History SoYouWantTo / BeABooker

** Some championships might be more prestigious or prominent than others due to history and/or card placement. At the same time, ''all championships are equally valid and must be treated as important''. They are your main MacGuffin for angles and plots. As a result, a championship belt, a tournament trophy and any other physical prize ''is as important as the one who carries it says it is''. Never forget this. Therefore, ''no wrestler should ever insult a championship''; a championship brings the possessor prestige and respect. Insulting a championship insults your organization. Remember this if you choose to pursue stories where a heel insults a championship; that heel must be publicly destroyed — booked into oblivion — or else you have admitted that the championship (and by extension your company) is worthless.[[note]]A recent example of this being done properly was during the lead-in to AEW's 2023 ''All In'' mega-show, when the newly turned heel Jack Perry stated he would "retire" the FTW Championship. He proceeded to put the belt in the middle of the ring during a promo and prepared to destroy it with a sledgehammer, only for Wrestling/{{Hook}}, the former champion whose father Wrestling/{{Taz|z}} created the title in the first place, to interrupt him and challenge him for the title at ''All In''. Hook went on to reclaim the belt at the event itself. As it turned out, Perry had planned a vacation immediately after ''All In'', and the angle was used to write him off TV.[[/note]]

** Speaking of, while passing on the occasional suggestion or instruction to your commentators can be okay, try to avoid getting into the habit of constantly bombarding them with things to say over the headset. Chances are that all this will do is make them flustered and negatively affect their performances - particularly if you can't maintain your composure while speaking to them - and also prevent whatever talents on the mike they may possess from getting to shine. And if you're constantly feeling the need to have your thoughts heard by the audience and/or determine what exactly comes out on commentary, perhaps consider taking a spot on the desk yourself.

** Some championships might be more prestigious or prominent than others due to history and/or card placement. At the same time, ''all championships are equally valid and must be treated as important''. They are your main MacGuffin for angles and plots. As a result, a championship belt, a tournament trophy and any other physical prize ''is as important as the one who carries it says it is''. Never forget this. Therefore, ''no wrestler should ever insult a championship''; a championship brings the possessor prestige and respect. Insulting a championship insults your organization. Remember this if you choose to pursue stories where a heel insults a championship; that heel must be publicly destroyed — booked into oblivion — or else you have admitted that the championship (and by extension your company) is worthless.[[note]]A recent example of this being done properly was during the lead-in to AEW's 2023 ''All In'' mega-show, when the newly turned heel Jack Perry stated he would "retire" the FTW Championship. He proceeded to put the belt in the middle of the ring during a promo and prepared to destroy it with a sledgehammer, only for Wrestling/{{Hook}}, the former champion whose father Wrestling/{{Taz|z}} created the title in the first place, to interrupt him and challenge him for the title at ''All In''. Hook went on to reclaim the belt at the event itself.[[/note]]

** For an example of this done right, consider Wrestling/SamiZayn's storyline around the 2022/2023 Wrestlemania season. WWE was in a quandry, because the plan was for Wrestling/CodyRhodes to win the Royal Rumble and challenge Roman Reigns for the title belts at Wrestlemania, but Sami's lovable turn as part of Roman's Bloodline stable had become the most popular thing in the company, with Sami's charismatic and hilarious promos, coupled with his endearingly genuine personality and talented wrestling abilities, getting huge reactions from the audience. The story was saved by, first, having Roman force Sami not to participate in the Royal Rumble in advance, so that Cody's victory wasn't tainted by the crowd's anticipation of Zayn's arrival or reaction to his defeat, then, after Reigns finally drove Sami to turn against him by cruelly attempting to test his loyalty one time too many, having Cody repeatedly support Sami in the aftermath, first complementing Zayn's abilities and suggesting he would be just as honored to face Sami at Wrestlemania, then by having Sami wrestle a great match against Reigns at a secondary pay-per-view in advance of Wrestlemania in front of a hometown Canadian crowd desperate to see him win, and giving him a good storyline afterwards that complemented rather than competed with Rhodes's coming showdown with Reigns. In fact, Cody Rhodes was actively participated in Zayn's attempts to get his redemption back, something which made Cody look both [[EnlightenedSelfInterest clever and good-hearted]], since Zayn putting in a good showing against Roman's henchmen would be as much a blow against Roman's attempts to cheat as a moral victory. As a result, crowds were completely behind both of them without resenting either, and it was hailed as not only a great storytelling triumph but one of the best ways WWE has handled this sort of problem in its history. Come [=WrestleMania=], things were zigzagged- although Sami and Kevin Owens won the Tag Team titles from the Usos, Roman still wound up beating Cody the same way he always does, resulting in this overshadowing the win and angering the IWC.

