History Series / WMACMasters

** The ninjas that are sent to battle the Masters in the battlezones and in the cage. The ones in the cage wear regular ninja outfits, but the ones in the battlezones wear differently-colored costumes depending on the battlezones. They are not as skilled as the Masters and thus usually go down quickly; they're only there to make the matches slightly more difficult. The only exception is [[spoiler: the ninja who manages to beat both Superstar and the Machine at once... but he wasn't really a ninja, he was the WMAC Master Warlock in disguise as part of a plan to win the Dragon Star that ultimately didn't work.[[note]]Ninjas are ineligible to win the Dragon Star.[[/note]]]]

* InMediaRes: The show begins with the conceit that the [=WMAC=] has been operating in its current format for several years or even decades. The pilot episode has an established Dragon Star champion, and competitors are shown with various numbers of collected ki symbols signifying their veteran or newcomer status. A couple episodes show reviewed video of "past" matches that chronologically take place before the original aired start date.

* HandicappedBadass: Richard "Yin Yang Man" Branden was one; he was blind in one eye after being in a car accident as a kid. Another factored into his backstory, when he met a martial artist who was in a wheelchair, teaching him to look at his own blindness as a challenge to overcome rather than a handicap and inspired Richard to make up for lost time. Note that this wasn't created for the show itself - Richard Branden [[ActorAllusion actually was blind in one eye]] as a result of a childhood injury, which affected his martial arts training (despite being a lauded forms performer on the competitive circuit, he never entered free sparring as he felt it would be too dangerous for him to do so.

* MeaningfulName: All of the martial artists' ki symbols. Hakim "The Machine" Alston got his name because he had to gain iron control of his own emotions in order to prevent another screw-up like the time he lost his temper at Steve. "Red Dragon" was the name of the first martial art Chris Casamassa trained in. "Superstar" harkens back to Ho Sung Pak's tenure as a film movie star. "Olympus" is named after the time Herb Perez won the 1992 Gold Medal in the Olympics. Richard Branden sketches yin yang symbols as a hobby, hence "Yin Yang Man". "Bam", a.k.a. Willie Johnson, shouts "Bam" instead of a kiai. "Mouse", or Michele Krasnoo, had really high-pitched kiais as a child. "Great Wolf" is the translation for Jamie Webster's Native American name. "Baby Doll" Bridget Riley's father gave her that nickname as a child. Eric Betts claims to be able to move as fast as a "Panther". Hien Nguyen got the idea for "Tsunami" from Bruce Lee's admonishment to move fluidly like water instead of in a rigid fashion. Johnny Lee Smith got the name "Tiger Claw" from his tiger claw technique. Finally, Taimek's name is Aztec for "Striking Eagle", so that's his ki symbol. There were no explanations revealed for the other ki symbols, such as why Michael Bernardo calls himself "Turbo" or why Ho Young Pak calls himself "Star Warrior" for example.
** Ho Sung Pak and Ho Young Pak's names can be translated as "Superstar" and "Star Warrior" in Korean, respectively (though, bizarrely, Ho-Sung Pak claims in the first episode that the names are in ''Chinese'', rather than Korean).

** The ninjas that are sent to battle the Masters in the battlezones and in the cage. The ones in the cage wear regular ninja outfits, but the ones in the battlezones wear differently-colored costumes depending on the battlezones. They are not as skilled as the Masters and thus usually go down quickly; they're only there to make the matches slightly more difficult. The only exception is [[spoiler: the ninja who manages to beat both Superstar and the Machine at once...but he wasn't really a ninja, he was the WMAC Master Warlock in disguise as part of a plan to win the Dragon Star that ultimately didn't work.]][[note]]Ninjas are ineligible to win the Dragon Star.[[/note]]
** [[spoiler: Jukido also had a set of Mooks of their own, ninjas wearing red masks and sashes. They're first seen when Warlock sics four of them on Wizard to keep him quiet about their past in Jukido, and later plants one in the crowd to fix his Dragon Star match with Red Dragon. Presumably they would have appeared more in season 3.]]

