History SoYouWantTo / BeABooker

** Contrast the above with Wrestling/CodyRhodes returning to WWE at ''[=WrestleMania=] 38'', where, rather than humiliating, squashing, and burying a major incoming talent from a rival promotion to get a bit of temporary catharsis (and of course, to make them look weak and unready for the "big leagues", and their rivals weak by comparison as a result) at the expense of all the money the WWE just shelled out to hire him and attention they gained from the acquisition, he was booked in an ''extremely'' competitive match with [[Wrestling/SethRollins a talented and high-profile heel]], allowed to use his former music and entrance, treated like a star, and ultimately won, all in front of a white-hot crowd and an audience revved up and ready to see what he'll do next.

# If you're a small promotion (and let's face it, if you're reading this it's safe to assume you're not part of the WWE booking team), your options are to try and copy the big promotions (and it's gonna be an uphill battle to try and beat WWE or even Ring of Honor at their own game), or find your own niche by doing something they're not. For example, Wrestling/{{CZW}} specializes in hardcore wrestling that WWE doesn't do in the PG era, while Wrestling/{{Chikara}} went for a more lighthearted, even comedic approach before going under for reasons unrelated to its style.

** Another point to bear in mind are the cooldown moments: the hottest points of the card must be followed with either matches or segments that allow the people to vent steam off and prevent boredom before the next hot match. This was a point of criticism of [[Awesome/WWENXTTakeOver the otherwise excellent]] ''[[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT TakeOver]]'' [=PPVs=], ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brookyn 1'' in particular: having to follow the [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter four-and-a-half-star-rated]] match between Sasha Banks and Bayley was [[OvershadowedByAwesome what dragged down]] the also excellent Ladder match between [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Bálor]] and [[Wrestling/KevinSteen Kevin Owens]], which would normally be a show-stealing match. Another example is 2018's ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: New Orleans'': having to follow the bone-crushingly awesome, [[ToughActToFollow five-star rated]] seven-man Ladder Match for the ''NXT North American Title'' was what dragged down the ''Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic'' final between Roderick Strong/Pete Dunne vs. Wrestling/TheUndisputedEra.[[note]]Some people even joked that the match dragged down the show by [[OvershadowedByAwesome "merely being very good"]].[[/note]] Contrast with the WWE main roster [=PPVs=] and shows, which intercalate minor matches and comedy spots/backstage interviews between the big fights.

*** It's not even necessarily the audience alone you'll have to worry about; WWE lost Wrestling/DeanAmbrose (likely forever) and their competitors gained Jon Moxley because he found the promo material he was given as part of his heel turn (saying truly despicable things about real life friend Roman Reigns's leukemia) so tasteless and unpleasant that he decided then and there he was leaving for keeps as soon as his contract was up and never coming back.

** The only time when cheating can be seen as a plus is if the cheater is a clear underdog, but they must only use it as a last ditch effort. Wrestling/EddieGuerrero was the best example of this in his DavidVsGoliath match against Wrestling/BrockLesnar, and all the outside interference and cheating only came into play towards the end of the match, after Eddie had absorbed a lot of Brock's devastating offense and [[{{Determinator}} refused to quit]]. All that cheating also played into Eddie's LovableRogue persona, where even his theme song proclaimed how he would lie, cheat, and steal, and the crowd loved him for it anyway.

** Another point to bear in mind are the cooldown moments: the hottest points of the card must be followed with either matches or segments that allow the people to vent steam off and prevent boredom before the next hot match. This was a point of criticism of [[Awesome/WWENXTTakeOver the otherwise excellent]] ''[[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT TakeOver]]'' [=PPVs=], ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brookyn 1'' in particular: having to follow the [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter four-and-a-half-star-rated]] match between Sasha Banks and Bayley was [[OvershadowedByAwesome what dragged down]] the also excellent Ladder match between [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Bálor]] and [[Wrestling/KevinSteen Kevin Owens]], which would normally be a show-stealing match. Another example is 2018's ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: New Orleans'': having to follow the bone-crushingly awesome, [[ToughActToFollow five-star rated]] seven-man Ladder Match for the ''NXT North American Title'' was what dragged down the ''Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic'' final between Roderick Strong/Pete Dunne vs. Wrestling/TheUndisputedEra[[note]]Some people even joked that the match dragged down the show by [[OvershadowedByAwesome "merely being very good"]][[/note]]. Contrast with the WWE main roster [=PPVs=] and shows, which intercalate minor matches and comedy spots/backstage interviews between the big fights.

