I thought the sex bit would pull y'all in! Hahaha! Hello, my name is Starfox and I imagine most of you at least know OF me. Some of you might even like me! Regardless, in this post I'm going to talk about a couple of issues I've encountered more than once just this year. For those keeping count the year isn't even 3 months old yet. Warning, lengthy discussion to follow. Let's get started then shall we?
'Part I - Role Play'
So, the first thing I want to talk about here are ROLES. This is going to be primarily from a pro wrestling perspective but I think the terminology and roles we'll be talking about work equally well in whatever other combat style you're working in. Right. So just the other day I had an unfortunate encounter, that some of y'all may have witnessed, in which a guy I was attempting to work with really just took me right out of a match we were starting with some moves that just didn't make sense narratively. Stick a pin in that, we'll get to that aspect of my Fox Talk here today in a bit. When I talked to him about it he justified the moves used by stating that he "is a HEEL." There's nothing wrong with identifying your combat persona that way but what his statement revealed was a fundamental misunderstanding of what that term actually means in a pro wrestling context. And he's not the first guy I've encountered who doesn't understand the role he's playing, just the latest in an alarming trend of ignorance. In professional wrestling there are primarily 3 distinct archetypes that characters can fall under. They are the "baby face" which is often just referred to as a "Face," the "Heel," and the "Jobber." Each of these archetypes are distinct from one another and all are routinely misunderstood here. I'll take each of these in turn.
First of all, what does that term I just used mean, "archetype"? According to Merriam-Webster it means "the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies." You can think of an "archetype" as being the most generic label you can slap on a character. There may be different characteristics that define and differentiate individuals (jocks, pretty boys, boys next door, skaters, etc.) but they all fundamentally come from that same base level archetype.
So let's start with the "baby face" character more commonly referred to as a "Face." These are the good guys. The heroes of the melodramatic soap opera that is professional wrestling. These characters are the ones the crowds are supposed to love and cheer for. These are the characters, in American wrestling, that usually get to have the fancy flashy moves and finishers. They follow the rules (though some may break them under duress or to "even the playing field"). They're the "nice guys" and generally prioritize fairness and respect authority figures. While they may end up doing one more often than the other they will both win AND lose. Generally these characters are at their best when they're chasing their polar opposite archetype, the Heel, for a championship or some other tangible reward or to "right a wrong." Often around here this archetype is confused with the "Jobber."Â So, let's talk about what a "Jobber" actually is in the pro wrestling context.
The word "Jobber" these days is seen as a pejorative and deeply insulting term in the professional wrestling world. I believe the term used nowadays is "Enhancement Talent." Regardless, it means the same thing. Historically speaking, a "Jobber" was someone, usually local, who was hired by a promoter, and who may or may not have any actual wrestling training, to put over a star wrestler in that promotion. To "put someone over" means to elevate them or make them look good. So these guys were literally hired "to do a job." They weren't regulars in the promotion and they were generally hired on an as-needed basis. Hence, they were hired for a job (as opposed to being signed to a contract) and since wrestling loves shorthand slang they became known as "Jobbers." They ALWAYS LOST in order to make the star of the moment look good. This didn't mean they couldn't be stars in their own right. Later on as the territories gave way to the national behemoths we know today, and a few incidents occurred where untrained jobbers were seriously injured, some of these guys actually became regular members of the promotions they were hired by and would go on to become household names in their own right either as well regarded Jobbers or as superstars themselves.
In our context here if someone classifies themselves as a "Jobber" they should be expected to ALWAYS LOSE when facing a Heel or a Face character. They may get annihilated in match after match or they may from time to time put up a fight. Regardless of the strength of their resistance to their opponent's offense they should always lose. They might beat another Jobber but anytime they encounter a Face or a Heel they should definitely, and resoundingly, lose that match. Because the classic "Face" and "Jobber" here often have a similar appearance (young, clean cut, smooth jocks, twinks, and twunks) I think this is where the confusion in these two terms come from. We in the gay world are incredibly superficial and often make up our minds about another guy in about 5 seconds based on nothing more than their personal appearance and our own inherent biases, assumptions, turn ons, and desires. I'm certainly as guilty as the next guy. If a character looks like a hairy muscled biker bear we assume they must be a Heel while in point of fact they may actually be a Face or even a Jobber. Likewise, a smooth, young, well muscled, and clean cut character is automatically presumed to be a Jobber, or at a generous best, a Face while they may actually be a Heel. I don't expect the use of the terms here to change, and certainly not from anything I say or do, but it is important to remember that the Face and the Jobber are 2 distinct archetypes with different characteristics.
