Can I get a more precise definitition of these?

[Fiddleford H. McGucket]

1. X-Pac Heat

2. Workrate

3. not so much a definiton but the proper pronunciation of kayfabe

Is it 2 syllable Kay-FAYB or 3 syllable Kay-Fay-Be, I ask becaue i've only seen it written not actually said.

[Robbymac]

I can handle three. Its 2 syllable. Kay-Fayb

[Miss RKO]

X Pac heat isnt "booo your a good heel thus why i boo" but more "god get that waste of life off my tv" kinda heat

[Rorschach]

Defining workrate is tricky. Here's what Google has to say on it:

the approximate ratio of good wrestling to rest holds in a match or in a wrestler's performance. eg- Bret Hart has a good workrate.

I would actually go a bit farther and say that it's the effort, technical know how, and professionalism shown by said wrestler in the match as well. I mean, someone like Kane is never going to be accused of having a high workrate, but he CAN still put on good matches. Someone like Ricky Steamboat, or Ric Flair, however, DID have high workrate in their matches, because they worked the technical side of things, and applied wrestling holds and submissions to wear down their opponent.

Hope that helped.

[lemonyellowson]

i was an x-pac mark...... i liked his stable with albert and aldo montoya....I loved his run in DX.....regarded his work to be top notch in the NWO......marked hard when he beat razor ramon....... then he did that thing in the hotel room, in that communist place that has a big wall, with the dude.... awww man, why do your heroes always hurt you???

[Hiroshi Hase]

Feb 24, 2009 17:08:24 GMT -5 Miss RKO said:

X Pac heat isnt "booo your a good heel thus why i boo" but more "god get that waste of life off my tv" kinda heat

There's no way to tell the difference. The best way would be not to react at all because the heel has nothing to work with.

[Rorschach]

Feb 24, 2009 17:51:21 GMT -5 Hiroshi Hase said:

Feb 24, 2009 17:08:24 GMT -5 Miss RKO said:

X Pac heat isnt "booo your a good heel thus why i boo" but more "god get that waste of life off my tv" kinda heat

There's no way to tell the difference. The best way would be not to react at all because the heel has nothing to work with.

The old ECW chestnut "You can't wrestle" fan chant begs to differ. There's no way to get around the fact that they're not booing because they hate you, or hate your character....they're flat out telling you that you suck at your job.

[Single H]

X-Pac heat- Heat made up by the Internet wrestling fans. Which has nothing to do with the wrestler himself X-Pac. Some claim he was receiving go away heat but anybody who does not like a wrestler is going to say that. It's just a term which has been made up on the net basically and stuck much like the steph-Macho rumors no truth or fact in them.

[Jay Carroll]

Feb 24, 2009 18:22:21 GMT -5 Single H said:

X-Pac heat- Heat made up by the Internet wrestling fans. Which has nothing to do with the wrestler himself X-Pac. Some claim he was receiving go away heat but anybody who does not like a wrestler is going to say that. It's just a term which has been made up on the net basically and stuck much like the steph-Macho rumors no truth or fact in them.

You could point to the Invasion angle when he was the only WWF guy getting booed on a constant basis...

[Eli]

keyfabe is being 'in character', or working your gimmick as opposed to actually being yourself.

[Hiroshi Hase]

Feb 24, 2009 17:53:42 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

Feb 24, 2009 17:51:21 GMT -5 Hiroshi Hase said:

There's no way to tell the difference. The best way would be not to react at all because the heel has nothing to work with.

The old ECW chestnut "You can't wrestle" fan chant begs to differ. There's no way to get around the fact that they're not booing because they hate you, or hate your character....they're flat out telling you that you suck at your job.

That's different considering what kind of audience those ECW fans were. Smarky to no end and would chant things like that as oppposed to a WWE audience were just marks and could easily chant things like "X-pac sucks" which could be worked with as he was a heel and they're supposed to chant things like that at him.

