart and mind, and are the exact method the top names in pro wrestling have used for years. Here they are:

• Stage 1 - The Intro

The introduction is simple: establish to the crowd your role in this match: are you the bad guy? Bad mouth the crowd, or your opponent, or refuse to slap hands. Are you the good guy? Give them the thumbs up, shake the ref's hand. Remember this is possibly the majority of the crowd's first time seeing you, they want to be told how to react, so tell them. This goes for whatever angle you're working with the guy in the ring with you: just let everyone know everything they need to know (don't make it complicated) before you lock up.

• Stage 2 - The Shine

This is the initial struggle, where the chain grappling takes place. The idea here is to do two things: let the crowd know you're both trained and talented, and get the face over. If you're going face v. face (good luck) you both need to get over on your technical prowess; if you're face v. heel put the face over!. In the classic heel v. face match-up, this is where you establish that, in a fair fight, the good guy is just that much better of a wrestler. Good thing rules were made to be bent and broken.

• Stage 3 - The Heat

This is where one guy establishes that they're willing to do anything win: the bad guy rakes the eyes, chokes on the ropes, and argues with the ref and the crowd the whole way as they take advantage of the match. This should be slow and methodical: any explosive moves should happen at the beginning of the heat and kept to a minimum as the bad guy plays with his food. When the crowd is ready (get them chanting!) it's time for the tide to turn:

• Stage 4 - The Comeback

The heel has the hold locked in, yells to the crowd that their hero is going to tap, and that's when the face starts to slowly get to his feet and break the hold: everyone knows this basic spot. This shouldn't last very* long, maybe 30 seconds: enough to get the crowd pumped and cheering and excited, but remember: the crowd doesn't want to cheer for minutes straight, and ideally they should always be cheering when the face has the advantage. A couple clotheslines, a couple dropkicks, a big springboard, a close count, and the heel is back on top:

• Stage 5 - The Big Heat

This is where the heel pulls out all the stops: the heavy hitting moves, the explosives moves, the devastating holds, the stomp on the head and the fingers: he's mad and embarrassed and ready to win. This should last several minutes at the minimum (for shorter matches) and include plenty of pinfall attempts: the heel has seen the face comeback from his cheating and isn't taking any more chances. After yet another attempt at the win, only to be foiled by the face's perseverance, the heel goes for a desperate submission, or a big moves off the top; that's when it's time for:

• Stage 6 - The Big Comeback

This is Hogan's "hulk up", Cena's "Can't See Me", The Rock's Spinebuster. The heel has missed a big move, both guys are down, the crowd should be excited for the face to have his opportunity now. This is about as long as the first comeback and even more explosive.

• Stage 7 - The Finish

The finish can be simple or complicated: it's either just hitting your finish and a pin, maybe it's a dirty roll-up by the heel, a run-in, and DQ; exactly what it sounds like: the finish of the match. The point is it takes place after the Big Comeback: if the crowd is hot from the good guy hitting their comeback, they'll pop even bigger when he wins; adversely, they'll be even more devastated when he loses.

"Cool idea, how do I utilize it as a worker?"

It's pretty simple: Heels control the heat, Faces control the comeback. Ideally, you should have a set of moves for each stage depending on whether you're a heel or face tonight, but the idea is the plan out a series of moves ahead of time... are you ready for this? That you'll use in every match. No, not until the end of time, but yes, for the very foreseeable future: and if you think back to what you've seen on TV, ever notice how you see the same guys do the same moves a lot? Trust me, it works.

I'm a heel and it's time for The Heat? First I'm going to rake the eyes, double axe handle the back, a few kidney punches, then a choke on the ropes; break the hold, argue with the ref, taunt the crowd, and then back on the face with the chin lock, etc. etc.; I'll do this same set of moves (with rare exceptions) to everyone I face over the next several months.

The idea here is that if you have your moves drilled into your brain, you'll only have to remember half the match whenever you work someone new (or just let them call it.)

I don't know how digestible this all is; it's been a while since I've been in a ring, I just wanted to get this information out there in case it might help anyone starting out have a solid matches from the get-go: let me know what you think or if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!