Another Outlook on Match Writing
May 24, 2020 20:36:35 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer and anthonycaffrey like this
Post by Dylan on May 24, 2020 20:36:35 GMT -5
I just wanna put out beforehand that I am not good at putting words to paper and teaching stuff. But I want to impart some knowledge anyways.
Firstly, this is just how I do a match. Nothing that I write is the gospel, the exact word. You do not need to follow my lead. You can certainly take what you like and implement it, and tell me to piss off on the rest.
COMMENTARY
One of the most important things to establish is your commentators and their personalities. In AXW, we had Derrick Donovan and BB Gunn. Gunn was hip and cool, all for the flashy shit, and wasn't afraid to drop an F-Bomb. Donovan was more grounded, he was old school and I always imagined him like Jim Cornette, but British and 1000000% less racist. For XHF Global shows, we have King and Hawke. Hawke is similar to Donovan, he's super old school and has an eye for technical wrestling. King is pretty much just Jerry Lawler, down to a tee. Loves puppies, loves the cool stuff. Your commentators have personalities, they shouldn't come across as one-dimensional, bland, monotone cardboard stand-ins. They have the little niches that make them unique, utilize those. Mauro Ranallo screams MAMA MIA every other sentence, Heenan always favored his clients.
INTRODUCTIONS
The biggest part I look for in a match is the intros, the entrances. I don't say it enough, but AWF does entrances perfectly. The announcer is loud and proud announcing, and they've even got their own custom trons. It's the little things that work. If your wrestler just has a basic entrance, "runs down to the ring and stares back up the ramp for the opponent," I always try to build that enough. If they're a face, they're slapping hands and doing a lap for a quick greeting. If they're a heel, maybe have them stop. Rip a sign, spit, flip someone off.
FACES AND HEELS
This goes for commentators and wrestlers. Both should be distinguished on who is going to be cheered for and who's going to be booed. If it's a face vs face scenario, the answers are very obvious. If it's a face vs face, it's whoever stands up for their morals, for what they believe in, more than the other. And for heel vs heel, who's the bigger asshole? (Answer: Always Anthony Caffrey). Make sure the fans are always firmly behind the bigger face, or whoever they like more. Cheer their name, clap, boo when the heel takes advantage. Let it be known that they don't like the heel and want to see them lose. When the face wins, think of a reception like when Triple H returned in 2002 in MSG, or when Daniel Bryan beat Evolution and claimed the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The reception has to be big, especially for title wins/defenses. When the heel wins, think back to when Hogan went Hollywood. Now these are drastic examples, but the point is the fans make the match.
START THE MATCH BY ENDING IT
Now this probably sounds backward AF, but let me explain. The most memorable part of every match is the ending. The triple threat at WM30? Shawn vs Ric at WM24? Sting vs Hogan at Starrcade '97? All memorable matches, but most remembered for the ending. If you have a cool idea for how to end the match, jot it down. Work it out. Make it nice and pretty. Especially title matches (See Seth vs Ryan at AWF COTI3), when the ending is so badass and mesmerizing you can't stop thinking about it due to just the nature of it. And don't forget that slipping on the caps lock button makes a world of difference. Read "Person A rears back and nails a spear." vs "PERSON A REARS BACK AND NAAAAAAAILS A SPEEEEEEEEAR!!!" It'll make a difference in the reading experience.
READ ROLEPLAYS AND REMEMBER GIMMICKS
Not just wrestler gimmicks, but match gimmicks. If you're 2000 words deep into a tables match and have yet to even pull out a table, something is wrong. Some wrestlers have small parts to their gimmicks that have to be remembered. (Ie, if someone's gimmick is they never tap out, it wouldn't make sense for him to lose a regular match via submission unless it's to a submission specialist. Save that for the submissions-only rematch :wink: ) Pay attention to the wrestler's roleplays too - if Person A says he plans on breaking Person B's arm during the match, have them attempt to do that, keep their word. Don't follow through though, otherwise, someone's going to be unhappy (or no sell it).