# If you're a small promotion (and let's face it, if you're reading this it's safe to assume you're not part of the WWE booking team), your options are to try and copy the big promotions (and it's gonna be an uphill battle to try and beat WWE or even Ring of Honor at their own game), or find your own niche by doing something they're not. For example, Wrestling/{{CZW}} specializes in hardcore wrestling that WWE doesn't do in the PG era, while Wrestling/{{Chikara}} goes for a more lighthearted, even comedic approach.

** However, you need to remember to use the wrestlers from other promotions to put your own wrestlers over and not the other way around. This means using crossover wrestlers sparingly, and always making sure that your wrestlers look strong against them, whether in victory or defeat. This is the difference between Wrestling/{{WWE}} main-roster talent making unscheduled one-night-only appearances in [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] and making the developmental wrestlers look like a million bucks with competitive matches, and Wrestling/RingOfHonor, which has booked Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling talent as the focal points of their big events and pushed them so much that it makes their own wrestlers come off as second-class by comparison (and ultimately killed that promotion when New Japan decided that they'd rather run their own shows in America than go through a middleman). New Japan's wrestlers dominating the homegrown talent of the Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation made New Japan a lot of money and put the UWF, which had been doing million dollar gates prior, out of business. Remember, while you need to make the borrowed talent look good, they are, at the end of the day, borrowed talent.

*** Sidenote: History has shown that legends such as UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli and UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan earned their statuses not only through to their own talent, but by the caliber of their competition. Ali had George Foreman and Joe Frazier, and Jordan and his Bulls had Magic Johnson's Lakers, Patrick Ewing's Knicks, Isiah Thomas' Pistons, and even the John Stockton/Karl Malone Jazz. Creator/MikeTyson has a lesser reputation because despite his technical prowess and power, there was never anyone credible enough to match him in his prime (Evander Holyfield came along, but that was ruined when Tyson bit his ear off). The WWE was at its strongest when the upper-tier roster was packed with talent, and at its lowest when it wasn't (King Mabel vs Savio Vega as your main event, anyone?). The point here is that the more people you build and sustain to compete for your championships, the more you stand a chance of creating exciting matches, long feuds, and other money-making opportunities. %% Thomas' first name is indeed Isiah, not Isaiah.

*** This is one of the many things Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, an egotistical bully at heart, never liked and phased out during the Attitude Era, where abusive promos were the dish of the day, before abandoning it almost completely after introducing heavy scripting. Predictably, it has resulted in a stale product where no one ever gets over, every single loss feels like a burial, since it typically happens on the heels of weeks of the winner smugly telling the audience that their opponent is a loser. [[Creator/DwayneJohnson The Rock's]] "God Spoke to Billy" promo may have been one of the most legendary promos in wrestling, but by casting Wrestling/BillyGunn as an idiot who fluked his way into a Wrestling/KingOfTheRing tournament victory instead of presenting him as an upper-card wrestler on the cusp of superstardom who finally made a name for himself by beating the best the company had to offer, Rock essentially killed Gunn's upper-card push stone dead because no one could take him seriously as a world title contender after that.

** However, keep in mind that while it's fine for the heel to have the upper hand in a feud, this does '''''not''''' mean that the ''entire'' build of the feud can be nothing but the heel humiliating, outfighting, outsmarting, and generally making the face look like a weakling fool before the face eventually wins the blow-off match with a suprise roll-up. While this can work up to a point, when overdone (and it does ''not'' need to go on long to be overdone) this doesn't generate "heat" that makes the audience want to see the heel beaten, or "sympathy" that makes them want to see the face triumph, it just makes the face look like a loser who they shouldn't care about and kills all investment in the feud. The [[ArcFatigue comically overdrawn]] 2021-22 feud between Wrestling/{{Naomi|Wrestler}} and Wrestling/SonyaDeville went on for over ''half a year'' with heel authority figure Sonya mercilessly bullying Naomi, denying her opportunities, putting her in matches with herself as the crooked guest referee to screw her, and generally making her life hell for no real reason, while Naomi just stood there and took it for ''months'', making the 2-time [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion look like the most pathetic babyface of all time, and the feud become possibly the worst thing on [=SmackDown=] at the time.

*** It's not even necessarily the audience alone you'll have to worry about; [=WWE=] lost Wrestling/DeanAmbrose (likely forever) and their competitors gained Jon Moxley because he found the promo material he was given as part of his heel turn (saying truly despicable things about real life friend Roman Reigns's leukemia) so tasteless and unpleasant that he decided then and there he was leaving for keeps as soon as his contract was up and never coming back.