This brings us to the Heel archetype. In professional wrestling a Heel is a character that audiences are supposed to boo and revile. They are the polar opposite of the Face. Where the Face follows the established rules of a match, the Heel will break them. Sometimes because they need to but often merely because they can. Whereas the Face is a nice guy, the Heel is the brash, rude, arrogant villain of the story. The tactics that the Heel uses are meant to give the Face a challenge to overcome and serves to make the Face's victories against them more meaningful and impactful for an audience. The Heel is generally the character who drives the action in a match or storyline/rivalry with a Face by continuously throwing up obstacles to deny the Face a win or to delay their chance at achieving their goal (like a title belt or title match). By making the Face continue to work and adapt to changing and challenging circumstances it's the Heel character who is actually building up the Face and strengthening them until eventually they're able to overcome the Heel at the climactic conclusion to a chase or rivalry. A Heel should win more than they lose, otherwise they're not much of a challenge for the Face are they? However they DO AND SHOULD lose. And not just at that penultimate match. After all, if they've done nothing but defeat the Face then why would they view them as a legitimate contender for whatever it is they're seeking? If there have been some wins and losses exchanged between the Heel and the Face then the Face looks like a strong legitimate challenger for whatever it is the Heel has that the Face wants. So, just because you're a Heel doesn't mean you will or should always win. In fact you may be "behind" in most of your matches - only achieving victory by some underhanded or nefarious tactic(s) to deny your opponent the win they've earned but which you stole.
To summarize our discussion of character archetypes, a Face is a good guy who follows the rules, the Heel is the bad guy who holds the rules in contempt and views them as "flexible." Both Heels and Faces can and should win AND LOSE. Jobbers are the guys who ALWAYS LOSE to make the Faces and Heels look good. They may get destroyed or they may put up varying levels of resistance but THEY ALWAYS LOSE when opposing a Heel or a Face. They may win against other Jobbers though.
'Part II - Matches Are Like Sex'
If you're still with me I'm impressed! Now that we've talked about character roles it's time to talk about how to structure/build a match. Do you remember that thing I told you to stick a pin in wayyyyyyyyyy back when we started this? If you don't it's ok. I recently had an encounter with a guy here whose character is a Heel. That's not really important except that when we started the match, which I had previously agreed to lose, he came out of the gate and hit me with a couple of moves that made no sense narratively. Sure they were physically possible and made sense from the physical positions we were both in but NARRATIVELY they made no sense and took me mentally out of the match. My objections weren't to the moves themselves but rather their placement in the story of the match we had just started to tell together.
And that's KEY to this whole thing. A match is a story. A small mini story that may be a chapter in a larger story like a championship chase or a tournament setting or it may just be a one-time sort of scene or vignette. Whether it's a chapter in a longer story or its own standalone narrative, a story has a structure to it right? There's an introduction or exposition that sets the stage for the action. There's the obstacle which is what the action is designed to overcome or create depending on the character involved. There's the build which leads to the climax (not THAT climax) and then post-climax action that leads to the resolution. All of those elements are necessary in order for there to be a good match that an audience can follow and which makes some structural sense. When you skip over parts of that structure your match loses its sense of purpose and will probably just flounder until you either figure out how to get it back on track or you lose interest in it entirely because now your match has become the combat equivalent of Waiting for Godot. If you haven't seen or read that play (shame on you) but spoiler alert, Godot never arrives.