* PracticalJoke: "The Joke's On You" has Warlock pulling a few. He has Baby Doll look through binoculars, unaware of the old "colored rings around the eyes" bit. He then slaps a "kick me" sign onto Great Wolf's back. He claims he's set up a bucket of water to fall on others, it seems not to work but when Baby Doll and Great Wolf check it out, he hits a button to let it soak them. The pair finally decide to get back at Warlock by putting itching powder into one of his practice gloves...which end up being used by Red Dragon who gets disqualified when he has to remove the glove during a match and strikes an illegal blow.
* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: [[spoiler: ''Averted!'' In season two, Great Wolf has a prophetic dream in which an evil, "Jukido" version of the referee destroys the Dragon Star declaring it to be a fake, but then Tsunami bursts in as the hero with the real Dragon Star in his hands. As it turns out, Tsunami is himself a traitor, and he's the accomplice who helps steal the Dragon Star for Warlock and Tracer.]]

* RedHerring: Two of them, one per season. In the first season, [[spoiler: when a ninja knocks both Superstar and The Machine off the platform, "Turbo" is suspected of having been the ninja because of a suspicious comment Turbo had made earlier about being determined to win the Dragon Star at all costs. It turns out it was Warlock, not Turbo]]. In the second season, [[spoiler: Sophia Crawford ("Chameleon") is suspected of having been Tracer and Warlock's accomplice, tasked with stealing the Dragon Star from the women's Dragon Star match since Tracer was frequently seen talking to her. In actuality, however, Chameleon, disgusted by Tracer's advances, was actually trying to ignore him. In addition, Olympus correctly points out that if Chameleon were the accomplice, she wouldn't need to steal the Dragon Star, because she had won it fairly. When Chameleon saw that the Dragon Star had been replaced by the Jukido symbol on the pedestal, [[ScreamingWoman she screamed in genuine terror]], so she obviously was ''not'' the accomplice. It turns out the accomplice was Tsunami, of all people.]]

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The first reveal is that "Warlock" and "Tracer" are actually traitors working for Jukido. The real twist is the second reveal, because it turns out a third WMAC Master was working with them as an accomplice...and the accomplice is comic relief ''Tsunami'' of all people!!!]][[note]][[spoiler: Whether Tsunami had truly turned to the dark side or was acting as a mole, which Great Wolf's vision seems to imply, would never be resolved, though WordOfGod indicated that the turn was genuine, though he would eventually return to the good guys.]][[/note]]

* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler:Tracy Swedom=Destroy WMAC]] They happen to have an anagram finder, this leads to some humorous anagrams of the other characters. [[spoiler: However, the anagram finder didn't reveal Tracy Swedom's true nature, because the Masters were called away before they could run the finder on him, and Tracer took advantage of the opportunity by erasing his particular incriminating anagram from the finder, before walking away gloating in song.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: With the first Ninja Challenge offering a chance for three ki symbols, Superstar mocks Tsunami's chances. He then challenges Tsunami to a bet where the loser has to do 100 push-ups for every one of the winner's ki symbols (Superstar had nine at the time). As the Challenge goes on, Superstar ups the bet to the winner being on the loser's back and mockingly gives Tsunami a magazine featuring Superstar. The final scene has a victorious Tsunami reading the magazine while sitting cross-legged on Superstar's back as he completes the first third of his push-ups.

Clearly the inspirations are both ProfessionalWrestling (each of the fighters has a {{gimmick}} and there is {{kayfabe}}) and fighting games (with such things as life bars, the general aesthetics of the characters and different areas where matches take place, and even a couple actors from the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' games appearing, such as Ho-Sung "Superstar" Pak, who played the original Liu Kang; also, from TheMovie, Chris "Red Dragon" Cassamassa (Scorpion) and Hakim "The Machine" Alston (Liu Kang's first fight)).

