Greetings wrestling world, Chris Wilson here once again, in my first post I reviewed the booking for July 19th's RAW. I'm a big fan of BIG storylines in wrestling, and we owe that to the bookers. As an aspiring writer I have always wanted to become a booker for a promotion. I know, I know, alot of you guys are saying "wait a minute buddy we know what booking is". I'm well aware of this but alot of wrestling fans don't pay attention to the booking, It's kind of like the matches, the segments, and the gimmicks are just there sometimes. I for one pay attention to the booking as much as I do the lights, the pyro, the entrance themes, and most of all the wrestling. So let's explore what booking really is shall we??Booking, in professional wrestling, is the process of laying out in advance the general storyline of the match, to include what the eventual outcome will be. Booking may be very detailed and include a more-or-less precise length for the match and what moves, techniques, and holds will be employed by which wrestler or wrestlers and at what point in the match each will happen.
Meaning the booker not only lays out the storyline for the matches, but also determines which wrestlers(via a certain wrestlers storyline) will face who. An example of this is Kevin Sullivan specifically stating that he hand picked Bill DeMott as Goldberg's first opponent. And further went on to say he chose DeMott because he was a veteran and would get him over the right way.
Contrary to popular belief, bookers do not "script" these matches like plays. In fact bookers leave a considerable amount of room for improvisation, mostly in the case of very talented veteran performers who can prove creativity. At other times there may be situations where the wrestlers may not be able to follow the intentions of the booker. An example of this occured at SuperBrawl VIII when Rick Martel landed badly during his rematch with Booker T, hitting his leg on one of the steel cables that WCW used as ring ropes. He tore an inside ligament of his right knee, fractured his leg and suffered cartilage damage. Martel was originally supposed to retain the Television Title in the match, which was designed to be a gauntlet match in which he would beat Booker and then Perry Saturn, but ended up suffering the knee injury. Martel and Booker worked out a finish in the ring through which Martel suffered a worse injury after a botched Harlem Sidekick.
Talented bookers are key to any successful promotion. It is this element, even above athletic performance, that generally determines the success or failure of a promotion. Even so, the booker must have wrestlers of sufficient skill to work with to make the matches appear to be at least somewhat plausible. Vince Russo for example was heavily to blame for WCW going under, because of his ridiculous storylines and Shock TV style booking.
Bookers often perform in the event in some way. The most notable example is World Wrestling Entertainment's Howard Finkel, who helped book shows, announced matches, and even wrote magazine reviews of shows. On the other hand, the before mentioned Vince Russo is viewed by many to have inserted himself too heavily. Kevin Nash was also a booker but was an active wrestler, another wrestler Triple H has also done this during his career.
The power of a group or individual to set matches and storyline is said to have booking power. A promotion's creative team has booking power by definition, but official bookers are not the only people said to have booking power. A group of wrestlers can be said to have booking power as well, a more popular example of this is The Clique(Shawn Micheals, Kevin Nash, Triple H, and Scott Hall), someone who is friends with the booker, or whose contract gives them creative control over their character (e.g., Hulk Hogan), may be said to have booking power. Backstage politics may play a large role in who gets to control the direction of matches and storylines.
Another method is called "on the fly booking" which means that a show will be booked on the night that it is to be put on.
On the fly booking was often used by WCW during the Monday Night Wars. This was done because WCW had a large undercard talent roster which would have been time-consuming to write dedicated storylines for. This time period also saw the rise of the Internet wrestling community and the management at WCW perceived a need to keep the details of upcoming storylines from leaking out. This method of booking's drawbacks became visible quickly when WCW storylines would often seem disjointed and not carry over into next week's show. In light of WCW losing the Monday Night Wars, on the fly booking is rarely practiced except in cases where a wrestler does not show up at a scheduled event or at some independent wrestling shows where the talent is not part of a permanent roster.
In closing there are multiple types of methods and influences for booking, and it is a major part of wrestling and all ways will be. You may not know who the bookers are all the time but they make world of whatever wrestling show you watch or wrestling promotion you follow go round. See you guys on Friday for my review of TNA's booking for Impact this week.