Typically the introduction/exposition are your entrances into the match. Those entrances are your chance to introduce your character through his music, gear and color choices, attitude, and emotional state. It's a chance to set the stage for the match from your character's perspective. Has he just come off a big win? A big loss? Is he riding a hot winning streak? Maybe he's been mired in a slump and has lost several in a row. How a character enters a fight can tell an audience a lot about what to expect from them. If they're wearing bright colors with up tempo bright music they're probably a Face. Possibly a Jobber. If they're coming off a big win then they're probably feeling confident and strong. If the music is dark with low tones and their gear is dark with solid colors they're probably a Heel. If they've really struggled against this opponent before they may be questioning themselves some. All of this sets the stage and lets an audience know what to expect. It doesn't mean you can't set them up for a surprise like a heel wearing bright colors while the face enters to more somber music for example. Or maybe they're mired in a losing slump but they've had really good success in defeating this opponent in the past. All of that introductory and expository work gets the audience ready for the action.
Now that you've set the stage it's time for the action to start. The signal for this is usually the bell ringing to start the match. Of course sometimes it's fun to start things before that in order to establish roles or because you're a Heel trying to get an unfair advantage by beating on some Jobber or unlucky Face before they're ready. Once the action starts there's generally a building process unless these two characters have a history and know each other well it's likely you're going to start just trying to test each other out. See what the other man's bringing to this fight. This is a chance to contrast the two characters for the audience. Are they fairly evenly matched from a physical perspective? If so, then this is a great chance to establish that this match will likely be a back and forth struggle that may be determined by either one man simply running out of gas first or by the Face's superior endurance or the Heel's ruthless tactics. If there's a considerable size or muscle difference then right away the smaller or less powerful guy is probably going to use more of a guerilla style offense whereas the bigger taller guy will want to use those natural advantages to trap and pound his opponent. The initial action can also be a chance to set a contrast of styles. Maybe one guy's more of a mat technician with a strong submission arsenal while his opponent is more of a power striker. Maybe one guy has better cardio endurance while the other man needs to gain himself plenty of breaks to catch his breath throughout the match. All of this can be established for the audience in this initial action to start the match. Often it's here where the primary obstacle is going to be revealed.
It's worth noting here that the match I referenced earlier where the moves made no narrative sense, skipped this section almost entirely. Instead of building to the exchange of big moves after a series of shorter exchanges this guy decided to go straight for the power moves. This gave the match no foundation. The move felt cheap and contrived because it hadn't been earned. Instead it was simply taken because he could and because he wanted to. "But Starfox, if he's a Heel what's wrong with him breaking the rules like that?" I can hear some of you saying. Well, the problem is when you start hitting moves that aren't earned it does a couple of things. First and foremost, it confuses your audience because it's like "what? Where did that come from?" The audience has an expectation that they're going to get to understand the two characters they're watching and when they dont get that chance the whole match loses any salience and starts to feel like a cheap carnival sideshow. It also confuses your opponent because now they feel like "where do i go from here?" If you just jump into the main action without any kind of groundwork being laid then it can start to feel like the match has gone off the rails. And if you persist in doing that then it starts to feel like just a spotfest to your opponent and they'll likely lose interest in just being a prop for you. Once that happens then the match has started nowhere and is now just floundering toward some kind of pitiful conclusion that satisfies nobody. It started nowhere and ended up in the same place. What's the point of that? Instead, take your time, go through the early action and get your audience engaged with what you're doing. Seduce them into caring about the outcome of the match you're presenting.
Once you've gotten through the initial action now you're into the heart of the match. It's here that the exchanges in control, if they're going to happen, take place. Where each man gets to throw his offensive style at the other and try to win the match. This is where you're going to see those big moves come out. Where you're going to see the close calls. The punishing beatdown followed by the hopeful comeback. You may have stretches of dominant control by one side or the other only for the momentum to either abruptly shift if a move is missed or it may be more gradual if one guy just starts to flag and can't maintain his own momentum. However this section goes you should be building it towards the climax. (ok still not THAT climax, sheesh go take a cold shower!) It may be that one guy seizes control and is able to maintain it, building the crowd's expectation for his victory as his opponent loses the ability or the will to fight back. Or it might be a thrilling back and forth slugfest with both guys trading huge moves and using everything in their arsenals to defeat the other. This section should have your audience on the edge of their seats and cheering and groaning at every reversal in the match. If you've done it well then your audience is primed and ready for the climax of the fight. (Good grief y'all cool off!!)
