Mid 20th Century
132-695: Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player , best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD ), a nickname he received while working in a wrecking yard . He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 . Entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to
264-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
396-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
528-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
660-629: A " goody-two shoes Superman ") who would often "overcome the odds", thus getting his first boos and jeers. In the following years, Cena would get mostly real "mixed reaction" rather than go away heat, oftentimes still getting more cheers than boos, with the notorious exception of Rob Van Dam 's Money in the Bank cash-in at ECW's One Night Stand (with ECW being Van Dam's "home promotion"), Tables, Ladders and Chairs match against Edge at Unforgiven in Edge's hometown and against CM Punk at Money in
792-556: A "dirty low down Injun " as a means of drawing cheap heat. Another example of a wrestler using cheap heat was Sgt. Slaughter , who often delivered anti-American promos during the Gulf War (and Operation Desert Shield immediately before it) as part of his Iraqi sympathizer gimmick ; one of those promos came at the 1990 Survivor Series , where Slaughter insulted servicemen stationed in Iraq for Thanksgiving . In 2003, The Rock used
924-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1056-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1188-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1320-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
1452-579: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Heat (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In professional wrestling , heat can refer to both crowd reactions and real-life animosity between those involved in
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#17327934194891584-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
1716-553: A dog collar, to the music of Queen 's " Another One Bites the Dust ," JYD often headlined cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome and other major venues, becoming "the first black wrestler to be made the undisputed top star of his promotion". WWE author Brian Shields called Junkyard Dog one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in
1848-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
1980-702: A feud with Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight Championship. After gaining disqualification and non-title victories in house show matches, JYD defeated Flair by DQ on June 13 at Clash of the Champions XI . JYD was then part of the short-lived Dudes with Attitudes faction along with Sting , Paul Orndorff , and El Gigante . In the fall he feuded with Television Champion Arn Anderson , defeating him in non-title matches in less than 10 seconds on three house shows in September. He finished
2112-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
2244-742: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
2376-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
2508-507: A natural disaster), although they sometimes do not mention it by name. Historically, another common practice of villains to draw cheap heat involves using racial and ethnic slurs to offend the collective sensibility of wrestling fans. For example, in 1972, when the American Indian Movement was gaining momentum, Baron von Raschke was known to refer to Native American WWA World Heavyweight Champion Billy Red Cloud as
2640-424: A negative reaction that a wrestling character gets from a crowd in a performance setting, it has also become slang for a negative reaction that a wrestler gets backstage from colleagues, management or both. Backstage heat can be garnered for both real and perceived slights and transgressions. Heels can draw "cheap heat" (called "cheap" because it is an easy way for the villains to receive boos) by blatantly insulting
2772-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
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#17327934194892904-485: A professional wrestling angle , or match. In terms of crowd reaction, heat is usually used to denote how much of a reaction a heel wrestler receives, but can also be used for a babyface . Although the term can in some contexts refer to either positive or negative crowd reactions, heat is usually used specifically to mean a negative crowd response (e.g. booing ), with its opposite being a " pop " or positive reaction (cheering, clapping, etc.). As heat typically refers to
3036-467: A steel cage dog collar match. Other notable feuds involved Ernie Ladd , Ted DiBiase , Kamala , King Kong Bundy , and Butch Reed . The 1982 feud with DiBiase was particularly notable as DiBiase, once JYD's friend and tag-team partner, turned heel and subsequently won a loser-leaves-town match against JYD with the help of the loaded glove, which was a DiBiase calling card, at the time forcing JYD to leave town for an extended period of time. In 1982, JYD
3168-480: A storyline to go in a particular direction. For example, in early 1992 the World Wrestling Federation was attempting to push Sid Justice as a villain. During the Royal Rumble match in January, Justice – who had become popular due to his charisma – was loudly cheered when he eliminated Hulk Hogan , and commentators Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon picked up on this as a fair act. However,
