Over the years, many retired professional wrestlers have been vocal about the art of improvising a match and how the skill became essential during the prime of their careers. It's been well documented that talent like John Cena and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin often favored calling matches in the ring, however, former WWE star AJ Styles claimed on"The Phenomenally Retro Podcast"thatit's become much more difficult to improvise a match in today's wrestling."I don't know that it could be done like that as welland as flawless as it was back then because it was so basic back then. I may get somebody ready to tear my headoff. Ric Flair may be calling me on the phone ...it becomes very hard that sometimes some ofthese moves that hey, if you're too far back, I can't get to you.So, we kind of got to go over this a little bit.And that's another thing that once you get to the ring, there will be some things where we'll rehearse. And by rehearse, we're not rehearsing the wrestling. We're not doing that.But we want to see what cameras are going to be in the position that we're doing a certain thing so we get the best shot on the finish."Today, many televised matches are often choreographed and practiced before a live broadcast in order to avoid any glaring mistakes, though many performers like Ric Flair or Andre The Giant were famously against the idea of rehearsing moves ahead of time.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Phenomenally Retro Podcast" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