The climax of a wrestling match is usually what we call a Finishing Move. It's a move that every wrestler should have that effectively ENDS the match when they hit it. This is Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver, Randy Orton's RKO, Flair's Figure Four, etc. This is the goal that every wrestler is trying to get to in every match - the chance to hit their finisher and avoid being taken out by the other guy's. Some finishers, like mine, have set up moves. Moves that can be part of the Finisher or may just be teasers if the other guy manages to evade or counter them. Once someone hits their Finishing Move, and especially if it's complicated or particularly brutal or beautiful, it's polite to take your loss. Most Finishing Moves are sufficiently powerful that there really should be no question about it after that anyway as they're hit after a long, grueling match against a strong opponent. Once that move or move sequence is delivered the crowd knows it's over and the fans who're watching their favorite finishing off his opponent are ROCKING while the fans of the man being vanquished can only watch their favorite go down in defeat. The final pin or submission is the end of the match's climax and signals the transition into the resolution.
In some cases the Climax and the Resolution may just be the end of the match. One man has won and the other has lost. Make sure to tune in next week for the next installment in this epic rivalry! Same fight time! Same fight channel! Fade to black. Or, there may be stakes to pay. In which case the stakes become the Resolution. One man has to pay up whatever was wagered. The process of going through that process, whether it's a relatively quick gear surrender or unmasking or a lengthy drawn out sexual engagement gives the crowd the opportunity to come down from the thrilling high of the match they just witnessed and now get to enjoy the reward that they've earned for their patience. The Resolution of a match can also be the impetus that motivates the beaten man to challenge the victor to a rematch. Or, if the two characters have a long history together, the thing that motivates the loser to get his revenge against the victor the next time these two characters collide in the ring.
All of these stages of the match are important. They each deserve the attention of the combatants in a match. Skipping one just because you can runs the risk of confusing your audience and your opponent. You're risking the indifference of both by blowing off or rushing these key parts. If you skip over the intros then the audience has no idea why these two characters are fighting. There are no emotional stakes for them to be invested in. If you skip the initial build it's jarring and doesn't give your opponent or your audience a chance to meet the characters in combat. Instead all you're doing is just throwing them headlong into a match with nothing to anchor them. Rushing the action and pulling a Finishing Move too early risks making the move seem unearned and leaves the audience, and possibly your opponent, feeling cheated. If any of those are skipped or rushed then the Resolution feels contrived and there's no particular purpose to it.
In short, (TO LATE I know) take your time. Take the audience on a journey with you. A good match is like sex (I told you I'd get there). When it's good it's a long, slow burn. It's all about teasing the finish without actually going there the first few times. It makes you WANT the end (if your man is in control) while the other side's hoping it lasts long enough to see the momentum swing one more time. If you're doing it right that Climax point of the match will be genuine and leave your audience (and hey maybe you AND your opponent) gasping before the Resolution. Then that final round......that final round is savored and relished. Wallowing in it enough to make both of you and your audience squirm as you take them on that journey again at the end. Finally everybody's exhausted. Sated. And everybody's EAGER to see the two of you go at it again.
Thank you for coming (cumming? ;) ) to my Fox Talk. If you made it this far, I deserve a treat! Treats are accepted at any Fox Basket you may encounter or anytime you are graced with my presence!
Really, far too complicated and unnecessary, as I didn't realise I'd have to sit an exam to have a pro wrestling match here. This is a fantasy site, and it is up to the characters what rules they follow, so you had a match against someone and your styles didn't match, get over it, stop moaning and move on..
Its simple heels are those that like to win, jobbers are those who like to lose, but you can be both and switch between roles, depending on your mood. And just because someone has had a run of bad results does not make them a jobber.
And to irk you further, âyourâ wrong, as someone once said 'Rules are for losers'.