3300-414: A time where SmackDown!'s talent roster was short of heel main eventers due to Brock Lesnar leaving the company and Kurt Angle due once again suffering from legitimate neck problems. It came to light that then-reigning WWE Champion and top babyface Eddie Guerrero felt a lot of pressure as he felt he was responsible for the drop in crowd attendance at SmackDown!'s live events at the time and wanted to drop
3432-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
3564-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
3696-509: A villain in November 2012, would never actually have a villain single run due to debuting as part of The Shield . By late 2013, Reigns would be getting the biggest push between the three members of The Shield ( Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins ), as he got to win as sole survivor his Survivor Series 5-on-5 Survivor Series match and the most elimination at 4, being the only member of The Shield to defeat CM Punk and breaking another record at
3828-491: A villain, which would lead to his return as a fan favorite. John Bradshaw Layfield's push in 2004 that would change him from a predominantly tag team division competitor to a SmackDown! main eventer who went on to hold the WWE Championship for 280 days (the longest reign in a decade) is often seen as go away heat due to the push being perceived as forced and undeserving. It was noted that Layfield's push came at
3960-471: A villainess, Stephanie McMahon has been able to draw many boos, but her run with The Authority since 2013, as well as her run as Raw Commissioner, has been criticized and critics and fans alike saw her heat during this period as go away heat. Hulk Hogan, the face of the WWF that would lead to a boom in professional wrestling during the 1980s, may be included as well due to receiving less positive reactions by
4092-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
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4224-869: Is a member of the Sports Hall of Fame. He graduated with a political science degree. Ritter signed with the Green Bay Packers in April 1976. He was placed on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury during the offseason. He was waived from injured reserve in October 1976. Ritter debuted in 1976. He initially wrestled for NWA Tri-State , the Continental Wrestling Association , and Southeastern Championship Wrestling under his real name. In late-1977, Ritter moved to Nick Gulas 's NWA Mid America promotion and adopted
4356-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
4488-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
4620-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
4752-662: The Attitude Era , therefore audiences became increasingly hostile toward Maivia, with chants of "Die, Rocky, die!" and "Rocky sucks!" being heard during his matches. After suffering a legit injury in April 1997, Maivia would return as a villain character in August 1997 by joining the Nation of Domination and refusing to acknowledge the Rocky Maivia name, instead referring to himself in the third person as The Rock, insulting
4884-571: The Fabulous Freebirds where they blinded him with hair cream. At the peak of the feud, his wife gave birth to their first child, which was made part of the storyline. It was explained that JYD could not see his new daughter, something that increased the heat on the Freebirds to the point where they needed police escorts in and out of arenas. The feud ended with the still-blinded JYD and Freebird leader Michael "P.S." Hayes wrestling in
5016-468: The Invasion storyline, where the WWF side (to which X-Pac belonged) was mostly portrayed as the heroes, the fans were vocal in their disapproval of X-Pac, which was acknowledged on-screen by both Alliance member Billy Kidman and later by WWF member Edge . This mass disapproval led to the term "X-Pac heat" as described above. Between 1999 and 2001, Triple H had a successful run as the main villain of
5148-736: The Lakers-Kings rivalry to gain cheap heat during a WWE Raw show in Sacramento (The Rock even claimed that he was friends with Laker star Shaquille O'Neal ) when he was singing a song about leaving the city; the song's last lyrics were: "I'll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May." In 2004 during a WWE live event in Germany, John Bradshaw Layfield used Nazi salutes and
5280-499: The National Football League , Fox lead commentator Joe Buck in an interview with Andy Cohen stated that the network had not ruled out the possibility of using artificial crowd noise on its telecasts for the 2020 season to make up for the possibility of limited or no attendance at games, and that Fox was also exploring the possibility of masking empty stands with CGI crowds. WWE would later follow up on
5412-599: The National Hockey League during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs as the COVID-19 pandemic hit United States and Canada that impacted the sporting world . The crowd noise was provided by Electronic Arts , combined with recordings of team-specific chants by season ticketholders of participating teams in bubble cities in Edmonton and Toronto (the latter of which was also played in-arena). Similarly, in
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5544-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
5676-562: The Royal Rumble for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match at 12, also eliminating both Ambrose and Rollins from the match and ending up being the runner-up (Reigns would get cheered over eventual winner Batista, as fans wanted fan favorite and popular Daniel Bryan to win instead of Batista), being eventually billed as the leader of The Shield during their feud with Evolution (Batista, Randy Orton and Triple H) between April and May 2014. After The Shield broke up in June 2014,
