With Koslov finally having a good match on ECW this past week, I realized there are numerous under-rated little things wrestlers of different styles do to be good workers and get over. Let’s go through a list.
For big men, the key is to not no-sell everything. Big guys should, as Koslov did on ECW and The Undertaker and Nikita Koloff made a career on, undersell almost everything. Big guys can obviously be hurt, but the money is in making it look like it takes a lot more to hurt them than a normal person. This allows a story to be told, building to “the Russian is cut” moment instead of having it suddenly appear after a long, boring non-build. The best match for this I can recall off the top of my head is Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero from No Way Out so check that out to see what I mean.
Smaller power wrestlers have a different little thing- they must look like they’re expending effort for their feats to be impressive. A big guy can toss everyone around effortlessly, but a smaller wrestler has to sell and look like its an effort. Tossing everyone around is impressive, but competing and winning in battles of strength with guys of a similar size makes a star. The effort is what the fan is getting behind- supporting how hard he’s trying and feeling victorious when he succeeds. Davey Boy Smith did this awesomely against Bret Hart at Summerslam.
Being an effective flier is perhaps the easiest of all the ring roles out there. For a flier, you get a bit of speed early, then one big moment of flying where the beginning hits the middle of the match. This is the tease to the audience to let them know that more will come later. From there, it is simply a matter of letting each comeback be a slightly bigger (not necessarily flashier, some quite over spots aren’t extremely flashy) spots until the full comeback when you emerge with a flurry of huge moves. The crowd loves that and the tease early is what keeps them hooked, hoping for more. Jeff Hardy against Triple H from No Mercy.
For a technical wrestler, all the moves in the world won’t make you great, but what will is being able to make the audience aware of what you’re doing. Whether it be every comeback attacking the leg, all focused on strikes, or anything else. By continually bringing this to the fore, the audience begins to identify with and start to hope for that next big move in that style to take out a wrestler. Bret Hart vs. Kevin Nash from Survivor Series is a great example of this, as are any of the Bret vs. Owen matches.
A brawler gets a different little thing- they must look like they’re always fighting back. The viewer is identifying with a struggle, much like with a power wrestler, but the struggle here isn’t to overpower a wrestler, but instead to never say die no matter what is thrown at him, swinging back from everything. Naturally, Steve Austin is the best at this, particularly awesome is the 3-Stages of Hell with Triple H.
Babyfaces in general do one thing inevitably to be successful: they draw sympathy. Whether by selling, by constantly fighting back, by working extra hard- they make the audience sympathize with their plight and feel victorious when they manage to succeed against whatever obstacle is in their path, usually while having the odds stacked against them in the process. Jay Lethal is the best right now at simply selling until he’s a huge underdog, and his best match of this type was against Kurt Angle. Heels don’t have to do anything dastardly to be over. In fact, while a good heel may cheat, a worse heel will get over without taking any action at all. A bad heel will feel he’s superior to the audience in some way and that will be the source of their heat. CM Punk is superior because he doesn’t do drugs. Ric Flair was superior for his lifestyle. Rick Rude and Shawn Michaels were for their looks. Jericho is because he’s the only honest man around. They all look down on the people who lack what makes them special. The audience, wanting to relate to the wrestler, can’t relate to them, and so hates them.
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