Jesse Fox
2026-03-10 00:53But what if some people like a quick in-and-out with no foreplay? (asking for an acquaintance)
Starfox
2026-03-09 23:25I thought the sex bit would pull y'all in! Hahaha! Hello, my name is Starfox and I imagine most of you at least know OF me. Some of you might even like me! Regardless, in this post I'm going to talk about a couple of issues I've encountered more than once just this year. For those keeping count the year isn't even 3 months old yet. Warning, lengthy discussion to follow. Let's get started then shall we?
'Part I - Role Play'
So, the first thing I want to talk about here are ROLES. This is going to be primarily from a pro wrestling perspective but I think the terminology and roles we'll be talking about work equally well in whatever other combat style you're working in. Right. So just the other day I had an unfortunate encounter, that some of y'all may have witnessed, in which a guy I was attempting to work with really just took me right out of a match we were starting with some moves that just didn't make sense narratively. Stick a pin in that, we'll get to that aspect of my Fox Talk here today in a bit. When I talked to him about it he justified the moves used by stating that he "is a HEEL." There's nothing wrong with identifying your combat persona that way but what his statement revealed was a fundamental misunderstanding of what that term actually means in a pro wrestling context. And he's not the first guy I've encountered who doesn't understand the role he's playing, just the latest in an alarming trend of ignorance. In professional wrestling there are primarily 3 distinct archetypes that characters can fall under. They are the "baby face" which is often just referred to as a "Face," the "Heel," and the "Jobber." Each of these archetypes are distinct from one another and all are routinely misunderstood here. I'll take each of these in turn.
First of all, what does that term I just used mean, "archetype"? According to Merriam-Webster it means "the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies." You can think of an "archetype" as being the most generic label you can slap on a character. There may be different characteristics that define and differentiate individuals (jocks, pretty boys, boys next door, skaters, etc.) but they all fundamentally come from that same base level archetype.
So let's start with the "baby face" character more commonly referred to as a "Face." These are the good guys. The heroes of the melodramatic soap opera that is professional wrestling. These characters are the ones the crowds are supposed to love and cheer for. These are the characters, in American wrestling, that usually get to have the fancy flashy moves and finishers. They follow the rules (though some may break them under duress or to "even the playing field"). They're the "nice guys" and generally prioritize fairness and respect authority figures. While they may end up doing one more often than the other they will both win AND lose. Generally these characters are at their best when they're chasing their polar opposite archetype, the Heel, for a championship or some other tangible reward or to "right a wrong." Often around here this archetype is confused with the "Jobber."Â So, let's talk about what a "Jobber" actually is in the pro wrestling context.
The word "Jobber" these days is seen as a pejorative and deeply insulting term in the professional wrestling world. I believe the term used nowadays is "Enhancement Talent." Regardless, it means the same thing. Historically speaking, a "Jobber" was someone, usually local, who was hired by a promoter, and who may or may not have any actual wrestling training, to put over a star wrestler in that promotion. To "put someone over" means to elevate them or make them look good. So these guys were literally hired "to do a job." They weren't regulars in the promotion and they were generally hired on an as-needed basis. Hence, they were hired for a job (as opposed to being signed to a contract) and since wrestling loves shorthand slang they became known as "Jobbers." They ALWAYS LOST in order to make the star of the moment look good. This didn't mean they couldn't be stars in their own right. Later on as the territories gave way to the national behemoths we know today, and a few incidents occurred where untrained jobbers were seriously injured, some of these guys actually became regular members of the promotions they were hired by and would go on to become household names in their own right either as well regarded Jobbers or as superstars themselves.
In our context here if someone classifies themselves as a "Jobber" they should be expected to ALWAYS LOSE when facing a Heel or a Face character. They may get annihilated in match after match or they may from time to time put up a fight. Regardless of the strength of their resistance to their opponent's offense they should always lose. They might beat another Jobber but anytime they encounter a Face or a Heel they should definitely, and resoundingly, lose that match. Because the classic "Face" and "Jobber" here often have a similar appearance (young, clean cut, smooth jocks, twinks, and twunks) I think this is where the confusion in these two terms come from. We in the gay world are incredibly superficial and often make up our minds about another guy in about 5 seconds based on nothing more than their personal appearance and our own inherent biases, assumptions, turn ons, and desires. I'm certainly as guilty as the next guy. If a character looks like a hairy muscled biker bear we assume they must be a Heel while in point of fact they may actually be a Face or even a Jobber. Likewise, a smooth, young, well muscled, and clean cut character is automatically presumed to be a Jobber, or at a generous best, a Face while they may actually be a Heel. I don't expect the use of the terms here to change, and certainly not from anything I say or do, but it is important to remember that the Face and the Jobber are 2 distinct archetypes with different characteristics.