S-P-A-G
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar. This is half of what makes a good match. If a match has constant misspelled words, grammatical errors, and wrongly-placed punctuation it's gonna turn me off. Not that reading turns me on. Some people are literal grammar nazis here and will nitpick the hell out of everything. I suggest using something like Google Docs or Grammarly - both offer free methods to keep up with all your SPAG needs.
PHYSICS
Let's be real a second, nobody should be breaking the laws of physics to do stupid moves (IE DREADVAN DOING A GODDAMN PHOENIX SPLASH. YES I WROTE IT BUT THAT WAS A COMEDY MATCH, IT OTHERWISE SHOULDN'T BE DONE). If you need a guide on how the laws of physics apply to wrestling, check out the Will Ospreay vs Ricochet -
if two small skinny twerps who Corny Jim probably has a hate boner for can't do it, then they probably shouldn't do it. Of course, take this with a grain of salt. My word, again, isn't gospel, but you can still have fun. Dreadvan, a 600-pound man doing a phoenix splash was of course in the sense of fun against probably me.
PSYCHOLOGY
One of the most important parts of a match is, well, the match itself. Obviously. Duh. After you've established everything, the faces/heels, their gimmicks and moveset, goals for the match, it's time to begin writing. A horrible mistake I do is I usually write the match in one go. Days before the show. (<- Mongo hates that.) Plan out a timeframe to write this, don't just sandbag it. I always am thinking about my match, thinking up cool spots and ways to go about it. Write those spots down ASAP, because often I then forget said cool shit. Writing a match is honestly pretty standard, in my opinion, start with the opening. Both are fresh, neither have quite an advantage. The face should get a bit of a shining moment before a slip up lets the heel get a nice, heelish beat down. The beat down should make for more than the shining part, broken up by a few quick moves and even a signature and finisher attempt by the face before the heel resume control. The end should consist of a bit of a standoff, the face regains control and evens the playing field before the finish. The winner does their stuff, and hits a finisher to seal the deal.
FINISHERS
If they hit the finisher, that should be the end of it. If you want to continue after, some shenanigans can ensue. If the face is being pinned, have them, get their foot on the ropes. If it's a heel being pinned, there are so many opportunities to explore. Maybe their rivals music hits, or someone pulls the ref out of the ring. REMEMBER THAT MANAGERS EXIST FOR THAT REASON. Well not exactly for that, but a good heel manager gets their hands dirty for their client. My mindset is the finisher is the finish of the match, the one-two-three. You can continue with the shenanigans or write the end. I try to keep finisher kick-outs for big matches; if people constantly kick out of your guys' finisher, the move looks weak. And if someone introduces a new finisher, have them use that move to finish people off. Let the older finisher get kicked out of once or twice. But a big impact super death move, that should be the end all be all.
FEEDBACK
It's never going to hurt to ask for feedback, whether it's from your fellow admin team/whoever you're writing the match for or from the wrestlers you wrote for. Just don't ever, ever, ever spoil who wins and loses. That's taboo in my book and sucks if they suddenly know the outcome of the match before it even airs. Ask if a spot is okay, or if so and so was in this situation would they do this or that? If you write someone wrong(and this ties back to remembering the gimmicks) they might not be happy with how they're handled. Keeping everyone happy and entertained even in defeat is a bit of a crucial point - it'll keep them coming back to tell more stories. And while this doesn't fall under feedback per se, read your match aloud when the final bell has rung. It'll help catch some weird errors you might have missed mid-write-up.
That's all of the knowledge I can pour out, if you have questions of course you can ask. If you're looking for other minds, try checking out the other match writing guides (especially Teeps' - it imparted a lot of knowledge that I twisted into my wisdom which I impose onto you now). Also, if you're looking for great minds to pick, Teeps, Jack Diamond, Maverick, Ryan Young, Seth Dillinger, Caffrey, Kuroi and Swann are all incredible minds who write amazing matches.