[Rorschach]

Feb 24, 2009 20:30:14 GMT -5 Hiroshi Hase said:

Feb 24, 2009 17:53:42 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

The old ECW chestnut "You can't wrestle" fan chant begs to differ. There's no way to get around the fact that they're not booing because they hate you, or hate your character....they're flat out telling you that you suck at your job.

That's different considering what kind of audience those ECW fans were. Smarky to no end and would chant things like that as oppposed to a WWE audience were just marks and could easily chant things like "X-pac sucks" which could be worked with as he was a heel and they're supposed to chant things like that at him.

And on a side note, I have always hated that chant. ALWAYS. I mean, it's one thing to give them silence, but even if they're the worst, most terrible thing since Jackie Gayda....you don't need to chant THAT at them. They're still out there killing themselves for your enjoyment. Same goes for the "You f***ed up" chant.

[salTy]

Having good workrate is going 100% all the time in the ring. You don't have to be the most technically sound, you just have to go full throttle in every match. Pretty simple concept.

Examples of good workrate: HBK, Steamboat, Muta, Regal, Benoit, Stone Cold

[Deleted]

i'd define workrate as being able to make the fans care.

sure you can know 1001 moves and you can preform them... but if you don't know when to preform them or make the audience care that you can do them then it means nothing. Kane does have good workrate because he can get people involved in his matches, make people want the underdog to pull out the victory. thats what workrate is. being able to make the audience care. (at least in my eyes)

but as you can see workrate doesn't have a single definition... basically its whatever you want it to mean

[Fiddleford H. McGucket]

First off thank you,

Second the main reason why I asked about a definition of workrate is that as the definition given seems like a direct contridiction to the connotations for the word

Let's break iot down Work=Faked Wrestling, at least when you're using industry terms.

ergo the literal definiton of workrate seems a negative one, and a high work rate or a high rate of working the fans seems more in line with someone that obviously couldn't win in a shoot environment and there fore must use a higher rate of "Worked" style moves.

But the definition I hear, seems to be where X has a high workrate because he's legitimately a better wrestler and technically sound, where he has to "work" the moves in order to not injure the person in the hold/move.

[H-Fist]

Feb 24, 2009 21:19:50 GMT -5 @awataurne said:

i'd define workrate as being able to make the fans care.

sure you can know 1001 moves and you can preform them... but if you don't know when to preform them or make the audience care that you can do them then it means nothing. Kane does have good workrate because he can get people involved in his matches, make people want the underdog to pull out the victory. thats what workrate is. being able to make the audience care. (at least in my eyes)

but as you can see workrate doesn't have a single definition... basically its whatever you want it to mean

I think that "workrate" has become meaningless. It does have a specific meaning. That meaning relates to the use of "wrestling" moves and holds in a wrestling match. The psychological component is implicit but secondary. Workrate is unaffected by fan reaction. There are plenty of ECW fans who didn't go crazy for Eddie/Benoit. There are plenty of wrestling fans who don't like Bryan Danielson's style. But Danielson has great workrate regardless of who is in the crowd. Likewise, Hulk Hogan had a terrible workrate despite the strong psychological investment of fans in his matches.

Good and bad workrate have no bearing on match quality. Hogan/Warrior can have just as exciting and emotionally invested match as Steamboat/Flair. But that does not involve workrate one bit.

You want workrate, look at Benoit, Danielson, Bret Hart, Steamboat, Greg Valentine...basically all those guys who have been called "workers' workers."

Any other use of the word workrate is really an attempt to co-opt the term to justify their enjoyment of a wrestler. The term carries more weight than "good wrestler" or "fun to watch," so it gets used in ways that it does not mean.

Good psychology =/= great workrate.
Great Workrate =/= awesome match.
Great workrate + good psychology = memorable match.


