Workrate (professional wrestling)

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In professional wrestling, a wrestler's workrate is somewhat synoymous with his talent level. This term comes from the fact that most of the action in pro wrestling is a work, a creation designed to play to the audience, or "work" the crowd. Hence a wrestler with a good workrate is one who can pull the work off to maximize crowd reaction.

Also, workrate refers to the ratio of action in a wrestling match to the innaction. A worker is said to have a "high workrate" if he or she has little inaction in the match. Wrestlers who frequently engage in "rest holds" are considered to have a low workrate.

Among wrestling fans, especially the internet wrestling community, the term workrate has taken on the general meaning of ability to wrestle proficiently in a technical style. Whereas Hulk Hogan, who has a limited amount of technical ability but is excellent at handling the crowd, is thought of as a poor worker by fans, he's actually quite good at "working". Most fans will point to someone who has a grasp of a large moveset as being a good worker, such as Chris Benoit or William Regal. Wrestlers such as Benoit and Regal are thought of in this respect because of their ability to chain wrestle, or the stringing together of moves that give the match a good flow and pace.

Additionally, workrate is something very much affected by trends and style dictated by both the fans and promotions. In the late 1990s, the WWE established their own style of working, which was characterized by the use of brawling instead of rest spots to eliminate slow spots from matches. Many experts point to this as one of the many examples of WWE superiority over WCW that eventually won the Monday Night Wars. After the arrival of Brock Lesnar and rise of Kurt Angle, the WWE chose to grow their own talent developmental systems with accomplished amateur wrestlers, like the aforementioned Angle and Lesnar, as well as wrestlers like Shelton Benjamin. This practice is still apparent today, with the presence of current ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley, a standout wrestler from the ranks of collegiate and Army wrestling. However, with the departure of Lesnar and Angle, and the WWE's tendency to support stars who move merchandise, such as John Cena, the current style of working has become very basic, with the emphasis more than ever on showmanship, or "sports entertainment". Most matches now seem to rely on gimmicks, heavy amounts of brawling, and depend less on chain wrestling.