Firstly, this is just how I do a match. Nothing that I write is the gospel, the exact word. You do not need to follow my lead. You can certainly take what you like and implement it, and tell me to piss off on the rest.
COMMENTARY
One of the most important things to establish is your commentators and their personalities. In AXW, we had Derrick Donovan and BB Gunn. Gunn was hip and cool, all for the flashy shit, and wasn't afraid to drop an F-Bomb. Donovan was more grounded, he was old school and I always imagined him like Jim Cornette, but British and 1000000% less racist. For XHF Global shows, we have King and Hawke. Hawke is similar to Donovan, he's super old school and has an eye for technical wrestling. King is pretty much just Jerry Lawler, down to a tee. Loves puppies, loves the cool stuff. Your commentators have personalities, they shouldn't come across as one-dimensional, bland, monotone cardboard stand-ins. They have the little niches that make them unique, utilize those. Mauro Ranallo screams MAMA MIA every other sentence, Heenan always favored his clients.
INTRODUCTIONS
The biggest part I look for in a match is the intros, the entrances. I don't say it enough, but AWF does entrances perfectly. The announcer is loud and proud announcing, and they've even got their own custom trons. It's the little things that work. If your wrestler just has a basic entrance, "runs down to the ring and stares back up the ramp for the opponent," I always try to build that enough. If they're a face, they're slapping hands and doing a lap for a quick greeting. If they're a heel, maybe have them stop. Rip a sign, spit, flip someone off.
FACES AND HEELS
This goes for commentators and wrestlers. Both should be distinguished on who is going to be cheered for and who's going to be booed. If it's a face vs face scenario, the answers are very obvious. If it's a face vs face, it's whoever stands up for their morals, for what they believe in, more than the other. And for heel vs heel, who's the bigger asshole? (Answer: Always Anthony Caffrey). Make sure the fans are always firmly behind the bigger face, or whoever they like more. Cheer their name, clap, boo when the heel takes advantage. Let it be known that they don't like the heel and want to see them lose. When the face wins, think of a reception like when Triple H returned in 2002 in MSG, or when Daniel Bryan beat Evolution and claimed the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The reception has to be big, especially for title wins/defenses. When the heel wins, think back to when Hogan went Hollywood. Now these are drastic examples, but the point is the fans make the match.
START THE MATCH BY ENDING IT
Now this probably sounds backward AF, but let me explain. The most memorable part of every match is the ending. The triple threat at WM30? Shawn vs Ric at WM24? Sting vs Hogan at Starrcade '97? All memorable matches, but most remembered for the ending. If you have a cool idea for how to end the match, jot it down. Work it out. Make it nice and pretty. Especially title matches (See Seth vs Ryan at AWF COTI3), when the ending is so badass and mesmerizing you can't stop thinking about it due to just the nature of it. And don't forget that slipping on the caps lock button makes a world of difference. Read "Person A rears back and nails a spear." vs "PERSON A REARS BACK AND NAAAAAAAILS A SPEEEEEEEEAR!!!" It'll make a difference in the reading experience.
READ ROLEPLAYS AND REMEMBER GIMMICKS
Not just wrestler gimmicks, but match gimmicks. If you're 2000 words deep into a tables match and have yet to even pull out a table, something is wrong. Some wrestlers have small parts to their gimmicks that have to be remembered. (Ie, if someone's gimmick is they never tap out, it wouldn't make sense for him to lose a regular match via submission unless it's to a submission specialist. Save that for the submissions-only rematch :wink: ) Pay attention to the wrestler's roleplays too - if Person A says he plans on breaking Person B's arm during the match, have them attempt to do that, keep their word. Don't follow through though, otherwise, someone's going to be unhappy (or no sell it).