*** It's not even necessarily the audience alone you'll have to worry about; [=WWE=] lost Wrestling/DeanAmbrose (likely forever) and their competitors gained Jon Moxley because he found the promo material he was given as part of his heel turn, saying truly despicable things about real life friend Roman Reigns's leukemia, so tasteless and unpleasant that he decided then and there he was leaving for keeps as soon as his contract was up and never coming back.

*** It's not even necessarily the audience alone you'll have to worry about; [=WWE=] lost Wrestling/DeanAmbrose (likely forever) and their competitors gained Jon Moxley because he found the promo material he was given as part of his heel turn, saying truly despicable things about real life friend Roman Reigns's leukemia, so tasteless and unpleasant that he decided then and there he was leaving for keeps as soon as his contract was up and never coming back.

** 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}}s 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 was soon to be written off TV to allow him to take a short break after ''All Out'', which took place a week after ''All In'', though he ended up drawing a longer suspension due to his involvement in a backstage fight at ''All In'' that led to AEW firing CM Punk.[[/note]][[labelnote:Also]]Later in 2023, Wrestling/BulletClub leader David Finlay went one step beyond Perry by taking a sledgehammer to both versions of the United States Championship belt—the then-current holder Wrestling/WillOspreay had been wearing his own belt, calling it the United Kingdom Championship—at ''Power Struggle''. This was used to set up a three-way match involving both men and Wrestling/JonMoxley at ''Wrestle Kingdom 18'' for a new belt, rumored to be a revived NJPW Intercontinental Championship.[[/labelnote]]

# First and foremost, if you want your workforce to be professional, lead from the front. The history of the wrestling business is littered with criminals and psychopaths whose workforce abandoned them for greener pastures as soon as they could, because no one wants to work for an abusive bully if they can possibly help it. The Verne Gagne's AWA went from one of the top wrestling promotions in North America to a dying, hollowed out husk despite having arguably one of the greatest professional wrestling rosters of all time (seriously, look it up some time and see because nearly ''every'' major wrestler of the 80s or 90s got their start in the AWA) simply because Verne was, to quote Jesse Ventura, "a yeller and a screamer who didn't treat people right." It also helps to have good overall business ethics in this area; the Gagnes skipping out on paying their wrestlers so they could embezzle the cash to blow on a skiing vacation sure didn't help!

This, '''this''' is the result of WWE (and Vince [=McMahon=]) screwing with the fans and being so out of touch that people simply do not want to tune in anymore, and are quitting in droves. It took Vince's retirement and HHH taking control to even begin to restore his promotion’s credibility! And if this is what happened to ''the all-powerful WWE with [=Vince McMahon=] in charge''... what do you think will happen to you and your small company?

# While the fans are the ones that give you money, your wrestlers are the ones that make you money. You can have the nicest sets, buy all the ads to promote your show, sell out an entire stadium, but without wrestlers, you don't have a show to sell. Each wrestler represents years of training, conditioning, and talent to even work in a ring, and even more so to qualify getting in front of a crowd and live television. Hiring and replacing them is expensive, so you MUST take care of them if you really want to be a successful and respected booker.
** Because of this, '''never''' punish wrestlers for RealLife misdemeanors by depushing, burying, or otherwise harming their {{kayfabe}} talent. Again, this requires superhuman continence on the part of bookers considering how desperate for new material they must be (more wrestlers have been reduced to laughingstocks due to [[RealLifeWritesThePlot writer's block]] than any other factor). If you damage their credibility through a series of protracted losses, you aren't harming them — you're harming your own business, because you have just told the fans that this wrestler cannot be taken seriously, and you send the signal that the rest of your roster are just as easily disposable. To harm a wrestler's aura is to harm the business. Be a professional; do what '''actual''' businesses do; have a disciplinary process. Take the wrestler off-television, dock their pay. Have a legally airtight code of conduct that states in black and white what is expected of your employees so they know, what boundaries they are not supposed to cross and what the consequences are, and for God's sake enforce those rules. Wrestling needs to leave its carnival days behind it, and march into the modern era. [[labelnote:Example from Summerslam 2017]]This is one of many mistakes WWE continues to make year after year. ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2017'' contained no less than ''four'' examples of wrestlers being intentionally buried because of real-life issues: Wrestling/BaronCorbin (after already having been made to look like a moron by squandering his Money in the Bank briefcase cash-in on a ''spectacularly'' inept failed attempt on Wrestling/JinderMahal) was squashed by good ol' [[Wrestling/JohnCena Big Match John]] as punishment for making a tactless tweet denigrating a detractor he ''did not know was an American soldier'' even though he promptly took back the denigrating parts of his remark after being told such; Wrestling/{{Naomi|Wrestler}} lost her ''Wrestling/{{SmackDown}}'' Women's Championship to Wrestling/{{Natalya}} in a mystifyingly pointless bit of booking that apparently stemmed from notorious bully [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield John Layfield]] being upset about a misstep she made on commentary with him and complaining to people upstairs; [[Wrestling/EnzoAndCass Enzo Amore]] was thoroughly humiliated during his part in a dull match between ex-partner Big Cass and new ally Wrestling/BigShow, being left lying in the ring in a pool of baby oil, stripped to his underwear presumably as a consequence of backstage heat he'd earned; and Wrestling/{{Rusev|AndLana}} was beaten ''[[SquashMatch with a single RKO]]'' by Wrestling/RandyOrton, supposedly in response to him asking for his release from the company in the wake of horrible booking he'd already received as a result of marrying Lana. While the event overall was saved by a number of big, exciting matches, the booking of up-and-coming talent into oblivion as a result of backstage politics came under considerable criticism.[[/labelnote]]
** 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]]Wrestling/VinceMcMahon 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.