This brings us to the Heel archetype. In professional wrestling a Heel is a character that audiences are supposed to boo and revile. They are the polar opposite of the Face. Where the Face follows the established rules of a match, the Heel will break them. Sometimes because they need to but often merely because they can. Whereas the Face is a nice guy, the Heel is the brash, rude, arrogant villain of the story. The tactics that the Heel uses are meant to give the Face a challenge to overcome and serves to make the Face's victories against them more meaningful and impactful for an audience. The Heel is generally the character who drives the action in a match or storyline/rivalry with a Face by continuously throwing up obstacles to deny the Face a win or to delay their chance at achieving their goal (like a title belt or title match). By making the Face continue to work and adapt to changing and challenging circumstances it's the Heel character who is actually building up the Face and strengthening them until eventually they're able to overcome the Heel at the climactic conclusion to a chase or rivalry. A Heel should win more than they lose, otherwise they're not much of a challenge for the Face are they? However they DO AND SHOULD lose. And not just at that penultimate match. After all, if they've done nothing but defeat the Face then why would they view them as a legitimate contender for whatever it is they're seeking? If there have been some wins and losses exchanged between the Heel and the Face then the Face looks like a strong legitimate challenger for whatever it is the Heel has that the Face wants. So, just because you're a Heel doesn't mean you will or should always win. In fact you may be "behind" in most of your matches - only achieving victory by some underhanded or nefarious tactic(s) to deny your opponent the win they've earned but which you stole.
To summarize our discussion of character archetypes, a Face is a good guy who follows the rules, the Heel is the bad guy who holds the rules in contempt and views them as "flexible." Both Heels and Faces can and should win AND LOSE. Jobbers are the guys who ALWAYS LOSE to make the Faces and Heels look good. They may get destroyed or they may put up varying levels of resistance but THEY ALWAYS LOSE when opposing a Heel or a Face. They may win against other Jobbers though.
'Part II - Matches Are Like Sex'
If you're still with me I'm impressed! Now that we've talked about character roles it's time to talk about how to structure/build a match. Do you remember that thing I told you to stick a pin in wayyyyyyyyyy back when we started this? If you don't it's ok. I recently had an encounter with a guy here whose character is a Heel. That's not really important except that when we started the match, which I had previously agreed to lose, he came out of the gate and hit me with a couple of moves that made no sense narratively. Sure they were physically possible and made sense from the physical positions we were both in but NARRATIVELY they made no sense and took me mentally out of the match. My objections weren't to the moves themselves but rather their placement in the story of the match we had just started to tell together.
And that's KEY to this whole thing. A match is a story. A small mini story that may be a chapter in a larger story like a championship chase or a tournament setting or it may just be a one-time sort of scene or vignette. Whether it's a chapter in a longer story or its own standalone narrative, a story has a structure to it right? There's an introduction or exposition that sets the stage for the action. There's the obstacle which is what the action is designed to overcome or create depending on the character involved. There's the build which leads to the climax (not THAT climax) and then post-climax action that leads to the resolution. All of those elements are necessary in order for there to be a good match that an audience can follow and which makes some structural sense. When you skip over parts of that structure your match loses its sense of purpose and will probably just flounder until you either figure out how to get it back on track or you lose interest in it entirely because now your match has become the combat equivalent of Waiting for Godot. If you haven't seen or read that play (shame on you) but spoiler alert, Godot never arrives.
