The Go-Go Style

[stomperspc]

There is a fine line between a good fast match and the go-go style being described here. I think that fine line is mainly selling – both in terms of taking some time to sell in between big moves but perhaps more importantly not immediately shrugging off the impact once you go back on offense.

 

For example, the Guerrero vs. Benoit Nitro match from Oct. 95 is worked at a really fast pace and they cram a ton into a ten minute match. However, they take time to sell the impact of the big moves rather than continuously hopping right into the next spot. When they do go to the next spots, they also do a noticeably better job in projecting their general fatigue and impact from the previous moves than guys like Davey Richards or Kurt Angle do. You could turn on a typical Davey Richards match at a random spot in the match and not be able to tell what part of the match it is (beginning, middle or end), who has had the majority of the offense so far, or even who was just on offense 20 seconds ago.

 

For me that is the difference between a good fast paced match and one that is go-go style. One match feels like it is progressing (because of the selling) while the other match is moving 100 miles per hour but not getting anywhere.

 

In addition to the guys already mentioned, most everyone in current ROH works the Go-Go style more often than not.

[ohtani's jacket]

Sprint = short go-go style match. I'd say under 10 minutes you can consider it a sprint if they work a go-go style.

Maybe, but there are a lot of shoot style sprints that I don't know if I'd classify as go-go. Or maybe they're high quality go-go matches.

[JerryvonKramer]

I'd honestly like people to use Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (1/28/86) as an interesting test case.

 

-It's a match to which Meltzer gave 5 stars that finished top 5 in the All Japan 80s set rankings.

-It's a 30-minute match worked like a sprint and doesn't slow down.

-The offense seldom lets up.

-Massive bombs are sometimes worked like transitional moves.

-Everyone loves this match.

 

Would would be great is if we could get someone to do a blow-by-blow account of what exonerates that match from the charges made against Angle or The Steiners maybe with a test case for one of them.

[NintendoLogic]

I just skimmed through the match, and I don't think Jerry's description is accurate. For one thing, it isn't close to 30 minutes. Beyond that, there's plenty of slow spots in the form of working holds and lying around selling. Hell, Choshu spends the whole match selling his ribs. And I didn't see any massive bombs that weren't treated and sold like massive bombs.

[S.L.L.]

I could swear I've seen "go-go-go" used in positive contexts by people who usually deride the style - possibly including myself - though concrete examples aren't jumping at me right now. But yeah, I thought it was a descriptive term rather than a judgmental one, it just happens that a lot of the worst wrestlers of the last decade or so work that style, so it has negative connotations attached to it.

[Matt D]

I also think that many positive uses of go-go-go are for discussing not an entire match but a portion of a match, like a rope running segment during a shine before things settle down.

[JerryvonKramer]

NL - as WTBBP listeners will attest, time estimation is not my strongest suit.

 

I guess the epic feel of that match made it seem longer in my memory. I was totally blown away by it though and my memory of it was being "go go", maybe it's not and only seemed that way coming out of the slower style of 80-5 AJ, I dunno.

[Childs]

It's not just you; I've seen Choshu described as a go-go-go worker in several places over the years. I guess the idea is that, compared to Japanese main eventers of the past, he preferred working an intense 15 minutes to a slow-building 30. While that's true, he's not what I think of as a go-go-go worker. He didn't try to cram a ton of shit into his big matches or blow past what should have been key moments. Quite the opposite. Toyota epitomizes the go-go-go worker to me. She fetishized relentless pace and offensive stamina. But there have been a ton of others, including whole promotions such as Dragon Gate and PWG.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Belinda Carisle is a total fox.

 

Just like any genre of music, movie or what have-you there is going to be good Go-Go matches and bad Go-Go matches. The style seems to be derided here because there has been a backlash against 21st century wrestling and how it grew out of 1990s wrestling. It evolved in a way that accentuated that offense, high-risks and highspots is all fans cared about thus lets cram more of that shit in and have less "filler". All killer, no filler so to speak. I agree this style well done over 30 minutes kind of blends together throughout the match and leaves you in sort of haze of inane big spots. I watched some Angle recently against one of my favorite 21st Century workers, AJ Styles. The problem is not so much the pace, but how they transition. There is no struggle in the transitions. The transitions feel arbitrary and very video game-esque. Like I finally mashed "Square" enough to break my brother's grapple and now I get to be on offense rather than an organic flow through the match. I like matches with struggle, the sense that two people are competing for a victory rather than competing to pop the crowd. In TNA, moves are over, in what I like, wrestlers are over. In the Go-Go matches can have a sense of struggle, but the ones bereft of that subject tended to be deemed with this pejorative as opposed to the ones well-done, which are just heralded as great matches. End of the day like most everything, it comes down to execution some people just execute this style better and others use it as a crutch so as to not have to think too much.