** Also, a

** 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 was soon to be written off TV to allow him to take a short break after ''All Out'', which took place a week after ''All In''.[[/note]]

*** Another effective way to devaluate a title is to have too many title changes in a short period of time. This is what happened to the WCW world title in 2000. The belt changed hands between wrestlers at a near incessant pace, was vacated six times (including one instance where every single title was vacated), was put on Creator/DavidArquette despite, as mentioned, everyone telling Wrestling/VinceRusso not to do it, and was then put on Russo himself. When it was all over, the belt had removed from a wrestler no less than ''25'' times and the only attempt to salvage it was putting it on Wrestling/ScottSteiner for the remainder of the year, and for pretty much the rest of WCW's existence, for that matter[[note]]He lost it to Wrestling/BookerT on the very last episode of ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'' to air[[/note]]. By comparison, that year, the WWE Championship changed hands 6 times, being held by a total of three wrestlers: Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/TheRock, and Wrestling/KurtAngle, all three proven draws and main-eventers. So keep title changes at a small pace, don't vacate them simply because you can, and keep them off those who have no wrestling skills whatsoever.

** Conversely, if you run a developmental promotion, remember that your role is to prepare young wrestlers to work for another, larger promotion. Make sure they get trained to work the same way that they would on the main roster. Don't push wrestlers you know that the boss isn't going to like: if your parent promotion favors large power wrestlers, for instance, don't book a bunch of small technicians as the focus of your developmental territory. One reason why so many NXT callups ended up buried in TheNewTens is because Wrestling/TripleH attempted to book the brand like an independent territory, pushing wrestlers who not only didn't have the sort of look or age that Wrestling/VinceMcMahon liked, but in the case of [[Wrestling/TommasoCiampa three]] [[Wrestling/JohnnyGargano consecutive]] [[Wrestling/AdamCole champions]] had publicly expressed the desire to stay on NXT permanently and never get called up to the main roster (and admittedly, by that point Vince had made such a habit of abusing, bullying, and ruining even the stars who ''did'' fit his image of what a WWE talent ought to be, let alone those who didn't, it's hard to blame them). While NXT was still critically well-regarded for much of this time, this ended up getting Trips ousted in 2021, when Vince took over the booking of NXT himself, and led to its bizarre and much-mocked “2.0” incarnation under first Vince and Bruce Pritchard, then under Shawn Michaels.

# Before ''anything'' else, THE #1 thing you have to remember is the pivotal importance of {{Kayfabe}}. Yes, even though it's dead, it still matters. 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.
** Wrestling/HulkHogan, [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct while much better than a lot of people accuse him of being]], was never the world's greatest wrestler, but Vince [=McMahon=] ''presented'' him as the biggest star in wrestling and America's greatest hero, and that's how he ended up becoming one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen. Hogan vs Wrestling/AndreTheGiant at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania III'' is, if you watch it with an objectively technical eye, a really, ''really'' bad wrestling match, but because it was treated as the battle of the century, a once-in-a-lifetime clash of two mythical titans, it became one of the most iconic matches in the history of the industry. Of course, the wrestlers you push do need the actual talent to be able to at least mostly live up to how they're presented[[note]]the list of talentless, charisma-deficient failures massively overpushed solely because of their size and look (and not ''just'' by Vince either) could fill a book[[/note]], but the only way to find the ones that can pull it off is to give them the chance.