5808-476: The SuperSonics basketball team to Oklahoma City . "Canned heat" refers to playing a recording of cheering or booing through the arena sound system or adding it to a taped show, to either amplify a crowd reaction or mask silence from the crowd. Pre-taped crowd reactions from other events are also spliced in with the programming to make the crowd look more energetic than it actually is, or if promoters want
5940-518: The WWE Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar , Reigns was cheered. The following night on Raw , Reigns was again booed early in the show, but received a mixed reaction for suggesting that he defend his newly won championship against Finn Bálor later that night. After beating Bálor, Reigns was again heavily booed by the crowd, which increased in intensity after the match when Braun Strowman attempted to cash in his Money in
6072-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
6204-866: The ring name "Leroy Rochester". In December 1977, he won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship with Gypsy Joe . In late-1978, Ritter moved to Stu Hart 's Stampede Wrestling as "Big Daddy Ritter", where he captured the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship twice. He wrestled for Stampede until August 1979. In April 1979, Ritter toured Japan with International Wrestling Enterprise as part of its Big Challenge Series. Wrestling as "Big Daddy Ritter", his opponents included Isamu Teranishi, Great Kusatsu, and Mighty Inoue . In September 1979, Ritter moved to Mid-South Wrestling , where booker "Cowboy" Bill Watts gave him
6336-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
6468-510: The " Worst Feud of the Year " with Kane (including the " Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic "), as well as the " Worst Worked Match of the Year " (with Scott Steiner in January 2003) and being voted by WON' s readers as the " Most Overrated " (2002–2004) and the " Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler " (2002 and 2003). It would stay with him despite getting in a better physical condition and thus having better matches and feuds by 2004 —due to him winning
6600-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
6732-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
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#17327934194896864-469: The 1990s and the longest until Gunther in 2022), with his second reign being better reviewed and the ladder match in which he lost the title to Triple H at SummerSlam being rated ****1/4 out of five stars by journalist Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter ( WON ). Despite now getting the desired reaction, the WWF would turn him back into a villain (from November 1998 to April 1999) to feud with Mankind (Mick Foley) and become
6996-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
7128-707: The 2000s. However, by late 2002 he would be criticized for the Katie Vick angle with Kane , with his following feuds with Scott Steiner and Booker T being criticized as well. Thus his "reign of terror" with the World Heavyweight Championship (he was the inaugural holder , being awarded the title by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff in September 2002) by December 2002 to September 2003 would often being described as go away heat due to his mediocre angles and matches. As result of his go away heat, between 2002 and 2004 Triple H would win
7260-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
7392-489: The Bank in CM Punk's hometown . Eventually, by the 2010s he would be reevaluated (ironically, also due Reigns being described as "even worse") and getting more cheers, especially during his run as United States Champion in 2015 and even when winning his 16th world championship against popular and respected veteran AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble in January 2017. Reigns, while actually debuting on WWE's main roster as
7524-466: The Bank title shot. The subsequent Shield reunion and attack on Strowman was positively received by the Brooklyn audience, but was viewed by many as a cheap attempt to garner positive reactions for Reigns. However, all the heat diminished as of the October 22, 2018 episode of Raw , when Reigns announced that he was re-diagnosed with leukemia after 11 years and would be taking a hiatus to treat it. As
7656-662: The Champions VI in New Orleans. Before the match he was accompanied to the ring by a jazz band. On May 7, 1989, JYD no showed the PPV, Wrestlewar 89 and was promptly fired. A year later at the Capitol Combat PPV, he made a surprise appearance after being hired by then Booker, Ole Anderson. JYD began a main event run in May 1990. On May 20 he defeated Mean Mark Callous in 39 seconds. He quickly became embroiled in
7788-472: The Dog in chicken feathers. The two had a series of matches, many of the bouts were for the prized North American Heavyweight Championship. These matches were also notable for their brutality, which included "ghetto street fights", "dog-collar matches", two-out-of-three pin-fall matches and steel-cage matches. JYD was lured to the WWF at the peak of the feud with Reed. In the summer of 1984, Ritter left Mid-South for
7920-621: The Funk Brothers ( Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk ), Adrian Adonis , Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and "Outlaw" Ron Bass . He lost to Rick Rude by disqualification at the inaugural SummerSlam . He left the company in November 1988. Ritter made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance on December 7, 1988, at the Clash of the Champions IV . He appeared during an altercation between The Russian Assassins and Ivan Koloff , saving
