Push (professional wrestling)
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In professional wrestling, a push is an attempt by the booker to make the wrestler win more matches and become more popular with the fans. A push can also be based on a single major win against a major star (for example, Shelton Benjamin's 2004 winning streak over Triple H), and it is not uncommon for a push to be accompanied by a turn or a change in the wrestler's gimmick. Pushing is usually done for new wrestlers. This is essentially the opposite of a bury (or depush), which in contrast to the high profile of a push is typically done with little or no fanfare.
Sometimes the fans generate the push for a wrestler themselves when smarks see a good wrestler that either has not been pushed or has had their gimmick pulled from under them. A good example is Lance Hoyt of TNA, who was "adopted" by fans who created the "Hoytamania" gimmick. TNA saw this and decided to run with the idea, turning Hoyt face and pushing him, although not very hard.
A wrestler that bookers are high on and are pushed to excess and/or against the wishes of the fans until they learn to accept him is called Pushing down (one's) throats. Chris Masters of World Wrestling Entertainment was met with apathy by the fans and received X-Pac Heat in the majority of his matches, but was still pushed to near Main Event status and maintained that push until his subsequent suspension for substance abuse. Another primary example of this is Bobby Lashley. Over the course of 2007, he won the ECW Championship twice, was involved in a high profile feud with Vince McMahon, and defeated Umaga in a Hair vs. Hair Match where he was fighting for celebrity Donald Trump. He was also drafted to Monday Night RAW and was involved in a feud with John Cena for the WWE Championship. In the defunct World Championship Wrestling promotion, a group of new and younger wrestlers known as the Natural Born Thrillers enjoyed a long and steady push and winning titles despite getting no crowd response and repeatedly going over established talent. This is contrasted to the push received by The Spirit Squad in World Wrestling Entertainment, who despite being relatively new talent, continued to draw significant crowd response until their burial at the hands of D-Generation X, which was followed by a demotion to OVW.
Pushing and burying wrestlers can be seen as a worked version of the promotion and relegation system in team sports outside North America.