** One {{gimmick match|es}} can definitely be a good thing, and can easily drum up extra business. Some, like the Money in the Bank Ladder Match or the Royal Rumble, are multi-man special attractions that have a desirable prize to fight for and can sell a whole card just on name value alone, as well as set up an entire program worth of angles and future matches for the forthcoming months. Others, like the Hell in a Cell match, are brutal {{garbage|Wrestling}} matches that can be used as the satisfying capper for [[ItsPersonal blood feuds]]. But the main reasons that GimmickMatches shouldn't be overused is that seeing them too often dilutes the audience's interest. One ultraviolent match a year is truly shocking stuff, but seeing too many of them results in wrestlers doing more and more dangerous stunts to try to get the attention of a crowd that's desensitized to gimmick matches, and see Business Ethics #5 for why that's a terrible idea. Even Wrestling/{{ECW}} and Wrestling/{{CZW}}, ''the'' classic and modern faces of hardcore wrestling, made sure to include different types of matches and wrestling in between its garbage matches so that fans wouldn't get bored. It's widely agreed that the worst thing WWE ever did to the Hell in a Cell match stipulation was making it a [[Wrestling/HellInACell yearly PPV]] where wrestlers would have a cell match just because it was that time of year again, rather than because the intensity of the feud demanded it, and refusing to allow [=HiaC=] matches at any time ''other'' than the PPV for marketing reasons.[[note]]Wrestling/{{Batista}} wanted his retirement match against Wrestling/TripleH at ''[=WrestleMania=] 35'' to be a Hell in a Cell match, but Vince refused because he insisted that the match only ever be held on the PPV, so they had to make do with a No Holds Barred match instead.[[/note]] Interestingly, once Triple H took over WWE creative in 2022, he axed the annual Hell in a Cell event.

** As a side note, it may seem strange, but good taste should generally prevail when it comes to most programs and simple angles. The more [[HilarityEnsues "out-there"]] a program becomes, generally the less interest the fanbase has (because they're interested in wrestling), [[ValuesDissonance the more you make yourself look unpalatable to the mainstream]], and the less business in the long run. There are [[Website/{{WrestleCrap}} too many cases demonstrating this principle to go into detail]]. As a general rule, [[{{Squick}} necrophilia, incest]] and similar themes are the purview of 18 certificate {{Euroshlock}}, not fights between two big angry foes. There is a reason that even mentioning the [[OldShame Katie Vick]] saga will make those fans who remember it feel a little ashamed of their love for the "sport". Additionally, an individual wrestler who's tarred with a particularly distasteful gimmick can have his career permanently damaged by association with it ([[Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr Kerwin White]], [[Wrestling/NickDinsmore Eugene]], [[Wrestling/MikeShaw Bastion Booger]], and post-Headbangers Chaz Warrington, anyone?). If your promotion gains a reputation for doing this, it becomes that much harder to hire new talent.

** This is a mistake that former 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.

** In a converse to the bit above about not burying and insulting wrestlers on their way out to other promotions, a prime source of locker room politics (a poison we'll cover, don't worry) can be envy between long-time wrestlers within your promotion and new wrestlers on their way in from other promotions. While some of this is unavoidable (wrestlers' self-interest dictates that they're going to try to push for as much focus as they can get), refusing to give into these kinds of political maneuvers and not playing favorites with the talent will do more to foster good creative growth than taking sides. A major factor in the failure of Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle was not just Vince [=McMahon=]'s own petty spite, but a WWF locker room jealous of "their spots" and unhappy with the idea of new hires making more money than them or getting more screentime than them; if the bosses hadn't listened then the [=InVasion=] might not have flopped before the big WCW names signed on.

# And although it ''should'' go without saying, as sugar is sweet, ''hold yourself'' to a similar standard of professionalism as your workforce and refrain from sexual misconduct. ''Your wrestlers and crew are your employees, '''not''' your toys''. Even setting aside the uncomfortable moral problems with treating people this way, hush money adds up quick, [[ValuesDissonance and we're not in]] TheEighties anymore. In the Internet age, [[StreisandEffect people will find out if you're abusing your power to squeeze the people under you into servicing you]] and, far from celebrating your rock star charisma, all but a tiny handful of horrible people will see you for the sleazy creep you are.