8052-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
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#17327934194898184-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
8316-527: The WWF —especially in 2000, when he became the first villain to win the main event of WrestleMania and thus retain the WWF Championship, as well as winning the "Feud of the Year" award by both PWI (with Kurt Angle ) and WON (with Mick Foley) and the WON " Wrestler of the Year " award due his accomplishments and performances. Dave Meltzer would rank Triple H's drawing power as the number one of
8448-490: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he was a mid-card wrestler but still a heavily over face. JYD debuted on a Georgia Championship Wrestling taping held at the Kiel Auditorium on August 10, 1984, when he defeated Max Blue. While in the WWF, JYD made a habit of interacting with the growing number of young people in attendance, often bringing them into the ring after matches and dancing with them. He wrestled at
8580-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
8712-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
8844-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
8976-559: The audience in his promos as well as WWF television interviewers. The Rock would eventually become the Nation's leader and draw good heat, then starting getting cheered while still being a villain before being officially turned back into a fan favorite character by September 1998. During his time in the Nation, The Rock would get back the Intercontinental Championship and held it for 265 days (the second longest in
9108-436: The building" after winning the 2015 Royal Rumble . For those arguing that Reigns is getting go away heat, their reason is due his perceived forced push, as he would headline WrestleMania 31 after wrestling only two singles matches on pay-per-view despite having a "very limited" in-ring moveset, "forced promo delivery" and a "petulant and annoyed" attitude ill-befitting of a top fan favorite. Reigns' first coronation
9240-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
9372-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
9504-499: The character has become stale, boring, and uninteresting. While it can be difficult to distinguish the good heat for the villain from go away heat, with some fans and critics claiming it is indeed go away heat and others claiming it is good heat, there are a few example which are closer to be go away heat, most notably in WWE because of its major exposure. Notorious examples of the concept are The Rock as Rocky Maivia, X-Pac (who popularized
9636-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
9768-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
9900-405: The company" or "the top guy" ( John Cena and Roman Reigns ) have been linked to have had go away heat, as both have in common the fact to be billed as heroic characters and staying as such despite getting jeers for years, unlike Rocky Maivia who was turned into a villain less than a year after his failed run as fan favorite. Cena had a brief run as a villain between late 2002 and late 2003, when he
10032-491: The concept by installing LED boards on Amway Center and later Tropicana Field , branded as WWE ThunderDome on-screen and mixing arena's audio with that of the virtual fans when the promotion began moving tapings from the WWE Performance Center in August 2020. "Go home heat" (sometimes called "go away heat" or "nuclear heat") occurs when fans boo or jeer a legitimately disliked character or, sometimes,
10164-414: The continuing negative reactions by both critics and fans alike, which has led PWI readers to vote him as " Most Hated Wrestler of the Year " for 2016, a first for a heroic character since the award was devised in 1972. It should also be noted that "business went up" with Cena, who has been also one of the best merchandising seller in WWE history, whereas the period in which WWE tried to push Reigns as
10296-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
10428-485: The early 1980s. JYD was most known for his headbutt and upper body strength, the latter of which saw him regularly bodyslam such large wrestlers as the One Man Gang , Kamala , and King Kong Bundy . The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks. Ritter played football at Fayetteville State University , twice earning honorable mention All-American status, and
10560-597: The early 1990s, including the Sid incident at the 1992 Royal Rumble , and even getting some boos, especially in his early years with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). This was mostly due to a stale character, which was turned as a villain in July 1996 , becoming the leader of the New World Order (nWo) and eventually turning back into a fan favorite in 1999. Curiously, the last two WWE wrestlers billed as "the face of
10692-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
10824-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
10956-436: The fans, a local sports team, or the town in which they are performing. Fan favorites would sometimes do the equivalent, referred to as a " cheap pop ", by referring to the town (which Mick Foley popularized) or promising to "win one for the fans". The villains can also draw cheap heat by referring to a mainstream news event as part of their promo , especially if the event has strongly emotional or political ramifications (e.g.