** The maxim goes: ''"Championships don't make the man/woman; Men/women make the championships"''. History has shown that even mid-card belts have been given prestige because they were defended by top-tier talent, like Wrestling/RandySavage, Wrestling/RickySteamboat, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, and even Wrestling/JohnCena, who won the United States Title in 2015 after being a decorated WWE Champion, and then defended it on a weekly basis against other great talents in some of the best-received matches of his career. The WWE and NJPW Intercontinental Titles have both been competed for in the main event of major Pay-Per-Views ahead of the main belts due to the popularity of [[Wrestling/BretHart the]] [[Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith wrestlers]] [[Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura who]] [[Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi competed]] for them and the strength of the booking.

** Some championships might be more prestigious or prominent than others due to history and/or card placement. At the same time, ''all championships are equally valid and must be treated as important''. They are your main MacGuffin for angles and plots. As a result, a championship belt, a tournament trophy and any other physical prize ''is as important as the one who carries it says it is''. Never forget this. Therefore, ''no wrestler should ever insult a championship''; a championship brings the possessor prestige and respect. Insulting a championship insults your organization. Remember this if you choose to pursue stories where a heel insults a championship; that heel must be publicly destroyed — booked into oblivion — or else you have admitted that the championship (and by extension your company) is worthless.

** On the flip side, this is the mistake WWE persistently made for ''years'' with Wrestling/RomanReigns. Hand-picked as the next big face by Wrestling/VinceMcMahon and given a monster push after Wrestling/TheShield broke up, crowds roundly rejected Roman when his shortcomings and limitations became apparent, constantly booing him at every opportunity. Rather than turn him heel to play off the crowd's hatred of him, WWE continued pushing Roman as a face harder and harder, giving him more main events, hanging more titles on him and positioning him as TheHero of WWE even as the fans continued to boo. While Roman's abilities and performances drastically improved since his solo career began to the point that all but his most ardent haters had to admit that he's a very competent wrestler, his constant face push is continued to receive a terrible response. Countless people within the industry all but ''begged'' Vince to turn Roman heel and let him work his way back into favor (like The Rock, above), but Vince persisted in insisting that ''he'' rather than the fans decides who is face and who is heel, resulting in Roman becoming possibly [[TheScrappy the most-hated face in wrestling history]]. Fortunes would occasionally change with fan reaction whenever he spent time away from the world title picture and simply focused on being an aggressive fighting badass, though he never fully got RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap because this was almost always followed by a haphazard attempt to push him to beat Brock Lesnar for the world championship in a transparent move to cement him as the company's main guy for years to come.[[labelnote:In particular]]The nadir of this came in 2018, where Reigns, and later Seth Rollins, would repeatedly WorkedShoot on Brock's limited schedule as the apparent result of his laziness, creating widespread fan disdain for Lesnar with the sole interest of conditioning fans to support Reigns being the one to beat Brock. Despite cementing "part-time absentee champion Lesnar" as an {{acceptable target|s}} of collective ire for years to come, it did nothing to get Reigns more over beyond the first two weeks of the build and only added resentment for the whole thing.[[/labelnote]] The one time it wasn't a push to beat Lesnar or win the title... they had him beat and implicitly "retire" Wrestling/TheUndertaker (which was promptly undone in part to keep Reigns from being hated for life). Despite even that, he was eventually rescued, but only after he was diagnosed with leukemia and forced to take an indefinite leave of absence, and it was only upon his return, and his receiving substantially better booking, that crowds became more willing to accept him.

** A third example is Wrestling/TheNewDay, whom Vince [=McMahon=] initially saddled with a black gospel preacher group gimmick before pushing them as faces. Thanks in no small part to it largely being a racial stereotype (which didn't do much for the morale of its members either), the gimmick utterly failed to get over with fans until the group turned heel, treating their overly positive attitudes as obliviousness while dropping the racist undertones of the act. In a touch of irony, this version of the New Day ended up becoming so entertaining and popular, it necessitated a face turn because how other teams were getting heel heat just by being matched against them.