** Contrast the above with Wrestling/CodyRhodes returning to WWE at ''[=WrestleMania=] 38'', where, rather than humiliating, squashing, and burying a major incoming talent from a rival promotion to get a bit of temporary catharsis (and of course, to make them look weak and unready for the "big leagues", and their rivals weak by comparison as a result) at the expense of all the money the WWE just shelled out to hire him and attention they gained from the acquisition, he was booked in an ''extremely'' competitive match with [[Wrestling/SethRollins a talented and high-profile heel]], allowed to use his former music and entrance, treated like a star, and ultimately won, all in front of a white-hot crowd and an audience revved up and ready to see what he'll do next. By Jove, it's almost as if putting ego to one side and making the best use of resources to tell the best wrestling story you can with them is also good business!

** However, keep in mind that while it's fine for the heel to have the upper hand in a feud, this does '''''not''''' mean that the ''entire'' build of the feud can be nothing but the heel humiliating, outfighting, outsmarting, and generally making the face look like a weakling fool before the face eventually wins the blow-off match with a suprise roll-up. While this can work up to a point, when overdone (and it does ''not'' need to go on long to be overdone) this doesn't generate "heat" that makes the audience want to see the heel beaten, or "sympathy" that makes them want to see the face triumph, it just makes the face look like a loser who they shouldn't care about and kills all investment in the feud. The [[ArcFatigue comically overdrawn]] 2021-22 feud between Wrestling/{{Naomi}} and Wrestling/SonyaDeville went on for over ''half a year'' with heel authority figure Sonya mercilessly bullying Naomi, denying her opportunities, putting her in matches with herself as the crooked guest referee to screw her, and generally making her life hell for no real reason, while Naomi just stood there and took it for ''months'', making the 2-time [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion look like the most pathetic babyface of all time, and the feud become possibly the worst thing on [=SmackDown=] at the time.

** Because of this, '''never''' punish wrestlers for RealLife misdemeanors by depushing, burying, or otherwise harming their {{kayfabe}} talent. Again, this requires superhuman continence on the part of bookers considering how desperate for new material they must be (more wrestlers have been reduced to laughingstocks due to [[RealLifeWritesThePlot writer's block]] than any other factor). If you damage their credibility through a series of protracted losses, you aren't harming them — you're harming your own business, because you have just told the fans that this wrestler cannot be taken seriously, and you send the signal that the rest of your roster are just as easily disposable. To harm a wrestler's aura is to harm the business. Be a professional; do what '''actual''' businesses do; have a disciplinary process. Take the wrestler off-television, dock their pay. Have a legally airtight code of conduct that states in black and white what is expected of your employees so they know, what boundaries they are not supposed to cross and what the consequences are, and for God's sake enforce those rules. Wrestling needs to leave its carnival days behind it, and march into the modern era. [[labelnote:Example from Summerslam 2017]]This is one of many mistakes WWE continues to make year after year. ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2017'' contained no less than ''four'' examples of wrestlers being intentionally buried because of real-life issues: Wrestling/BaronCorbin (after already having been made to look like a moron by squandering his Money in the Bank briefcase cash-in on a ''spectacularly'' inept failed attempt on Wrestling/JinderMahal) was squashed by good ol' [[Wrestling/JohnCena Big Match John]] as punishment for making a tactless tweet denigrating a detractor he ''did not know was an American soldier'' even though he promptly took back the denigrating parts of his remark after being told such; Wrestling/{{Naomi}} lost her ''Wrestling/{{SmackDown}}'' Women's Championship to Wrestling/{{Natalya}} in a mystifyingly pointless bit of booking that apparently stemmed from notorious bully [[Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield John Layfield]] being upset about a misstep she made on commentary with him and complaining to people upstairs; [[Wrestling/EnzoAndCass Enzo Amore]] was thoroughly humiliated during his part in a dull match between ex-partner Big Cass and new ally Wrestling/BigShow, being left lying in the ring in a pool of baby oil, stripped to his underwear presumably as a consequence of backstage heat he'd earned; and Wrestling/{{Rusev|AndLana}} was beaten ''[[SquashMatch with a single RKO]]'' by Wrestling/RandyOrton, supposedly in response to him asking for his release from the company in the wake of horrible booking he'd already received as a result of marrying Lana. While the event overall was saved by a number of big, exciting matches, the booking of up-and-coming talent into oblivion as a result of backstage politics came under considerable criticism.[[/labelnote]]