11088-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
11220-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
11352-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
11484-549: The heroic Ambrose and the now villain Rollins would change their ring attire and theme music (unlike Reigns, who retained much of The Shield's aesthetic including ring attire, a remixed version of the group's theme music and ring entrance), eventually evolving their characters during their high acclaimed feud that won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated ( PWI ) award for the " Feud of the Year ". While Ambrose
11616-399: The inaugural WrestleMania I , defeating Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine by countout, but did not receive the title. Ritter won The Wrestling Classic tournament by defeating Randy Savage by countout in the finals, as well as beating Moondog Spot and The Iron Sheik in earlier rounds getting to the final. JYD's most notable feuds in the company came against King Harley Race ,
11748-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
11880-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
12012-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
12144-429: The inner workings of professional wrestling, and this type of heat is transformed into a pop. This is due to smarks realizing how good the character work is, and cheering instead of booing. Generally speaking, go home heat happens either because the fans feel the promotion has been too aggressively pushing a certain wrestler (regardless of his character alignment) who they feel is undeserving of their push, or because
12276-481: The latter. His first match came shortly after in a television taping in Atlanta against Trent Knight. JYD finished the year winning a $ 50,000 bunkhouse battle royal on December 26, which was held as a dark match after Starrcade '88 went off the air. He spent the first few months of 1989 teaming with Ivan Koloff and then Michael Hayes against The Russian Assassins. On April 2, 1989, JYD defeated Butch Reed at Clash of
12408-432: The main event of WrestleMania X-Seven at Austin's home state , "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8 and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam , The Rock would never draw go away heat and would instead use both the fans turning on him and him getting more successful in his actor career to turn back into a villain in 2003 to end his full-time career, before becoming once again a fan favorite ever since 2004. During
12540-618: The main event, immediately going after the world title. However, as soon as his singles career on WWE's main roster started, Reigns' positive reactions started to diminish, culminating in Orton getting cheered over him during their match at SummerSlam . After suffering a legit incarcerated hernia in September 2014, Reigns' positive crowd reactions following his return in December further diminished, culminating in Reigns "getting booed out of
12672-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
12804-416: The name and gimmick Junkyard Dog, as he would wear a long chain attached to a dog collar, and white boots. He originally came to the ring pushing a cart filled with junk called the "junk wagon" and lost most of his early matches before his character caught on and became the top face in the company. While on top he feuded with some of the top heels in the company, including a now infamous angle with
12936-485: The new face of the company and gave him multiple coronations at WrestleMania saw a much quicker decline in Raw viewership by late 2015, when Reigns was made the number one contender for the world title in October and eventually winning the title three times between November 2015 and April 2016. In August 2018 at SummerSlam , the audience started out giving Reigns a mixed crowd reaction during his entrance, but upon winning
13068-456: The next few months. After defeating Slater on July 28, 1993, he left the promotion. After WCW, JYD went to the independent circuit where he wrestled for NWA Dallas. In 1995 he wrestled for National Wrestling Conference in Las Vegas where he had matches with former WWF stars; The Iron Sheik , Mr. Hughes , and The Honky Tonk Man . Ritter had stayed active in professional wrestling until
13200-441: The next few months. In April and again in June, JYD faced former Six-Man Championship partner Ricky Morton, defeating him on each occasion. He also formed another tag-team, this time with The Big Cat . They feuded with The Vegas Connection ( Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas ) the rest of the summer. In April 1993 he formed a new tag-team with Jim Neidhart and began a feud with Dick Slater and Paul Orndorff that would last