[Ditch]

Sleeze nails it: transitions and struggle are key. I'll add that a hallmark of go-go matches is one guy going out of his way to set up the opponent's next move in lieu of anything remotely logical. Choshu/Yatsu vs Jumbo/Tenryu has tons of struggle.

 

Prince Devitt's countless junior title matches lack anything resembling story, intensity, or struggle. They aren't as "epic" as Angle and Davey Richards standard fare, but the flaws are the same.

[jdw]

I love the Go-Gos as much as the next guy but we've entered into Pro Wrestling Not At All land.

 

Though if John wants to write up the Go-Gos break up as a Barber Shop Windowesque heel turn, I'd read it.

I can't even remember who the heel was in the break up. Something makes me recall that Jane was kind of bitchy in it.

 

Styx was always the better break up.

[jdw]

It's not just you; I've seen Choshu described as a go-go-go worker in several places over the years. I guess the idea is that, compared to Japanese main eventers of the past, he preferred working an intense 15 minutes to a slow-building 30. While that's true, he's not what I think of as a go-go-go worker. He didn't try to cram a ton of shit into his big matches or blow past what should have been key moments. Quite the opposite.

I always thought the Choshu go-go stuff was pretty funny. He loved to grab chinlocks and leg scissors, even when working 15 minutes matches. No saying he was lazy, but it was as funny as "Flair and Brody went 60 and never grabbed a hold" nonsense to the point you wonder if people were actually watching what they claimed they were watching. I'd get that now with people checking their cellphones and texting, taking their attention away from the ring. But back then... yeah.

 

Kobashi at a certain point was a heavyweight equiv of go-go, before Angle. Moves, strikes, big moves, big spots, the only breathing room in the match being when they were down and out selling something big.

[Jimmy Redman]

The transitions feel arbitrary and very video game-esque. Like I finally mashed "Square" enough to break my brother's grapple and now I get to be on offense rather than an organic flow through the match. I like matches with struggle, the sense that two people are competing for a victory rather than competing to pop the crowd.

This is an excellent analogy that I'm amazed I never thought of before. It describes Angle's style of match perfectly.

[MikeCampbell]

I've always considered "go-go-go" to be a style where the only concern amongst the wrestlers is to kick out whatever bombs and big spots they have, without any regard for telling a story or making the moves really seem to matter at all. Like Will and others already mentioned, Angle at his worst, Kobashi at his worst, Davey Richards, etc.

 

I remember a few years back, when a friend of mine stumbled onto Dragon Gate, and thought they were the greatest matches he'd ever seen. And when I wasn't impressed, he just thought I was being an ass. Well, about six months later, after seeing that every one of those "amazing" trios matches is worked more or less the same way, he understood why I wasn't so high on them.

[Death From Above]

Go-go-go actually works just fine in the correct context. I've never had a problem per se with "wow this is very athletic and makes no sense" so long as it doesn't go on much too long. I wouldn't say RVD or Manami Toyota are among my personal favourites, but both have done stuff that makes me go wow.

 

The problem is most wrestlers doing it haven't apparently played enough Street Fighter II or Marvel vs Capcom to understand how to make "getting all the fancy shit in" as interesting as that makes it. Not even trying to be cute there either. Fighting video games are almost all a go-go-go style built around showing you as many goofy things as possible in 3 minutes or less, and have successfully entertained millions.

[Kevin Ridge]

Thanks Sleeze, you put it in great terms using videos games. The mid 90's WWF wrestling games were big on two button smashing. One of my friends was really good on that stuff. But when the newer systems with more buttons on controllers that encouraged timing and skill more the dude was completely lost playing the games.

[goc]

My definition of Go-Go style would be the "hurry up and stop selling so we can get to our next spot" mentality. Kurt Angle is a prime example of this, since he even got into a backstage argument with Eddie Guerrero about Eddie selling for too long.