Typically the introduction/exposition are your entrances into the match. Those entrances are your chance to introduce your character through his music, gear and color choices, attitude, and emotional state. It's a chance to set the stage for the match from your character's perspective. Has he just come off a big win? A big loss? Is he riding a hot winning streak? Maybe he's been mired in a slump and has lost several in a row. How a character enters a fight can tell an audience a lot about what to expect from them. If they're wearing bright colors with up tempo bright music they're probably a Face. Possibly a Jobber. If they're coming off a big win then they're probably feeling confident and strong. If the music is dark with low tones and their gear is dark with solid colors they're probably a Heel. If they've really struggled against this opponent before they may be questioning themselves some. All of this sets the stage and lets an audience know what to expect. It doesn't mean you can't set them up for a surprise like a heel wearing bright colors while the face enters to more somber music for example. Or maybe they're mired in a losing slump but they've had really good success in defeating this opponent in the past. All of that introductory and expository work gets the audience ready for the action.
Now that you've set the stage it's time for the action to start. The signal for this is usually the bell ringing to start the match. Of course sometimes it's fun to start things before that in order to establish roles or because you're a Heel trying to get an unfair advantage by beating on some Jobber or unlucky Face before they're ready. Once the action starts there's generally a building process unless these two characters have a history and know each other well it's likely you're going to start just trying to test each other out. See what the other man's bringing to this fight. This is a chance to contrast the two characters for the audience. Are they fairly evenly matched from a physical perspective? If so, then this is a great chance to establish that this match will likely be a back and forth struggle that may be determined by either one man simply running out of gas first or by the Face's superior endurance or the Heel's ruthless tactics. If there's a considerable size or muscle difference then right away the smaller or less powerful guy is probably going to use more of a guerilla style offense whereas the bigger taller guy will want to use those natural advantages to trap and pound his opponent. The initial action can also be a chance to set a contrast of styles. Maybe one guy's more of a mat technician with a strong submission arsenal while his opponent is more of a power striker. Maybe one guy has better cardio endurance while the other man needs to gain himself plenty of breaks to catch his breath throughout the match. All of this can be established for the audience in this initial action to start the match. Often it's here where the primary obstacle is going to be revealed.
It's worth noting here that the match I referenced earlier where the moves made no narrative sense, skipped this section almost entirely. Instead of building to the exchange of big moves after a series of shorter exchanges this guy decided to go straight for the power moves. This gave the match no foundation. The move felt cheap and contrived because it hadn't been earned. Instead it was simply taken because he could and because he wanted to. "But Starfox, if he's a Heel what's wrong with him breaking the rules like that?" I can hear some of you saying. Well, the problem is when you start hitting moves that aren't earned it does a couple of things. First and foremost, it confuses your audience because it's like "what? Where did that come from?" The audience has an expectation that they're going to get to understand the two characters they're watching and when they dont get that chance the whole match loses any salience and starts to feel like a cheap carnival sideshow. It also confuses your opponent because now they feel like "where do i go from here?" If you just jump into the main action without any kind of groundwork being laid then it can start to feel like the match has gone off the rails. And if you persist in doing that then it starts to feel like just a spotfest to your opponent and they'll likely lose interest in just being a prop for you. Once that happens then the match has started nowhere and is now just floundering toward some kind of pitiful conclusion that satisfies nobody. It started nowhere and ended up in the same place. What's the point of that? Instead, take your time, go through the early action and get your audience engaged with what you're doing. Seduce them into caring about the outcome of the match you're presenting.
Once you've gotten through the initial action now you're into the heart of the match. It's here that the exchanges in control, if they're going to happen, take place. Where each man gets to throw his offensive style at the other and try to win the match. This is where you're going to see those big moves come out. Where you're going to see the close calls. The punishing beatdown followed by the hopeful comeback. You may have stretches of dominant control by one side or the other only for the momentum to either abruptly shift if a move is missed or it may be more gradual if one guy just starts to flag and can't maintain his own momentum. However this section goes you should be building it towards the climax. (ok still not THAT climax, sheesh go take a cold shower!) It may be that one guy seizes control and is able to maintain it, building the crowd's expectation for his victory as his opponent loses the ability or the will to fight back. Or it might be a thrilling back and forth slugfest with both guys trading huge moves and using everything in their arsenals to defeat the other. This section should have your audience on the edge of their seats and cheering and groaning at every reversal in the match. If you've done it well then your audience is primed and ready for the climax of the fight. (Good grief y'all cool off!!)