The first season was hosted by Shannon Lee, the daughter of Creator/BruceLee, and was [[AnAesop an aesop]] of the week show, with life lessons imparted in every episode. The second season dropped the host aspect, limited the aesops to AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle segments at the end, and introduced an EvilCounterpart organization, Jukido, that sought to usurp the Dragon Star in a MythArc (which is left unresolved by the end of the series[[note]]It didn't help that the very final scene has a shocking betrayal...[[/note]]).

* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: "Do what's right! Don't fight!" is often repeated in this show. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], if you were taking a class from any real-life martial arts sensei worth his/her salt (and a lot of the actors on this show are actual martial arts teachers), one of the ''first'' things you would learn is that martial arts is theoretically supposed to be used to ''avoid'' fights whenever possible; attacking opponents is for self-defense only if they start a fight with you first. Also, the "Code of the Dragon Star" provides a lot of opportunity for knowing being half the battle.

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: Given that the show's premise is "Professional Wrestling, but with martial arts", this is to be expected to some extent. Sure enough, the fights feature lots of spinning and wildly telegraphed moves and are often as much a gymnastics show as a martial arts match; however, given the calibre of talent available (all of the fighters are accomplished martial artists in real life), some of the errors are surprising - for instance, the show treats Shorin Ryu and Karate as two separate arts (the former is, in fact, a specific style of the latter) and similarly delineates Kung Fu and Wushu (generally two terms for the same thing, although this one is a bit more defensible given that certain organizations may brand themselves as Kung Fu or Wushu specifically). As well, some of the techniques, forms, and weapons used by the competitors clearly do not match the martial art they are supposedly representing, such as when Red Dragon conducts a demonstration of "karate" - an art whose name ''literally means'' "empty hand" - with a katana (a particularly egregious error given that karate's roots are in Okinawa and the independent Ryukyu Kingdom that preceded it, which was very much removed from the sword arts of mainland Japan).

** And even Tracer plays with this trope. The name "Tracy Swedom" is revealed to be a codename (an anagram of "Destroy WMAC"), meaning his real name is never actually revealed. His actor, Michael M. Foley, was actually a military veteran and many of his martial arts accomplishments were in tournaments sponsored by the US military, so his real life background clearly had a strong influence on his character.

* BreakTheHaughty: "Superstar" in his backstory, see above Arrogant Kung Fu Guy trope entry. Hakim "The Machine" Alston is another example; in his backstory, he thought he was hot stuff until his sensei made him fight a guy named Steve. Steve kicked Hakim's butt, which made Hakim so mad that he knocked Steve to the ground and started beating on him, disgracing his sensei in the process. Hakim still thought he had something to prove, though, so he challenged Steve to an "unofficial" match where they would fight without gloves, "for keeps". But Steve won the match by ''breaking Hakim's arm and leg'', which was Hakim's own fault since Hakim was in such a berserker rage that he was in an "attack attack attack" craze, and Steve was just defending himself. Hakim was so ashamed of himself that he went into training in solitude to learn how to control his anger, and eventually he and Steve managed to make up and be friends.
* CardCarryingVillain: A sort-of example with "Jukido", the evil treacherous organization that shows up in season two. Jukido is composed of martial artists who don't want to live by the code of the Dragon Star, meaning they don't want to disciplined, honorable, respectful, courageous, loyal, forgiving, wise, or compassionate. So they formed Jukido so they could use their martial arts skills however they wanted to regardless of the cost to others, and to this end are willing to do things like [[spoiler: severely injure Panther off-screen or attempt to rig a match between Red Dragon and Warlock by having a ninja attack ''only'' Red Dragon, although Red Dragon won anyway, or finally ''steal the Dragon Star''.]]
* ContinuityNod:

* EyePatchOfPower: Yin Yang Man wears one.
* FailedASpotCheck: Tsunami, in an effort to woo Chameleon, makes her and Tracer each a drink after their loss in the mixed doubles match. In a moment of absentmindedness, Tracer reaches for the drink with his tattooed hand, revealing his Jukido emblem, before quickly switching over to his other hand. Tsunami was apparently too infatuated with Chameleon to notice. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted with TheReveal at the end of the series, where Tsunami reveals himself as a Jukido agent, meaning he was likely already working with Tracer by that point.]]

