Some call it the International. Others the Universal. In other areas it is referred to as the Southern Spot. If ever they discover life on another world that has the wherewithal to produce their own version of professional wrestling, perhaps they would call it the Intergalactic Planetary. In the '50s it was considered a high spot. Flair and Steamboat would do it multiple times per match in their classic series of matches - incredibly effectively, I may add. Today it is something you will see on every wrestling card you go to, likely multiple times. We all know it and we've all seen it, but how many of you really get it? Let's take a deeper look at the oldest spot professional wrestling has to offer.
It's like the most basic of plays in any sport. It should be your fail-safe. Any worker worth his weight in salt should be able to do this in his sleep. It goes like this: headlock, shoot off, tackle, drop down, leapfrog, hip toss, cover. There are tons of variations - after the hip toss, throw in an arm drag or a dropkick, heel powders out of the ring, whatever fits your fancy.
This spot is done to death, so if you have been working longer than a year or and if after reading this article you feel that you have perfected it, try to push the bounds of your creativity. Spice it up a bit and save the standard for the guys who need it. If you are an experienced piano player you shouldn’t still be dabbling with “Mary Had a Little Lamb” or “Row Row Row Your Boat," and if you are that guy who is a ten year vet and your best high spot is the international, it’s time to up your game... otherwise, investigate other career paths.
If what I listed above is all you really know about the International - the order and variations - you’ve only been taught how to go through these motions. Chances are you haven’t been trained properly. Let’s dig deeper into the psychology behind one professional wrestling's trademark sequences.
THE LOCK-UP
I can’t tell you how many time I want to punch a greeny in the dick when I see them doing a weak-ass lock-up. It basically screams, “hey, look at this fake bullshit pro wrestling we are doing over here.” This is a fight. It’s real (or at least it should be portrayed as such), please stop just going through the motions. You are trying to win, numbnuts. The lock-up is typically the first physical encounter of a match and sets the tone for the rest of the performance. First impressions are everything in this business, so make it count. I can guarantee you that if a promoter or booker sees footage of you and it starts with a weak lock-up, they're turning it off immediately.
Now, before I go any further, I want to put a note to stiff workers: do not beat the shit out of me with your lock-up. We hit hard at first on the lock-up and then loosen up. Think of two cars blasting down the road for a head on collision, the initial impact is going to be explosive, but once that momentum is stopped it’s just two cars pushing into each other. Now it is time to work the magic. Loosen up and let it become a dance. I’m not saying go limp and flimsy like it’s not a fight, but work it with the guy you are locked-up with.
(Note: Depending on your character, if you’re a heel (a bigger or stronger heel), strike fear in your opponent with how fiercely you attack a lock-up. If you are a face, be bold, defiant against whatever the odds are stacked against you. Don’t back down. You are those people in the crowd. Their champion. They are counting on you to defeat the evil heel you are squared off in the ring against.)
THE HEADLOCK
Have you ever been put into a shoot headlock? I feel a trainer should grab a shoot headlock once on every student so that they learn to respect the hold. My trainer choked me out with a sleeper to allow me to gain a full appreciation of a move that is for the most part today solely used as a bullshit rest hold. So I will ask again, have you ever been put in a shoot headlock? If not, let me tell you, in the real world they suck. Blood and air gets temporarily cut off to your brain and your neck feels like it is being crushed in a vice. This isn't a lackadaisical rest hold... the heel is trying to rip the face‘s head off. Both of their body language and facial expressions should match the reality of what is being portrayed. Remember, the headlock was seen as a legitimate finish back in the day, and for good reason. Go watch a heavyweight high school or college amateur wrestling match. Many of them end in a headlock.
Respect the move, it isn’t a filler hold. If you’re a good worker your match shouldn’t have any “filler” or "rest" holds. Make every movement matter. Every move in a match is a word in a sentence. Every spot in a match is a sentence in a paragraph. All of this builds to you telling your story. You need to respect the weight of all of the moves you do to your opponent or that your opponent does to you, the same way a good storyteller respects every word they put on the page.
So now our heel has the baby in a headlock. They are working it and wrenching it. Reciprocally, the face is desperately trying to work their way out of the hold.
Why does the heel wrench the headlock, and when is the right time?
I hate random wrenching on headlocks. Think amateur wrestling. The only time you’re going to wrench a headlock in is when your opponent is trying to escape. Only when the face causes some sort of separation, either by trying to wrestle out or if they were giving you shots should you be dicking around with big, hokey wrenching. If you’re the heel you are trying to pop his head off like a zit, because this may be your quickest route to victory. And what is the goal of every wrestling match? To win.
So what should the baby face do to try to escape?
Everything and anything. Scramble, try to break out of the lock, grab where the heel’s hands meet on your chin and try to pull it away to stop it from crushing you. Try to push the heel’s face away. Do what you would do to try to escape, minus cheating. Just remember to always fight. You wouldn’t just stand there in a legitimate fight, would you?