** So if you really, really, ''really'' want to put them in a match, don't have celebrities beat your wrestlers unless you have some way to get the heat back on the talent--perhaps the loss was a dirty finish, or perhaps the celebrity sticks around a little longer to put the other wrestler back over. The only wrestlers who can lose cleanly to non-wrestlers and not be affected are {{Jobber}}s and {{Joke Character}}s who aren't supposed to be taken seriously as wrestlers in the first place. Wrestling/BamBamBigelow may have actually carried [[UsefulNotes/NFLDefensiveAndSpecialTeamsPlayers New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor]] to a pretty good match in the main event of ''[=WrestleMania=] XI'' (and Taylor, himself a wrestling fan who wanted to do the sport justice, put in the work and commitment to pull as much of his weight as he could), but it still damaged the poor guy's career long-term.[[note]]Fun little factoid: even though that was a [=WrestleMania=] main event it wasn't the biggest payoff of his career. He earned $125,000 for the LT match (not at all bad for one night's work, especially when the wrestling business as a whole was in the toilet), but would later receive $250,000 to take a dive in a worked MMA match against UFC fighter Kimo.[[/note]]

** 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. (In fact, it proved a ToughActToFollow for the main event, but we'll get to arranging a card in time.)
** 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 instantly established that he was a top-tier athlete who could compete in WWE when he debuted in 1997[[note]]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.[[/note]]. 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.

** In a converse to the bit above about not burying and insulting wrestlers on their way out to other promotions, a prime source of locker room politics (a poison we'll cover, don't worry) can be envy between long-time wrestlers within your promotion and new wrestlers on their way in from other promotions. While some of this is unavoidable (wrestlers' self-interest dictates that they're going to try to push for as much focus as they can get), refusing to give into these kinds of political maneuvers and not playing favorites with the talent will do more to foster good creative growth than taking sides. A major factor in the failure of the [=InVasion=] angle was not just Vince [=McMahon=]'s own petty spite, but a [=WWF=] locker room jealous of "their spots" and unhappy with the idea of new hires making more money than them or getting more screentime than them; if the bosses hadn't listened then the [=InVasion=] might not have flopped before the big [=WCW=] names signed on.

** Also, as we'll cover under the Product, rule #20, last minute changes to your card already make a lot of your fans very unhappy. Wanna know what a major reason is for lots of last minute changes? Wrestlers simply being unable to compete, either because of substance abuse issues (we'll get to the drugs) or severe injuries that keep them on the shelf. And that's setting aside what having to suddenly do without a major performer will do to your long-term plans! [=AEW=] has suffered from frequent, serious injuries in its main event scene for basically its entire existence as a promotion, partially due to the very creative freedom it promises its performers, often requiring last-minute card changes for big pay-per-view/premium events. (That's not to say [=WWE=] has been ''without'' such injuries, just that its overall "house style" is much safer.)

** Because of the scripted nature of wrestling, [[RingOldies athletes in good health can continue to wrestle for many more years than those in other sports would be able to]]. The key word here is ''health'', however. If you give your wrestlers enough time to recover and rest from injuries they accumulate over their career, they can easily continue wrestling into their fifties and sixties à la Wrestling/RicFlair or Wrestling/TerryFunk, and make the promotion money for decades. Manage their health poorly, however, and like in the cases of Wrestling/MickFoley, Wrestling/DanielBryan, Wrestling/{{Paige}} and Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, [[CareerEndingInjury they'll be forced to retire early for medical reasons]] during what would normally be the prime of their career, or worse. Remember, while you should give them the freedom to lay out their matches and use their moves, stress to them that no amount of wild stunts are worth their safety. [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] came rightly under criticism, even from his coworker Bryan Alvarez, for gushing and giving huge critical ratings to frankly dangerous matches and stunts that can only result in diminishing returns for shortened careers[[note]]Or [[CasualtyInTheRing death]] in the case of Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa, the man awarded the most five stars from Meltzer[[/note]]. And even ''Meltzer'' himself ''hated'' the Wrestling/HellInACell match featuring the single most replayed bump in the history of professional wrestling[[note]]Wrestling/MickFoley's headfirst fall through the SpanishAnnouncersTable during his ''Wrestling/KingOfTheRing 1998'' match against Wrestling/TheUndertaker[[/note]]. Make sure your wrestlers understand that you don't want them chasing praise or Internet fame via gifs in exchange for years and years of their careers and lives.