** A third example is Wrestling/TheNewDay, whom Vince McMahon initially saddled with a black gospel preacher group gimmick before pushing them as faces. Thanks in no small part to it largely being a racial stereotype (which didn't do much for the morale of its members either), the gimmick utterly failed to get over with fans until the group turned heel, treating their overly positive attitudes as obliviousness while dropping the racist undertones of the act. In a touch of irony, this version of the New Day ended up becoming so entertaining and popular, it necessitated a face turn because how other teams were getting heel heat just by being matched against them.

** When they're not affecting the health of your wrestlers, drugs can affect your card, and thus the health of your promotion. Just look at what happened with Wrestling/Jeff Hardy at Victory Road 2011; his out-of-control drug use led to him showing up to the arena moments before his main event match with Wrestling/{{Sting}} visibly drugged to the gills and in no state to safely compete. This forced TNA - or at least Wrestling/Eric Bischoff - to send Jeff out in spite of his condition, and then cut the PPV's main event short (less than ''two minutes'') by having Sting forcibly pin Jeff before he got either of the two hurt.[[note]]Bischoff stated in a 2021 interview that had Jeff been discovered at least 45 minutes earlier - before most of the other wresters around had changed and showered or left the arena - he could have been pulled out of the match and replaced by someone actually capable of performing. As it happened though, circumstances were simply not that favorable.[[/note]] The fans were naturally outraged at this whole mess, and Sting was none too happy either, shouting "I agree!" on camera in response to angry crowd chants.

** However, if the celebrity plans to stick around in wrestling for a while, using their success in other sports is one of the quickest and easiest ways to lend them credibility right off the bat. Wrestling/KurtAngle using his Olympic gold medal in wrestling (although his claim to have won "with a broken neck" is untrue - his neck was only sprained, and if it had really been broken he would not have been allowed to compete) instantly established that he was a top-tier athlete who could compete in WWE when he debuted in 1997. Another successful example of a celebrity wrestling is Creator/RondaRousey, who was known not only for her UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts accolades, but also her acting career. Brought in for a few years to the WWE (and taking a pregnancy leave after her first year in the company), her MMA expertise combined with her wrestling training and solid booking allowed her to [[Wrestling/RondaRousey display her talent]] in many classic matches against the likes of Wrestling/TheAuthority, Wrestling/AlexaBliss, Wrestling/SashaBanks, Wrestling/TheBellaTwins, Wrestling/{{Natalya}} and Wrestling/CharlotteFlair, and her last bout served to put over rising star Wrestling/BeckyLynch as [[TheAce the new face]] of the company. In fact, many news and commentary outlets called her the Rookie of the Year by the time 2018 ended.

** It's worth noting that this doesn't necessarily mean that the physical prize should be immune, as long as the champion who possess it still treats having the championship as important. CMLL missed the ball when Perro Aguayo Jr. {{smash|TheSymbol}}ed the [[TournamentArc Leyenda de Plata]] trophy in belief it was beneath him and narrowly managed to escape punishment for it. In contrast, WWE had Daniel Bryan's heel run with the WWE Championship in 2018, where he the classic leather and metal belt in the trash and replaced it with one made of kayfabe eco-friendly materials such as hemp and wood from "a fallen tree" as part of his "eco fighter" gimmick. The important thing here was that Bryan did not devalue the championship itself (plus the replacement belt looked really good).

** It's worth noting that this doesn't necessarily mean that the physical prize should be immune, as long as the champion who possess it still treats it as important. CMLL missed the ball when Perro Aguayo Jr. {{smash|TheSymbol}}ed the [[TournamentArc Leyenda de Plata]] trophy in belief it was beneath him and narrowly managed to escape punishment for it. In contrast, WWE had Daniel Bryan's heel run with the WWE Championship in 2018, where he replaced the classic leather and metal belt with one made of kayfabe eco-friendly materials such as hemp and wood from "a fallen tree" as part of his "eco fighter" gimmick. The important thing here was that Bryan did not devalue the championship itself (plus the replacement belt looked really good).