S-P-A-G
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar. This is half of what makes a good match. If a match has constant misspelled words, grammatical errors, and wrongly-placed punctuation it's gonna turn me off. Not that reading turns me on. Some people are literal grammar nazis here and will nitpick the hell out of everything. I suggest using something like Google Docs or Grammarly - both offer free methods to keep up with all your SPAG needs.
PHYSICS
Let's be real a second, nobody should be breaking the laws of physics to do stupid moves (IE DREADVAN DOING A GODDAMN PHOENIX SPLASH. YES I WROTE IT BUT THAT WAS A COMEDY MATCH, IT OTHERWISE SHOULDN'T BE DONE). If you need a guide on how the laws of physics apply to wrestling, check out the Will Ospreay vs Ricochet -
if two small skinny twerps who Corny Jim probably has a hate boner for can't do it, then they probably shouldn't do it. Of course, take this with a grain of salt. My word, again, isn't gospel, but you can still have fun. Dreadvan, a 600-pound man doing a phoenix splash was of course in the sense of fun against probably me.
PSYCHOLOGY
One of the most important parts of a match is, well, the match itself. Obviously. Duh. After you've established everything, the faces/heels, their gimmicks and moveset, goals for the match, it's time to begin writing. A horrible mistake I do is I usually write the match in one go. Days before the show. (<- Mongo hates that.) Plan out a timeframe to write this, don't just sandbag it. I always am thinking about my match, thinking up cool spots and ways to go about it. Write those spots down ASAP, because often I then forget said cool shit. Writing a match is honestly pretty standard, in my opinion, start with the opening. Both are fresh, neither have quite an advantage. The face should get a bit of a shining moment before a slip up lets the heel get a nice, heelish beat down. The beat down should make for more than the shining part, broken up by a few quick moves and even a signature and finisher attempt by the face before the heel resume control. The end should consist of a bit of a standoff, the face regains control and evens the playing field before the finish. The winner does their stuff, and hits a finisher to seal the deal.
FINISHERS
If they hit the finisher, that should be the end of it. If you want to continue after, some shenanigans can ensue. If the face is being pinned, have them, get their foot on the ropes. If it's a heel being pinned, there are so many opportunities to explore. Maybe their rivals music hits, or someone pulls the ref out of the ring. REMEMBER THAT MANAGERS EXIST FOR THAT REASON. Well not exactly for that, but a good heel manager gets their hands dirty for their client. My mindset is the finisher is the finish of the match, the one-two-three. You can continue with the shenanigans or write the end. I try to keep finisher kick-outs for big matches; if people constantly kick out of your guys' finisher, the move looks weak. And if someone introduces a new finisher, have them use that move to finish people off. Let the older finisher get kicked out of once or twice. But a big impact super death move, that should be the end all be all.
FEEDBACK
It's never going to hurt to ask for feedback, whether it's from your fellow admin team/whoever you're writing the match for or from the wrestlers you wrote for. Just don't ever, ever, ever spoil who wins and loses. That's taboo in my book and sucks if they suddenly know the outcome of the match before it even airs. Ask if a spot is okay, or if so and so was in this situation would they do this or that? If you write someone wrong(and this ties back to remembering the gimmicks) they might not be happy with how they're handled. Keeping everyone happy and entertained even in defeat is a bit of a crucial point - it'll keep them coming back to tell more stories. And while this doesn't fall under feedback per se, read your match aloud when the final bell has rung. It'll help catch some weird errors you might have missed mid-write-up.
That's all of the knowledge I can pour out, if you have questions of course you can ask. If you're looking for other minds, try checking out the other match writing guides (especially Teeps' - it imparted a lot of knowledge that I twisted into my wisdom which I impose onto you now). Also, if you're looking for great minds to pick, Teeps, Jack Diamond, Maverick, Ryan Young, Seth Dillinger, Caffrey, Kuroi and Swann are all incredible minds who write amazing matches.