** However, you need to remember to use the wrestlers from other promotions to put your own wrestlers over and not the other way around. This means using crossover wrestlers sparingly, and always making sure that your wrestlers look strong against them, whether in victory or defeat. This is the difference between Wrestling/{{WWE}} main-roster talent making unscheduled one-night-only appearances in [[Wrestling/{{WWENXT}} NXT]] and making the developmental wrestlers look like a million bucks with competitive matches, and Wrestling/RingOfHonor, which has booked Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling talent as the focal points of their big events and pushed them so much that it makes their own wrestlers come off as second-class by comparison. New Japan's wrestlers dominating the homegrown talent of the Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation made New Japan a lot of money and put the UWF, which had been doing million dollar gates prior, out of business. Remember, while you need to make the borrowed talent look good, they are, at the end of the day, borrowed talent.

*** Also related to Business Ethics #6, carrying your top championship is a big responsibility. The wrestler who has it represents your promotion and its prestige. It doesn't matter how popular, talented, or charismatic a wrestler might be, if they're not trustworthy or stable enough to be entrusted with the company's highest honors, don't make it worse by putting them in that position. Substance abuse and mental health issues are a big part of the reason why renowned master of WrestlingPsychology Wrestling/JakeRoberts, perennially-underappreciated generational talent Wrestling/WilliamRegal, and many other great wrestlers never got a major title run.

** Conversely, if you run a developmental promotion, remember that your role is to prepare young wrestlers to work for another, larger promotion. Make sure they get trained to work the same way that they would on the main roster. Don't push wrestlers you know that the boss isn't going to like: if your parent promotion favors large power wrestlers, for instance, don't book a bunch of small technicians as the focus of your developmental territory. One reason why so many NXT callups ended up buried in TheNewTens is because Wrestling/TripleH attempted to book the brand like an independent territory, pushing wrestlers who not only didn't have the sort of look or age that Wrestling/VinceMcMahon liked, but in the case of [[Wrestling/TommasoCiampa three]] [[Wrestling/JohnnyGargano consecutive]] [[Wrestling/AdamCole champions]] had publicly expressed the desire to stay on NXT permanently and never get called up to the main roster (and admittedly, by that point Vince had made such a habit of abusing, bullying, and ruining even the stars who ''did'' fit his image of what a WWE talent ought to be, let alone those who didn't, it's hard to blame them). While NXT was still critically well-regarded for much of this time, this ended up getting Trips ousted in 2021, when Vince took over the booking of NXT himself, and to its current bizarre and much-mocked incarnation under Shawn Michaels.

** Conversely, if you run a developmental promotion, remember that your role is to prepare young wrestlers to work for another, larger promotion. Make sure they get trained to work the same way that they would on the main roster. Don't push wrestlers you know that the boss isn't going to like: if your parent promotion favors large power wrestlers, for instance, don't book a bunch of small technicians as the focus of your developmental territory. One reason why so many NXT callups ended up buried in TheNewTens is because Wrestling/TripleH attempted to book the brand like an independent territory, pushing wrestlers who not only didn't have the sort of look or age that Wrestling/VinceMcMahon liked, but in the case of [[Wrestling/TommasoCiampa three]] [[Wrestling/JohnnyGargano consecutive]] [[Wrestling/AdamCole champions]] had publicly expressed the desire to stay on NXT permanently and never get called up to the main roster. While NXT was still critically well-regarded for much of this time, this ended up getting Trips ousted in 2021, when Vince took over the booking of NXT himself.

*** Also related to Business Ethics #6, carrying your top championship is a big responsibility. The wrestler who has it represents your promotion and its prestige. It doesn't matter how popular, talented, or charismatic a wrestler might be, if they're not trustworthy or stable enough to be entrusted with the company's highest honors, don't make it worse by putting them in that position. Substance abuse and mental health issues are a big part of the reason why renowned master of WrestlingPsychology Wrestling/JakeRoberts, perennially-underappreciated generational talent Wrestling/WilliamRegal, and many other great wrestlers never got a bite at the apple of a major title run.

** 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 threw 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).

*** Do you know a major reason ''why'' renowned master of WrestlingPsychology Wrestling/JakeRoberts, perennially-underappreciated generational talent Wrestling/WilliamRegal, and many other great wrestlers never got a bite at the apple of a major title run? It's because, thanks to their substance abuse and mental health issues, they weren't seen as trustworthy or stable enough to be entrusted with the company's highest honors. Carrying your top championship is a big responsibility; the wrestler who has it represents your promotion, and the prestige thereof. It doesn't matter how popular, talented, or charismatic a wrestler might be, if they're not stable enough to shoulder that burden then don't make it worse by putting them in that position.