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UKFF Questions Thread V2


neil

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Where does the contentious term worker come from and what did it actually first mean. I presume there is a point where wrestlers became workers, and I'm also guessing it's surprisingly old. Was it always the case that better workers meant head bumps and other hipster stuff or did it used to refer to people who worked the crowd more and just mutate?

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Yeah, that would make the most sense, but then it seems strange that it mutated into what it means now. How did that come about? I guess the best workers were deemed the most realistic ones, which tended to mean the most athletic ones and then it became more of an 'effort ' thing.

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I always assumed the mutation came from when people first started to grab hold of insider terminology - the beginning of smarkdom, as it were. People heard 'worker', in its definition as 'the best at working the crowd', as a word to describe a wrestler, and the two became interchangeable to the extent that the best workers were the best at the actual wrestling aspect, rather than the working itself. So a worker becomes a guy who does loads of moves, but who doesn't necessarily work the crowd, because certain elements of the fanbase consider 'worker' to be the clever way of saying 'wrestler'.

 

But as I say, that's just what I've generally assumed. Lister or someone probably knows the correct answer.

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When I worked for wZw I had it explained that work/worker is used instead of wrestling/wrestler because when your a professional wrestler, you are paid to wrestle, it's a job so therefor you are a worker. You don't say before the show starts your wrestling this guy tonight you say, you are working with this guy tonight because its a job you work together to accomplish a successful match. I also remembering reading (in a book about the history of the NWA) that the term worker originated in England and when British wrestlers started to move across to work in America the term was taken across there. I think this is right because in The Dynamite Kids book he used the word all the time when referring to a wrestler but iv not heard it in many books wrote by American wrestlers.

 

Also iv heard it being used in the context that wrestling is a work used under the kayfabe terminology, I suppose when a bunch of workers/wrestlers were sitting in a bar or in a locker room with people their who weren't filled in, the term working would be used instead of wrestling. I think in general worker/work/working sounds better and more formal and official than wrestler/wrestling.

 

I could be wrong but I have had it explained to me but babsically from what I remember its what I said before. Your a worker because your a professional you get paid and you work with your fellow worker to create a successful match. 2 workers, work together to create a successful match and work together to make sure your both protected and safe.

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On the "worker" definition, I think it varies slightly depending on whether or not you are a wrestler (even though you are talking about the same meaning.) In the business it started off more as a way to distinguish a good pro performer from a legitimately skilled grappler or "shooter." From the fan perspective, it always seemed to develop more as a way to show you were talking about how good a performer somebody was, rather than how good they were in storyline such as whether they won or lost.

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I've got an official Eastern Championship Wrestling t-shirt, black with white writing and with "It's Not For Everyone" on the back.

 

(I actually bought it from the Blue Meanie on eBay, but I don't have any proof, other than letting someone go through my ebay account and my previous purchases!)

 

I've not worn it in years and I don't really collect wrestling stuff any more.

 

Would it be worth anything or should I perhaps make a funky cushion out of it!

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