13332-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
13464-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
13596-486: The reaction was edited in future television replays, with Sid being booed heavily and Monsoon describing him as a "jerk." Before SmackDown went live in 2016, WWE usually overdubbed cheers on it and professional wrestling magazine Power Slam joked that the company has had to "fire up the Fake Crowd Roar Machine™ to add an artificial atmosphere". This was particularly done for Roman Reigns , who
13728-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
13860-467: The term in the early 2000s so much that go away heat is also known as " X-Pac heat "), Triple H , John "Bradshaw" Layfield , Lita , Stephanie McMahon , Michael Cole in 2011, and more recently Roman Reigns (see Persona and reception of Roman Reigns ), Baron Corbin , Gable Steveson , Nia Jax , Logan Paul , Karrion Kross , Austin Theory , and Charlotte Flair . Between 1996 and 1997, Rocky Maivia
13992-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
14124-641: The time of his death, appearing at Extreme Championship Wrestling 's 1998 Wrestlepalooza event , just one month prior. He was the founder of the Dog Pound stable in an independent Mid-South promotion, based in southern Louisiana . Ritter died on June 1, 1998, at the age of 45, in a single-car accident on Interstate 20 near Forest , Mississippi, as he was returning home from his daughter LaToya's high school graduation in Wadesboro , North Carolina. Among Ritter's last contributions to professional wrestling
14256-428: The title five times for a total of 616 days —until he put over Batista (whose storyline building and eventual feud was highly acclaimed, winning the WON "Feud of the Year" award) at WrestleMania 21 , Backlash and Vengeance . After his Hell in a Cell match with Batista at Vengeance, Triple H was given a standing ovation. Triple H would be getting cheered during his feud with Cena in 2006 despite still being
14388-595: The title until June 3, when they were defeated by The Freebirds in Birmingham, Alabama. He left the promotion in August. After dropping a significant amount of weight to improve his conditioning, Junkyard Dog returned on February 29, 1992, at SuperBrawl II . During a segment where Abdullah the Butcher was attacking Ron Simmons , JYD came out of the crowd to make the save. He found himself wrestling in tag-team matches with Ron Simmons, Barry Windham , or Big Josh for
14520-400: The title. Layfield would not improve things on SmackDown! during his reign and actually drew even less than Guerrero. Furthermore, Layfield's matches on pay-per-view were not well received, including his WrestleMania 21 match with John Cena in which he lost the title. However, the subsequent rematch between Layfield and Cena in an "I Quit" match at Judgment Day was better received. As
14652-486: The top villain to main event WrestleMania XV as WWF Champion and drop the title to the company's "poster boy" Stone Cold Steve Austin . In April 1999, The Rock would turn back into a heroic character and would become one of the most successful characters of both the Attitude Era and WWE history. Despite getting some mixed reactions and being booed a few times in 2001 and 2002, most notably against Austin in
14784-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
14916-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
15048-509: The urn (with Heyman being dressed up as Bearer) before then boldly opening the urn and emptying its contents over a fallen Undertaker. In November 2015, Paige mocked then Divas Champion Charlotte about her late younger brother Reid . In October 2018 at Key Arena in Seattle, WA , Elias and Kevin Owens received over six minutes of continuous booing after mocking the city's loss of
15180-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
15312-447: The wrestler playing that character. Go home heat can be given to wrestlers who are viewed negatively, either for their booking , their character, or even their actions outside of the show; thus, both heroes and villains can get this kind of heat. However, nuclear heat can also mean a heel character getting genuine disdain from fans, simply from great character work. This is much less common in the present day, as fans may be more clued in to
15444-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