** Understand that if a wrestler cheats or needs outside assistance to win, it makes them look weak. We’ve already gone over that this was one of the most damaging factors for Wrestling/JinderMahal during his title run, but Vince still hasn’t learned his lesson. In the ''Clash of Champions 2020'' ambulance match between Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre and Wrestling/RandyOrton, a bunch of legends, including Wrestling/TheBigShow, Wrestling/{{Christian}}, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, and Wrestling/RicFlair took shots at Orton throughout the match before Drew won it. Despite being portrayed as a very strong babyface (see above for how he beat Wrestling/BrockLesnar), this made [=McIntyre=] seem weak, as if he couldn't put Orton away by himself. Similarly over on AEW, tag-team champions [[Wrestling/TheRevival FTR]] often won matches due to interference by their manager Tully Blanchard, despite being touted as one of the best tag teams in the world and having beaten the very dominant pair of Wrestling/KennyOmega and Wrestling/AdamPage. WWE managed to do this even worse with Wrestling/RomanReigns following his heel turn, ''presenting'' him as bar none the greatest wrestler in the world and an invincible and indomitable final boss with a record-breaking 1000+ day Universal reign... while inexplicably failing to book him to win almost ''any'' of his championship defences cleanly without interference from his cousins Wrestling/TheUsos and their little brother Solo Sikoa, or the occasional low blow, which fans eventually came to get ''really'' tired of. People only cheat if they know they can't win, a.k.a. they know they're weak, and you don't want too many chickenshit heels on your program.

** Additionally, don't try to work your talent. They're the ones who are putting their bodies on the line for the company, and they deserve your honesty and respect. Be firm but fair, and definitely ''don't'' double-cross them. At ''best'', you're going to get a Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob situation where mutual bad blood simmers for years[[note]]Vince McMahon managed to turn Montreal around, but only due to a perfect storm of circumstances including the decision to finally rip off the kayfabe band-aid. You will not be as lucky.[[/note]]. At ''worst'', it will kill your promotion. There are many reasons Wrestling/VinceRusso is – to put it lightly – a controversial figure in the industry, and a lot of it stems from the fact that even the wrestlers couldn't keep up with him.
** Wrestlers are going to leave your promotion for other ones, whether for better pay, better wrestling opportunity, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both]], and this is a fact of life. It's fine to use their last few months in the company to put over new talent, but do not, under any circumstances, bury them on-air for choosing to leave, even if they've done something legitimately underhanded like no-showing. Giving your wrestlers respectable send-offs if they do choose to leave will make sure your promotion is still in the good graces of not only them but the new promotion they choose to go to (see The Product, rule #15), and leaves the door open to them returning to your promotion in the future. In contrast, treating a long-tenured employee like trash just because they decided to change jobs will do nothing but piss them and the fans off, and all but ensure they will never work for you again. The list of wrestlers who have been buried by Wrestling/{{WWE}} after demanding their releases, and then showed up in another company cutting promos bashing their former employer, could fill a phone book, while Wrestling/BobbyHeenan's respectful and fitting send-off (masterminded by the Brain himself) meant that even when Bishoff or other commentators tried teeing him up to take pot-shots at the company in wartime, he refused to.

** This is a mistake that WWE owner and now-[[TenMinuteRetirement unretired]] chairman Wrestling/VinceMcMahon committed several times: the most infamous was [[RevengeBeforeReason squandering millions and millions of dollars]] on Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle to humiliate his old rivals, all because he could not accept that a rival promotion had stood its ground against him, and Creator/{{UPN}} execs were so disillusioned by the Wrestling/{{WCW}} brand's hemorrhage of money in its dying days (this page will go into what they did to deserve that, we assure you) that [[ScrewedByTheNetwork they were all too happy to oblige]]. These things cost him millions; if he had put ego and pride aside and convinced the Network he could harness the WCW that kicked his ass for over a year, the Invasion would have rolled on for ''multiple'' years, making all parties money hand over fist. It cannot be overstated how much of a license to print money that angle was.