Kayfabe has been used in professional wrestling at least as far back as the 1940s. It popped up in the old days when a reporter or other non-wrestler would make his way into the locker room. Somebody would start saying, "kayfabe," and the guys would know to get back in character because a mark was present. It's got carny roots.


X-Pac heat may have some basis in fact, but at some point we as fans have to realize that legitimate hatred might be the only kind of heel heat that most wrestlers have available in the post-kayfabe era. Great heels like Orton and Edge can garner heat. But is there any way to quantify the Vickie/Adamle heat? There is a continuum of "hate the character" and "fire this moron" heat going on, and it's not possible to separate them. As a heel, would you rather have that reaction or receive sporadic cheers because you are too cool?

To be honest, the best example of X-Pac heat is the way John Cena has been treated over the past few years. Some markets had "Cena Nuff," while others are more kid- and casual fan-reliant, and thus booed less. But those boos weren't mark-for-a-heel boos. The boos John Cena gets from a significant portion fraction of the fans are along the lines of "Go away and learn how to wrestle and appeal to grown ups" heat.

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

I actually just posted this today in "Rest of wrestling" but here goes:

X=Pac Heat

It started out as one internet writer (I believe it was one of the PWinsider guys) who said he no longer hates X-Pac because he's heel, he's sick of the character in general and wanted to change the channel when he was on TV. They started using the phrase "X-Pac Heat" to describe when they we sick of, or not interested in, the character.

It was more or less a phrase to describe personal opinion.

Somehow, it has evolved to the point where people think it means people are booing because they're sick of the character. That doesn't happen, people boo because they're entertained and are responding to the character.

Hope that helps

[Matt Dunn]

We can argue X-Pac heat all day until we're blue in the face. People do respond when they are unhappy. They don't just boo because they are entertained. What about "boring" chants or "you f'd up", etc.

X-Pac did garner this kind of reaction from some fans while I'm sure he garnered some honest to God "he's such a fantastic heel" from other fans. It's a matter of taste. But it does exist. It's not an urban myth. It's the kind of stuff that makes you want to change the channel, wait a few minutes, then check bad to see if the horror is gone. Not continue watching the show because you are entertained. Good day sir!!! I said good day!!!

[The Summer of Muskrat XVII]

Feb 26, 2009 4:17:58 GMT -5 Matt Dunn said:

We can argue X-Pac heat all day until we're blue in the face. People do respond when they are unhappy. They don't just boo because they are entertained. What about "boring" chants or "you f'd up", etc.

X-Pac did garner this kind of reaction from some fans while I'm sure he garnered some honest to God "he's such a fantastic heel" from other fans. It's a matter of taste. But it does exist. It's not an urban myth. It's the kind of stuff that makes you want to change the channel, wait a few minutes, then check bad to see if the horror is gone. Not continue watching the show because you are entertained. Good day sir!!! I said good day!!!

As I said, it was basically a quote made to describe personal opinion. It was never intended to have the broad definition people attempt to give it now.


Someone may have X-Pac heat with one fan, but not with another.

[Matt Dunn]

Feb 26, 2009 4:36:13 GMT -5 The Summer of Muskrat XVII said:

Feb 26, 2009 4:17:58 GMT -5 Matt Dunn said:

We can argue X-Pac heat all day until we're blue in the face. People do respond when they are unhappy. They don't just boo because they are entertained. What about "boring" chants or "you f'd up", etc.

X-Pac did garner this kind of reaction from some fans while I'm sure he garnered some honest to God "he's such a fantastic heel" from other fans. It's a matter of taste. But it does exist. It's not an urban myth. It's the kind of stuff that makes you want to change the channel, wait a few minutes, then check bad to see if the horror is gone. Not continue watching the show because you are entertained. Good day sir!!! I said good day!!!

As I said, it was basically a quote made to describe personal opinion. It was never intended to have the broad definition people attempt to give it now.


Someone may have X-Pac heat with one fan, but not with another.

Gotcha!!!