The climax of a wrestling match is usually what we call a Finishing Move. It's a move that every wrestler should have that effectively ENDS the match when they hit it. This is Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver, Randy Orton's RKO, Flair's Figure Four, etc. This is the goal that every wrestler is trying to get to in every match - the chance to hit their finisher and avoid being taken out by the other guy's. Some finishers, like mine, have set up moves. Moves that can be part of the Finisher or may just be teasers if the other guy manages to evade or counter them. Once someone hits their Finishing Move, and especially if it's complicated or particularly brutal or beautiful, it's polite to take your loss. Most Finishing Moves are sufficiently powerful that there really should be no question about it after that anyway as they're hit after a long, grueling match against a strong opponent. Once that move or move sequence is delivered the crowd knows it's over and the fans who're watching their favorite finishing off his opponent are ROCKING while the fans of the man being vanquished can only watch their favorite go down in defeat. The final pin or submission is the end of the match's climax and signals the transition into the resolution.
In some cases the Climax and the Resolution may just be the end of the match. One man has won and the other has lost. Make sure to tune in next week for the next installment in this epic rivalry! Same fight time! Same fight channel! Fade to black. Or, there may be stakes to pay. In which case the stakes become the Resolution. One man has to pay up whatever was wagered. The process of going through that process, whether it's a relatively quick gear surrender or unmasking or a lengthy drawn out sexual engagement gives the crowd the opportunity to come down from the thrilling high of the match they just witnessed and now get to enjoy the reward that they've earned for their patience. The Resolution of a match can also be the impetus that motivates the beaten man to challenge the victor to a rematch. Or, if the two characters have a long history together, the thing that motivates the loser to get his revenge against the victor the next time these two characters collide in the ring.
All of these stages of the match are important. They each deserve the attention of the combatants in a match. Skipping one just because you can runs the risk of confusing your audience and your opponent. You're risking the indifference of both by blowing off or rushing these key parts. If you skip over the intros then the audience has no idea why these two characters are fighting. There are no emotional stakes for them to be invested in. If you skip the initial build it's jarring and doesn't give your opponent or your audience a chance to meet the characters in combat. Instead all you're doing is just throwing them headlong into a match with nothing to anchor them. Rushing the action and pulling a Finishing Move too early risks making the move seem unearned and leaves the audience, and possibly your opponent, feeling cheated. If any of those are skipped or rushed then the Resolution feels contrived and there's no particular purpose to it.
In short, (TO LATE I know) take your time. Take the audience on a journey with you. A good match is like sex (I told you I'd get there). When it's good it's a long, slow burn. It's all about teasing the finish without actually going there the first few times. It makes you WANT the end (if your man is in control) while the other side's hoping it lasts long enough to see the momentum swing one more time. If you're doing it right that Climax point of the match will be genuine and leave your audience (and hey maybe you AND your opponent) gasping before the Resolution. Then that final round......that final round is savored and relished. Wallowing in it enough to make both of you and your audience squirm as you take them on that journey again at the end. Finally everybody's exhausted. Sated. And everybody's EAGER to see the two of you go at it again.
Thank you for coming (cumming? ;) ) to my Fox Talk. If you made it this far, I deserve a treat! Treats are accepted at any Fox Basket you may encounter or anytime you are graced with my presence!
Stud Tom
2026-03-28 10:18(In reply to this)
Really, far too complicated and unnecessary, as I didn't realise I'd have to sit an exam to have a pro wrestling match here. This is a fantasy site, and it is up to the characters what rules they follow, so you had a match against someone and your styles didn't match, get over it, stop moaning and move on..
Its simple heels are those that like to win, jobbers are those who like to lose, but you can be both and switch between roles, depending on your mood. And just because someone has had a run of bad results does not make them a jobber.
And to irk you further, âyourâ wrong, as someone once said 'Rules are for losers'.