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PROM101 - Introduction to promos

Hello everyone and welcome to this little introduction to the fabulous world of promos!

First things first: what is a promo?

A promo is a non-wrestling segment, usually involving wrestlers talking. It is used to promote yourself or to develop stories going on in the federation.

What's important to keep in mind is that a promo is just like a scene, or a short story. It needs to answer the 5 W's (Who, what, where, when, why)

Who: Obviously, this is who is in the promo. It can be only you, or you can be involved with one or numerous people if you need to.

Examples of solo promos: the promotion segments (these videos we see sometimes on WWE TV to brew the debut of a wrestler), interviews, in-ring segments, etc. Take note that the last two can easily be twisted to become interactive promos with other people by the way of interruption, or by having them in the settling at the same time.

What: What happens in your promo, what is your promo about? You're just going to talk the talk, there will be an interruption and a beat-up, a romantic scene at the beach with a Diva, what's going to make your promo interesting? It's important to have a guideline of what's going to happen or otherwise, it might end a little too sloppy.

Where: This is part of the settling, basically. Is it going to be an in-ring promo, with the entrance and such? Or it could easily be backstage, in a locker room, in the hallway, outside the arena, or even a satellite broadcast from your cottage in Atlantic City. Possibilities are infinite, as long as it's realistic.

When: There, the choice is easy: recorded or it happens between two matches. Can be the opening promo (the segment that starts the show), the closing promo (the segment that... ends the show, DAH! XD), or just between two matches like that. But in RP, it usually bothers more if it's an opening, closing or a prelude to your match, like an in-ring shoot about the guy you're about to face or something that happens right before the match. But we'll see that in another class.

Why: Out of the 5 W's, this one is the most important. If you can't answer this question, don't even bother writing the promo. You need to know the reason you make a promo. That it is to promote a storyline, promote yourself, just making a rant on a wrestler, for hilarity purpose, develop your character, you should know it and we should know it when we read the promo. A promo is just as good as its goal, keep that in mind.