# Before ''anything'' else, THE #1 thing you have to remember is the pivotal importance of {{Kayfabe}}. Wrestling is a staged entertainment, which means that '''''EVERYTHING''''' is dependent on presentation, because presentation guides perception. You can hire the best wrestlers in the entire world, but if you present them as jobbers then the audience will think of them as losers. Conversely, if you present your wrestlers to the audience as a big deal, then the audience will at least give them the chance to become a big deal. Treat your guys like stars and you'll have stars. Treat them like jobbers, and jobbers is all they'll be. There's a lot more to it than that, of course, but this is the baseline for how the wrestling industry works.

** On the flip side, we have the tragedy of Wrestling/KarrionKross' initial WWE main roster "run". Presented on NXT as an unstoppable juggernaut who murdered everyone who got in his way on his path to winning the NXT Championship, with his BigEntrance making him look like a terrifying monster, when he was called up to the main roster (while still holding the NXT Championship no less) he was stripped of all his flashy presentation, then buried in his debut match in a 2-minute loss by roll-up to Wrestling/JeffHardy who hadn't won a match all year, with the result that audiences were more interested in the fact that Hardy had gotten his old theme music back than ''the main roster debut of the NXT champion!'' Kross continued to be appallingly badly presented afterwards (still bereft of his iconic entrance and then given [[FashionVictimVillain one of the worst costumes any wrestler has ever been forced to wear]]), and consequently nobody gave a damn about him, a potential main eventer reduced to an overpaid jobber because WWE simply refused to ''treat him'' like a potential main eventer. [[DownerEnding And then they casually released him without a second thought in the next round of talent releases.]]

*** It's okay to make your wrestlers the butt of jokes and comedy angles, but it's not okay to damage the credibility of wrestling itself by making it the source of mockery. A wrestler who is humiliated for laughs in an angle should be embarrassed and angry about being humiliated, just as anyone would be if they were in that wrestler's shoes. "Meta" comedy and gimmicks should ''never'' be used; if ''serious'' {{worked shoot}}s are already a bad idea (and see Public Relations #1 for why that is), then comedic ones are a thousand times worse. Having wrestlers who are on the wrong end of comedy angles laugh along with their tormentor instead of trying to get even is the wrestling equivalent of actors suddenly stopping in the middle of a movie to point out how unrealistic the special effects are: breaking the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief so openly makes it impossible for the audience to get invested in your show, and will do nothing but damage your profits, the wrestlers involved in the angles, and ultimately the entire wrestling business. Wrestling/OrangeCassidy is one of the most popular wrestlers in AEW, but critics constantly point out how unrealistic that many of his opponents constantly play along with his TheSlacker act in the ring even though they have no in-universe reason to. While occasionally a top wrestler will refuse to go along with Cassidy's antics and beat him up, forcing him to [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass wrestle seriously]], this happens a lot less often than it should. Despite having a lengthy feud with Chris Jericho, his refusal to stay serious for even a single match throughout the program and subsequent title shots ultimately resulted in his push fizzling out and Cassidy remaining in the same spot he started in.

** Understand that if a wrestler cheats or needs outside assistance to win, it makes them look weak. We’ve already gone over that this was one of the most damaging factors for Wrestling/JinderMahal during his title run, but Vince still hasn’t learned his lesson. In the ''Clash of Champions 2020'' ambulance match between Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre and Wrestling/RandyOrton, a bunch of legends, including Wrestling/TheBigShow, Wrestling/{{Christian}}, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, and Wrestling/RicFlair took shots at Orton throughout the match before Drew won it. Despite being portrayed as a very strong babyface (see above for how he beat Wrestling/BrockLesnar), this made [=McIntyre=] seem weak, as if he couldn't put Orton away by himself. Similarly over on AEW, tag-team champions [[Wrestling/TheRevival FTR]] often won matches due to interference by their manager Tully Blanchard, despite being touted as one of the best tag teams in the world and having beaten the very dominant pair of Wrestling/KennyOmega and Wrestling/AdamPage. People only cheat if they know they can't win, a.k.a. they know they're weak, and you don't want too many chickenshit heels on your program.

** Additionally, don't try to work your talent. They're the ones who are putting their bodies on the line for the company, and they deserve your honesty and respect. Be firm but fair, and definitely ''don't'' double-cross them. At ''best'', you're going to get a Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob situation where mutual bad blood simmers for years[[note]]Vince McMahon managed to turn Montreal around, but only due to a perfect storm of circumstances including the decision to finally rip off the kayfabe band-aid. You will not be as lucky.[[/note]]. At ''worst'', it will either kill your promotion. There's a reason Wrestling/VinceRusso is – to put it lightly – a controversial figure in the industry, and a lot comes from the fact even wrestlers couldn't keep up with him.