Here is a fun little secret that I never see young guys doing. Most of you assholes just stand perpendicular when you are in a headlock. I understand this is how you were trained, and that’s a fine starting point when grabbing the headlock. But if the heel can keep you locked into that T position, you would get choked out or dragged down to the mat expediently. So, alleviate the pressure by turning your body so that you can square up to your opponent (face-to-face). The baby face’s head should be somewhere around the center of the heel’s chest while the heel still attempts to hold onto the headlock. Make sure if you are the baby you still show your face to the crowd - make sure they can see it. That’s your money maker.
Once you are squared up it should take away the pressure of the hold, but he’s still got you. You have a couple options here.
THE SHOOT OFF
You, as the face, are now squared up with the heel, who only just has control at this point - but nothing so vital that he can use it to defeat you. I have always been one to just give a shot or two and then, once their grip begins to loosen, I will almost bearhug them to stand them up taller. From there I will lower my base to slip my head out of the headlock. While all of this is happening, I begin to modify my bearhug grip to push my opponent forward towards the ropes, and continue to slip my head backwards out of his grip.
That’s just one way, but there are a ton of shoot off techniques. I would advise reserving the technique where the face backs the heel into the ropes (using them as a slingshot to send the heel off) solely for when the heel is considerably larger than the baby. Because, for a bigger guy, once he gets moving due to the assistance of the ropes, will he be unable to stop himself or slow himself down. This allows you to sneak out the backdoor of the headlock in the process. If you are the face in this scenario, grab the ropes on either side of the heel once you reach them - this gives added stability for both of you and the fail-safe to prevent either of you from tumbling out of the ring through the ropes (I have seen it and to answer your question, yes, it is hilarious).
So now the baby has successfully gotten out of the heel’s headlock. Up next is the shoulder tackle.
(Note: What most of you guys do in the first ten seconds of the match just took me two pages to write out. I am amazed that this isn’t common sense among workers. Yet, every time I explain this stuff to the younger guys, it’s like I am blowing their fucking mind. This business isn’t checkers, kids. It’s chess.)
THE SHOULDER TACKLE
The momentum of the heel hitting the ropes sends him charging back into the face. The face, who is just coming to from his blood flow being cut off and simultaneously shaking off his sore neck snaps out of it - right into a tackle. The psychology of this spot is critical. If you’re the baby face, sell your neck and act dizzy right after the shoot off. Don’t just stand in the middle of the ring with your thumb up your ass and nonchalantly waiting for the heel to rebound into you.
(Note: If you are a huge heel, why not play it off as, "okay, little guy. Want to go that route? I'll play, but you'll lose." Afterward, the heel has his belly laugh from taking the baby down and the baby gets a small bit of fire in his belly from the exchange.)
The action of the tackle is very easy. It’s a bro hug. Go in like you’re going to give him a hug. Then, when he takes the bump, you should explode through it.
(Note: This goes for punches, kicks, clotheslines, and all striking attacks. Come in controlled. Once you have made contact and your opponent is bumping, explode through with whatever you are doing. I hate seeing a tackle where a guy just hits it and looks like he love tapped his opponent. Have you watched football? When guys get tackled they don’t just hit, stop, and stand there. They hit and explode through. If you accidentally explode through too much, just reset and re-position yourself for the next move in the sequence of events.)
Here is something important to factor into this part - the size of the ring. In a sixteen-foot ring, you pretty much can just escape and shoot the heel off. Just in the process of that and the sell, you shouldn’t have to add that much “Hollywood” to it. In an eighteen-footer, you can drop down to a knee with the shoot off to get the timing down. In a twenty-foot ring, this next step is a must - you may even need to do it in an eighteen-footer, depending on how you sell and what your timing is with your opponent.
If you are working in a larger ring, once you shoot your opponent off, at minimum drop to your knee to show the effort that was put into the shoot off. Be selling the neck and trying to “shake off the cobwebs." Because it’s a bigger ring, that may not be enough. You never want to just be standing there, waiting to take the tackle. If by time you have appropriately shaken everything off and the heel isn’t there to tackle you, pretend that you have “come through” and start an explosive, almost desperate, sprint towards your opponent with your hand raised ready to strike. Your opponent should be running back at you by this time, preparing for you to get obliterated by the shoulder tackle.
You wouldn’t look weak because you, as a baby face, have been getting basically choked and throttled for ten seconds (let someone choke you for real for ten seconds, I promise it takes a lot out of you). Despite your valiant efforts to try to recover, the heel at this point is going to be fresher and has a ton of momentum built up... and he is using all of that to come at you. The face then gets wiped out. Make your heel look strong. Trust me, when you have your comeback in the finish of this sequence, it will make you look all the stronger for overcoming the odds.