* DemotedToExtra: Tiana "Black Widow" Noguchi, despite the fact she was supposed to be the women's champion but she was never seen competing. Her brother Cyclone had it almost as bad but he was finally given a match in the last episode against The Machine. The two also were barely seen backstage.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The first reveal is that "Warlock" and "Tracer" are actually traitors working for Jukido. The real twist is the second reveal, because it turns out a third WMAC Master was working with them as an accomplice...and the accomplice is comic relief ''Tsunami'' of all people!!!]][[note]][[spoiler: Whether Tsunami had truly turned to the dark side or was acting as a mole, which Great Wolf's vision seems to imply, would never be resolved.]][[/note]]

** And even Tracer plays with this trope. The name "Tracey Swedom" is revealed to be a codename (an anagram of "Destroy WMAC"), meaning his real name is never actually revealed. His actor, Michael M. Foley, was actually a military veteran and many of his martial arts accomplishments were in tournaments sponsored by the US military, so his real life background clearly had a strong influence on his character.

* LargeHam: Tracy Swedom in *spades*. A narcissistic ex-military nut who alternates between smug gloating and flashes of irritated anger when disrespected who also villainous mole for Jukido, Tracy relentlessly chews the scenery in just about every scene he's in.

** Ho Sung Pak and Ho Young Pak's names can be translated as "Superstar" and "Star Warrior" in Korean, respectively (though, bizarrely, Ho-Sung Pak claims that the names are in *Chinese*, rather than Korean).

** Ho Sung Pak and Ho Young Pak's names can be translated as "Superstar" and "Star Warrior" in Korean, respectively.

%%* {{Tomboy}}: Lady Lightning.

* HandicappedBadass: Richard "Yin Yang Man" Branden was one; he was blind in one eye after being in a car accident as a kid. Another factored into his backstory, when he met a martial artist who was in a wheelchair, teaching him to look at his own blindness as a challenge to overcome rather than a handicap and inspired Richard to make up for lost time.

* ContinuityNod: An early episode introduces a double crescent kick that Tiger Claw teaches Great Wolf under the agreement neither of them will use it against each other (an agreement that Great Wolf later breaks, leading to a feud between them). After the resolution of the storyline, both Great Wolf and Tiger Claw can be seen using that same technique in their later bouts, even into the show's second season.

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: Given that the show's premise is "Professional Wrestling, but with martial arts", this is to be expected to some extent. Sure enough, the fights feature lots of spinning and wildly telegraphed moves and are often as much a gymnastics show as a martial arts match; however, given the calibre of talent available (all of the fighters are accomplished martial artists in real life), some of the errors are surprising - for instance, the show treats Shorin Ryu and Karate as two separate arts (the former is, in fact, a specific style of the latter) and similarly delineates Kung Fu and Wushu (generally two terms for the same thing, although this one is a bit more defensible given that certain organizations may brand themselves as Kung Fu or Wushu specifically). As well, some of the techniques, forms, and weapons used by the competitors clearly do not match the martial art they are supposedly representing, such as when Red Dragon conducts a demonstration of "karate" - an art whose name *literally means* "empty hand" - with a katana (a particularly egregious error given that karate's roots are in Okinawa and the independent Ryukyu Kingdom that preceded it, which was very much removed from the sword arts of mainland Japan).

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There were 25 masters on the show however some were seen more then others.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The first reveal is that "Warlock" and "Tracer" are actually traitors working for Jukido. The real twist is the second reveal, because it turns out a third WMAC Master was working with them as an accomplice...and the accomplice is comic relief ''Tsunami'' of all people!!!]][[note]]And it doesn't even end there. The final shot of the final scene of the final episode reveals that Cyclone was in on it as well.[[/note]]

* BlackBestFriend: Willie "Bam" Johnson seemed to be this for most of the cast as he was the person they were most likely to talk to and was the only person to understand Cyclone.

** He actually says one more: [[spoiler:Yes, what will we do with the Dragon Star.]]