** A notable example of this being done right is the Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan. He had an ElvisImpersonator gimmick that was originally supposed to get him over as a face, but the fans hated it and booed him. Rather than keep booking him as a face and trying to force the fans to accept him as such, the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]] turned Honky heel. The Honky Tonk Man went on to become one of the greatest heels in the history of the promotion.

** It's worth noting that this doesn't necessarily mean that the physical prize should be immune, as long as the champion who possess it still treats it as important. CMLL missed the ball when Perro Aguayo Jr. {{smash|TheSymbol}}ed the [[TournamentArc Leyenda de Plata]] trophy in belief it was beneath him and narrowly managed to escape punishment for it. In contrast, WWE had Daniel Bryan's heel run with the WWE championship in 2018, who, as part of his "eco fighter" gimmick, replaced the classic leather and metal belt with one made of kayfabe eco-friendly materials such as hemp and wood from "a fallen tree". The design of this belt was well received, as not only the championship itself wasn't devalued but the replacement belt looked really good.
** The maxim goes: ''"Championships don't make the man/woman; Men/women make the championships"''. History has shown that even mid-card belts have been given prestige because they were defended by top-tier talent, like Wrestling/RandySavage, Wrestling/RickySteamboat, Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, even Wrestling/JohnCena who won the United States Title in 2015 after being a decorated WWE Champion and defended it in some of the best-received matches of his career on a weekly basis against other great talents. The WWE and NJPW Intercontinental Titles have both been competed for in the main event of major Pay-Per-Views, ahead of the main belts, due to the popularity of [[Wrestling/BretHart the]] [[Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith wrestlers]] [[Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura who]] [[Wrestling/HiroshiTanahashi competed]] for them and the strength of the booking.
** A great wrestler may elevate a belt, but the reverse, however, is not true. Obviously unfit performers, those suffering from XPacHeat, and [[CreatorsPet office pet projects]] will not be elevated ''by'' championships, they will devalue them and make them seem less like prizes to fight over and more like props handed out willy-nilly. Poor Wrestling/JinderMahal was one of the worst "beneficiaries" of such an indulgent experiment in 2017, when the WWE Championship was put on him at ''Wrestling/{{Backlash}}''. WWE management, hoping to tap into the Indian market by giving an Indian wrestler a big push, and Vince [=McMahon=], a fan of his "evil foreign heel" gimmick and his big, muscular body, widely thought to be the result of steroid use, wanted to get him over with the audience by shining a spotlight on him. It was not only almost instantly obvious that he was in over his head and could not perform at the main event level, but it resulted in financial disaster. Not only that, but the only way Jinder won his matches was because of help from his two henchmen, who would always screw his opponent over, meaning the only reason he got and kept the belt was because he routinely broke the rules, which didn’t help his image one bit. The fans never accepted him, the quality and ratings of ''[=SmackDown Live=]'' began to tank, the India market barely responded, and the title's prestige has been tarnished ever since.

** Wrestlers are going to leave your promotion for other ones, whether for better pay, better wrestling opportunity, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs both]], and this is a fact of life. It's fine to use their last few months in the company to put over new talent, but do not, under any circumstances, bury them on-air for choosing to leave, even if they've done something legitimately underhanded like no-showing. Giving your wrestlers respectable send-offs if they do choose to leave will make sure your promotion is still in the good graces of not only them but the new promotion they choose to go to (see The Product, rule #15), and leaves the door open to them returning to your promotion in the future. In contrast, treating a long-tenured employee like trash just because they decided to change jobs will do nothing but piss them and the fans off, and all but ensure they will never work for you again. The list of wrestlers who have been buried by Wrestling/{{WWE}} after demanding their releases, and then showed up in another company cutting promos bashing their former employer, could fill a phone book.