If you’re the heel, this motherfucker just got out of your headlock, you were about to crush this kid’s skull. You are peeved that he escaped. When you hit the ropes and see he doesn’t have it all together yet, you explode into him with the shoulder tackle. Make him feel it. Make the crowd feel it. Once you have hit him, pause... Make eye contact so that everyone is on the same page. Shoot the face a look that says, “if you were smart you will stay the fuck down.” Maybe shoot a fan that same look, project a presence of, “if it was you in the ring the exact same thing would happen.” If you are a cocky heel, this is the spot to get your gimmicky stuff in, show your arrogance, let the crowd feel it. You just knocked their hero on the mat, maybe arrogantly brush off your shoulder, make eye contact with a fan and shoot the look, “this is your hero? He ain’t shit.”
DROP DOWNS AND LEAPFROGS (optional)
There is a pause. The heel looks down at the face, challenging him. The heel looks up at the crowd and locks eyes with an audience member. He doesn’t need words to tell them, “this could be you. Try me. I dare you, motherfucker.”
As a face, don't just lay down on your back. Sell up, reach for your opponent - give them a reason to hit the ropes.
The heel floats over and charges the ropes again. Why? Because the heel has just discovered inertia: that a car running fifty miles-per-hour will kill a pedestrian. The baby face feeds up. Optionally, you can add in leap frogs and drop downs as the baby evades the freight train heel.
(Note: I have said this a lot, but I am going to drill it into all of your minds. Attack with all of your moves. While the drop down has basically become strictly a move of evasion today, it was at one point an attack. Yes, it’s a move. You dive at your opponent’s shins to take them out. If you ever wanted to take the bump off this rather go with the face bump or my personal favorite, take a flipping bump like you would from a kitchen sink. When you throw a leapfrog, attack with it. Charge at your opponent and, almost as if you changed your mind to reset for a different move, explode out into a leapfrog. Intensity is key. As an added bonus, have your opponent try to come at you with a telegraphed clothesline off the ropes to give your leapfrog more meaning.)
HIP TOSS (and, optionally, arm drags or a powder)
Finally, our hero (the baby) delivers a comeuppance when they hip toss the heel. If you’re the face and you’re going to be giving this hip toss, please don’t be standing in the middle of the ring, telegraphing this move. You literally can be squared up with your opponent, moving in for an attack and then quickly change your body language into the hip toss position. So, psychologically speaking, you catch them off of their guard, which is what made them susceptible to the hip toss itself.
If you are ending here with the hip toss, please cover him. For the love of the wrestling gods, you are trying to win the match. Right?
However, if you are going into the arm drag, arm drag, dropkick, powder deal, realize a few things:
If you are the heel, you’re in bump-and-feed mode. You take the hip toss, but bounce right up. You’re mad now, so you feed up and throw a left handed punch to try to stop the face’s momentum. The baby face arches back to avoid the punch, and captures the arm into an arm drag. One more big bump, then a dropkick by the baby face. By this point, the heel realizes its time to get out of Dodge and powders out. This effectively establishes the "walking tall" face and the "chickenshit" heel.
THIS IS THE MOMENT OF ENGAGEMENT. If you have done this spot correctly, you should have the crowd hooked in. They should clearly know who the villain and hero both are. If you are the baby, engage the crowd to let them know, “we are gonna win this thing together.” Remember, you are an extension of them, they are living vicariously through you. If you’re a villain, make the crowd feel your frustration. As you are gathering your cool, remember that you’re the heel. Engage the crowd in some way. Don’t be an asshole and just do cheap heat, be unique and make it your own. Believe in what just happened to you. Feel the anger and own it. This will help keep the audience engaged to the show you are putting on.
Now, what did that just accomplish? Usually the heel will be the bigger guy. So he bumps the baby, but really shows no skill, just sells his size. The baby overcomes and out-wrestles the heel (tradition dictates the baby should be the better wrestler than the heel, but this isn't a 100% rule). The heel shows his true heart and chickenshits. This is all encased in the shine, where we establish the baby as being technically superior to the heel.
This is all very basic, Wrestling 101. Yet, I’m amazed at how many people don’t even know this very simplistic stuff. If you’re the guy that veterans yell at and say, “he doesn't know how to do a headlock right, yet he is throwing 450s,” this article is directed at you. Some will never get it and that’s what vets are bitching about.
Don’t get me wrong, we are glad that you can do cool flips, but you are as useful to me as the backyarder who can get hit with paint cans, moving vehicles, and other garbage. Promoters and trainers don’t look for the most athletic guy or the toughest guy, that’s so one-dimensional. They look for the smartest guy. The guy that can turn into a worker to carry all the meatheads out there who just think its about a look; or all the hardcore guys who think it’s just about toughness; or those high flyers who think its all about sequences and spots; or the overly gimmicked up guy who thinks all you need to do is know how to talk and wear cool gear. No, no, no, no, NO.
While all of those are great bases to build off of, it’s psychology and intelligence that separates the cosplayers from the professionals and the mediocre from the best. All of the other things I just listed are great attributes to learning and excelling at the art, business, and psychology of wrestling, but none of those alone will make you successful.
So, that is the most basic spot in pro wrestling. Not so simple, huh? I hope you all learned something, and appreciate all the work that can and should be going into your craft.
Until next time,
-AWV
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