page_title: Professional wrestling
section_title: Story
hierarchical_section_title: Professional wrestling / Dramatic elements / Story
caption_attribution_description: English: This image shows professional wrestlers Matt Hardy (top) and Jeff Hardy (bottom) as the Broken Matt and Brother Nero characters at a Carolina Wrestling Federation (CWF) Mid-Atlantic independent show on January 29, 2017. They are posing with title belts they held at the time, the TNA World Tag Team Championship (left) and the OMEGA Tag Team Championship (right) on January 29, 2017.
context_page_description: Professional wrestling is a form of theatrical performance wherein athletic performers portray prizefighters competing in matches with predetermined, scripted outcomes. It is based on classical and "catch" wrestling, with modern additions of striking attacks, acrobatics, feats of strength, fast-moving athleticism and occasionally, improvised weaponry. The performances are all planned to maximize the entertainment value to the audience, and reduce the chances of the performers suffering real-life injuries. Professional wrestling also liberally incorporates melodrama. Much like some of the real prizefighters they imitate, the characters in professional wrestling have large egos, flamboyant personalities, and turbulent interpersonal relationships. These personas are generally scripted, the same as the matches. Performances mainly take place in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing. In the modern age of televised entertainment, many additional "backstage" scenes are also recorded to supplement the drama in the ring.
context_section_description: While real exhibition matches are now not uncommon, most matches tell a story analogous to an episode of a serial drama: The face will from time to time win (triumph) or from time to time lose (tragedy), and longer story arcs can result from a couple of matches. Since most promotions have a championship title, opposition for the championship is a frequent impetus for stories. Also, whatever from a character's own hair to his job with the advertising can be wagered in a match.
  Some matches are designed to further the story of only one participant. It could be intended to portray an unstoppable force, a lucky underdog, a sore loser, or any other characterization. Sometimes non-wrestling vignettes are shown to enhance a character's image without the need for matches.
  Other stories result from a natural rivalry. Outside of performance, these are referred to as feuds. A feud can exist between any number of participants and can last from a few days to decades. The feud between Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat lasted from the late 1970s into the early 1990s and allegedly spanned over two thousand matches (although most of those matches were mere dark matches). The career-spanning history between characters Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka is another example of a long-running feud, as is the case of Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon, one of the most lucrative feuds in the World Wrestling Federation during 1998 and 1999.
  In theory, the longer a feud is built up, the more audience interest (aka heat) lasts. The main event of a wrestling show is generally the most heated. Commonly, a heel will hold the upper hand over a face until a final showdown, heightening dramatic tension as the face's fans desire to see him win.
  Throughout the history of professional wrestling, many other elements of media have been utilized in professional wrestling storytelling: pre- and post-match interviews, "backstage" skits, positions of authority and worked behind-the-scenes feuds, division rankings (typically the #1-contendership spot), contracts, lotteries, news stories on websites, and in recent years social media.
  Also, anything that can be used as an element of drama can exist in professional wrestling stories: romantic relationships (including love triangles and marriage), racism, classism, nepotism, favoritism, corporate corruption, family bonds, personal histories, grudges, theft, cheating, assault, betrayal, bribery, seduction, stalking, confidence tricks, extortion, blackmail, substance abuse, self-doubt, self-sacrifice; even kidnapping, sexual fetishism, necrophilia, misogyny, rape and death have been portrayed in wrestling. Some promotions have included supernatural elements such as magic, curses, the undead and Satanic imagery (most notably the Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness, a stable that regularly performed evil rituals and human sacrifice in Satanic-like worship of a hidden power figure). Celebrities would also be involved in storylines.
  Commentators have become important in communicating the relevance of the characters' actions to the story at hand, filling in past details and pointing out subtle actions that may otherwise go unnoticed.
caption: Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy as Broken Hardys
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