# Finally, a booker should cultivate interests outside of wrestling, specifically mainstream interests that have nothing to do with wrestling or other RatedMForManly pursuits. If you become too obsessive about wrestling, you will be unable to see the forest for the trees, and your booking skills will decline. [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon You will become convinced that certain actions are completely the right ones to take, simply because you lack the perspective.]] In the same way that you must be ruthlessly honest about your workers' abilities, you must be honest with yourself about your own. Both arrogance and excessive humility lead to errors of judgment. Just try to see the truth (and don't rely on others to provide it; have trusted advisors -- preferably ones with no conflicts of interest regarding angles -- but always follow your own vision). It is your job to be enthusiastic, but not blinkered, and it's very easy to get lost in the minutiae of a thing. Ultimately, and as with so much in life, everything in moderation.

# Wrestlers should be treated well, and should have a solid say about matters relating to their health, jobs and well-being, but ''never'' booking decisions; see Employee Relations, rule #3.

# Promos are an important part of even non-staged combat sports like boxing and MMA, and they play an important role in buoying interest in your product. How much control you should exert over them is a bit of a delicate balancing act. On one hand, most of your talents were probably hired for their ability to wrestle rather than improvise dialogue, and might not be able to create entire promos on their own, leaving many excellent wrestlers but poor talkers out in the cold, while talented talkers might try to wrest control of the show by [[WorkedShoot going wildly off-angle]]. On the other hand, WWE is often criticized for having long, dull, repetitive promo segments during what's supposed to be a wrestling show, and for trying to tightly control wrestlers with scripted promos written by people with more experience in soap operas than combat sports, while talents who might be able to get over with their own personalities are stuck woodenly trying to recite bad jokes from a memorized script, and/or all sound alike. The great promo men of yesteryear would be given a list of bullet points to work off, and would use them to get the audience invested in ways that still let them put their own creative spins on the material and show off their own unique personalities and charisma. If they have these natural qualities, giving them the right amount of free will during promos will do more to get them over than any number of staid monologues, and will result in a benefit for both wrestlers (leaving them feeling creatively fulfilled) and the audience (who will be more invested in them), and therefore increasing the chances of giving you money. Refer to Employee Relations, rule 2.

** In either case, don't be afraid to let the women be sexy or romantic. If they're not interested, don't try to force it (refer to Employee Relations, rule #2). Some are better at just kicking ass, some shine using guile and wit, some as innocent maidens, some in a pompous bitch role, and yes, some are better as the sexy one. Know what works for your talent, as well as the lower and upper limits of your content rating and target audience. (Wrestling tends to court a big 18-to-49-year-old demographic, so there will be room for everything. The question, of course, is how much of what.) And for God's sake, while it is important to put your talent over, do not have your [[Wrestling/{{Paige}} bab]][[Wrestling/{{CharlotteFlair}} yfa]][[Wrestling/BeckyLynch ces]], or worse, [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon an untouchable female authority figure]], lecture the audience about your women's division being some sort of revolution — especially if the same arena you're in [[Wrestling/SashaBanks gave a women's match]] [[Wrestling/{{Bayley}} a standing ovation]] [[Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}} within the past three days]]. People in TheNewTens and beyond are very much aware that female athletes are a thing, both inside and outside the wrestling business. Sexism and misogyny limits your audience, but so does preachy corporate {{straw feminis|t}}m (which, on top of throwing unnecessary shade at those of your fans who ''are'' men, often becomes the same thing anyway via "bigotry of low expectations").

** While celebrities can wrestle, and can even win matches under the right circumstances, one thing you must never do is allow them to overshadow your full-time wrestlers by showing them up in the ring or doing a bunch of flashy moves; if someone who has never wrestled before is shown to be better at wrestling than professionals with years of experience, it makes the whole business look weak. Despite Music/BadBunny showing a surprising aptitude for wrestling in his debut match, which was overall well-received, one of the most-criticized parts of it was a sequence in which he outwrestled both of ''Wrestling/JohnMorrison'' and ''Wrestling/TheMiz'', making both of them look far more inept than they should have. Contrast his match with Damian Priest at ''Backlash'' in 2023, which not only took place in front of a molten-hot Puerto Rican crowd where both men were AHeroToHisHometown, but had a street fight stipulation, meaning weapon use was in-vogue and a wrestler losing to a non-wrestler was somewhat credible, and both men called in backup from a series of Puerto Rican wrestling legends and veterans who did a decent chunk of the damage to both competitors, all of which meant that when Bad Bunny was victorious, it arguably did Damien Priest some good and seems to have netted him a mini push.