15576-495: The year defeating Moondog Rex, The Iron Sheik, and Bill Irwin on the house show circuit. On February 17, 1991, he won his first WCW title, teaming with Ricky Morton and Tommy Rich to defeat Dr. X , Dutch Mantell , and Buddy Landel and gain the WCW Six-Man Tag-Team Championship. He also began a short feud that month with The Master Blaster , winning each encounter. JYD and his partners held
15708-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
15840-410: Was being voted by PWI' s reader as the " Most Popular Wrestler of the Year " in 2014 and 2015 and Rollins as both the " Wrestler of the Year " and the " Most Hated Wrestler of the Year " in 2015, Reigns had finished in second place for the WON "Most Overrated" award in both 2014 and 2015. When breaking up The Shield, WWE thought Reigns was the most popular between the three and thus pushed Reigns in
15972-721: Was booed heavily by the crowd. In April 2006 during his feud with Shawn Michaels , Mr. McMahon used religion and the city to get heat from the crowd in St. Louis, Missouri by saying he went to hell that morning when his driver "got lost and ended up in East St. Louis ". More recent examples include CM Punk and Paul Heyman in March 2013 mocking through displays of flippancy and disrespect towards Paul Bearer (who had just died), stealing his trademark urn and with Punk going as far as assaulting The Undertaker and constantly beating him with
16104-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
16236-399: Was heavily booed at the time despite being booked as a babyface. Gillberg 's entrance mocked on this concept, which features pre-recorded "Gillberg" chants in reference to accusations of World Championship Wrestling using pre-recorded crowd chants in entrances of the wrestler Gillberg parodies, Bill Goldberg . This concept would end up being used outside of professional wrestling such as
16368-587: Was in fact JYD, they were unable to unmask him to prove their suspicions. Stagger Lee disappeared once the loser-leave-town clause in the JYD-DiBiase match had expired, and JYD returned and reclaimed the North American Heavyweight Championship. The feud with Reed was notable in that Reed, a protégé of JYD, had turned heel. Reed with the help of Buddy Landel attacked the Dog many times. On a couple of occasions, they covered
16500-407: Was involved in a cross promotional Match for NWA and AWA against Nick Bockwinkel that aired on NWA Mid South Wrestling and AWA programming which he won by pinfall. A masked man physically resembling JYD, known as "Stagger Lee", subsequently appeared in the region and began to defeat the competition, one by one, including DiBiase. Though DiBiase and the other heels strongly suspected that Stagger Lee
16632-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
16764-401: Was set to happen in the main event of WrestleMania 31, but WWE ultimately decided to go with Rollins cashing-in his Money in the Bank contract and win the title to avoid further negative reactions towards Reigns. Reigns would eventually win three world titles and two consecutive WrestleMania main events (against Triple H at WrestleMania 32 and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 ) despite
16896-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
17028-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
17160-487: Was the first major example of go away heat and also the best example of turning the go away heat into a star by 1998. Hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler, Maivia was a clean-cut heroic character who was pushed heavily from the start and won the Intercontinental Championship despite his wrestling inexperience. This was during a transitional, but more edgy period that would lead to
17292-497: Was the training of former WWF wrestlers Rodney Mack and Jazz . His daughter, LaToya Ritter, and his sister, Christine Woodburn, represented him as he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 at a ceremony held on March 13, 2004, by Ernie Ladd , the day before WrestleMania XX . Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
17424-446: Was turned back into a fan favorite to acclaim, much like The Rock in 1998. Cena would also win his first world title to a pop from the crowd, eventually surpassing Batista's popularity in 2005 that would see him being moved from SmackDown to the Raw brand . By mid-2005, a change of character not appreciated by fans would see Cena changing from "The Doctor of Thuganomics" (a rapper) to a more clean-cut character (described by Cena as
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