Wrestling and Improv

I recently got The Best of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla because of its superb value for money. It's set me off on a quest to see as much PWG as I possibly can.

I recently got my hands on Roger Dorn Night, a show worth buying, if not for the wrestling, then just to see the greatest promo of all time.

You may or may not know that I perform improv comedy with ComedySportz. One of the first things you learn in improv is "Yes and...". The principle of agreeing to what's offered, and then adding to it. Wrestling matches tend to be full of "yes and-ing", but it's not very often that you'll see a pre-scripted promo getting interrupted and the wrestler doing a "yes and" on the mic.

After the main event of Roger Dorn Night (a Four-way match for the PWG title between El Generico (c), Bryan Danielson, Kevin Steen and Davey Richards), Steen cuts a promo in which he challenges Richards to a no.1 contender's match.

Except things don't really go as planned...



The second plane is where the gold is at. As soon as Steen snapped, I was hoping that he'd let me mark out by using my favourite pro wrestling cliché - "Southwest - I'M CALLING YOU OUT!".

Not letting it disrupt the purpose of the promo, Steen gets right back into it and continues to challenge Richards on the basis that he may as well challenge him while he waits for a reply from Southwest Airlines.

Absolutely fantastic, and a classic example of "Yes and".