The word psychology gets used a lot in match reviews and wrestling columns. If you were to ask five different writers what they mean when they use the word, you might get five different answers.
Almost every veteran wrestler will tell you that most young wrestlers these days don’t know how to use psychology. The veterans, however, will likely not agree with one another when it comes to describing what, exactly, the youngsters need to learn.
In my Interview with Bad News Allen, this is what he had to say about the current state of ring psychology:
Bad News: That’s the problem, they got away from telling a story and everything is a high spot now. Before you would know who the good guy was and you would know who the bad guy was, and just through their work they would tell a story in the ring. Now, it’s totally confusing.
The subject was also raised by Michael Strider in his excellent interview with Jake “The Snake” Roberts for Live Audio Wrestling:
Strider: Many wrestlers associate you with the term ring psychology. What does that mean to you?
Roberts: I used it and everybody should use it! It’s their damn job! It’s when you make people believe what you’re doing! Being real with them while doing it! The match starts when you walk out of the dressing room, not when you get in the ring and not when they ring the bell! It’s the way that you walk and the way that you breathe and the way that you cut your eyes! It’s not looking at one person in the audience but looking at all the people at once!
Another wrestler who is widely considered a master of wrestling psychology is Raven. Here he is quoted by Brian Fritz in an article he wrote for SLAM! Wrestling:
Raven: It’s missing completely because people don’t understand it. It’s not just wrestling psychology, it’s human nature. If you made somebody sympathetic, we’re going to feel sorry for them. But if you make them whine about it, you’re not going to feel sorry for them. Human emotions don’t change whether you do it in China, Brazil, Guam or anywhere. You have to understand how people react in certain scenarios to be able to write a show that appeals to the audience you’re trying to get.
At first it might seem that each of the wrestlers were talking about an entirely different thing, The reason for that, I believe, is that the term “psychology” is used as a kind of a catch-all phrase to cover many different aspects of how a match or a feud can be put together.
In my debut column here at Inside Pulse, I had this to say about psychology as an aspect of Professional Wrestling:
Psychology : Do the good guys do good guy things? Do the Bad Guys do bad guy things? Does the body of the match build towards a logical finish? Are big spots sold sufficiently? Do injured body parts stay injured? This is perhaps the most important and also the least understood of the Primary Aspects.
That’s part of it, but it isn’t the whole story. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to take a look at this very important and often misunderstood aspect of professional wrestling. I’m not just going to give my own opinions on the subject, because I cannot pretend that I know everything about it. I am going to seek out input from other wrestlers and writers, and if you have a strong or interesting opinion on the subject, please feel free to use the link below to send it to me.
Introducing TEAM ROH!
With apologies to my fellow “veteran” IP Wrestling columnists, I’m only going to offer up a single additional link in this section: The newest Torch Wrestling columnist Big Andy Mac!
Thanks for reading!
