Technician Versus Performer / Professional Wrestling

• There are countless wrestlers of each type, and just as many arguments about them. Some examples:
  • Technicians: Dean Malenko, Shelton Benjamin, William Regal, Lance Storm, Claudio Castagnoli, Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. Startling degree of talent, wide knowledge of moves and countermoves, but never really caught on with the casual fans at-large.
  • Performer: The ur-example here is probably Hulk Hogan. Never the most versatile worker, Hogan knew how to put on a show and the fans adored him. Although he did put real technical matches in Japan, no one was equating him to Owen Hart or Ken Shamrock. More modern examples would be Jake Roberts, Mick Foley, The Rock, Triple H (great psychology but his technical skill is a much shilled informed ability), The Undertaker (who can pull off some amazing stunts when it's called for), Kane (same as The Undertaker), Goldberg, Kevin Nash (limited in the ring, but oozed cool and could hypnotize audiences on the mic), Booker T (his ring work was far from bad, but it was mostly his charisma that got him over), Diamond Dallas Page (same as Booker T) and John Cena. Comedy wrestlers, like The Honky Tonk Man and Santino Marella (amusingly enough, the guy has extensive MMA training, and was a fighter in Japan), fit here also.
  • There are the rare wrestlers who bridge the gap, and they are usually regarded among the elites: Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Sting, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr., Asuka, Adam Cole, Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, Shinsuke Nakamura and CM Punk come to mind immediately.
  • "Stunning"/"Stone Cold" Steve Austin was both at different points of his career: As one-half of the Hollywood Blondes in WCW, he was known as a good technical wrestler and remained that way until he was injured by Owen Hart in 1997. Then he became a brawler.
  • The same could be said for Scott Steiner. He was a technician up until the late 90s when age, injuries and his overmuscled physique was beginning to take its toll on his ring work, so he transitioned into a performer better known for his angry, yet unintentionally hilarious promos.
  • The Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels rivalry is arguably the quintessential example. You can practically rename this trope "Excellence of Execution vs The Showstopper". Early in The New '20s it became en vogue for up-and-coming wrestlers to describe themselves as either "Bret guys" or "Shawn guys".
  • The more calm and calculated Jerry Lynn vs. the more intense and high-flying Rob Van Dam.
  • Matt Hardy (technician) vs Jeff Hardy (high-flying performer), two brothers who were mostly known for being a tag team, so they complemented each other more often than not. While Jeff was initially the bigger star with his insane moves and good looks, as they got older, Matt developed stronger promo/performing skills and got massively over as 'Broken' Matt Hardy, while Jeff has not evolved as much.
  • Low Ki, Homicide and Samoa Joe as the technicians vs performers Special K in Ring of Honor, though Ki and Cide did have some flash associated with performers both were technically sound, well rounded athletes who worked in the ultra stiff promotions of Japan while K were rave kids who...did a lot of flips. Hydro would later become Pure Division technician Jay Lethal, but always held onto some of his performer traits.
  • Later, performers The Young Bucks vs. comparable technicians The Briscoes, and later still, the Bucks vs. even more heavily contrasted technicians reDRagon. The Briscoes were twist-your-arm, smash-your-mouth wrestlers, and although Mark did sometimes dabble into his flippy redneck kung-fu, it was tame compared to the heavy use of flips and super kicks the Bucks were known for. reDRagon's premise was Muay Thai fighter Bobby Fish complemented by the mixed martial arts of Kyle O'Reilly, making them as technical as it gets.
  • The Bucks' long-running cold-war 'rivalry' with FTR (they never met in-ring and only traded barbs online for years) can also be counted as this, where the Bucks are high-flying Spot Monkeys, FTR are old-school technical wrestlers. Their eventual confrontation over the AEW Tag Championships at Full Gear 2020 was deliberately framed as a clash of styles and philosophies as much as a clash of men, and Cash Wheeler actually lost the match for his team when he went against their philosophy by going for a 450 splash to mock the Bucks and missed.
  • Daniel Bryan and The Miz's feud over the WWE United States Heavyweight Championship - Bryan widely considered the flat-out best in-ring technician in North America (winning The Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Awards for "Best Technical Wrestler" nine years in a row^note At which point it was named the Bryan Danielson Award, he's since won his own award twice more (in 2021 and 2022), giving him 11 in total. The winner, "Most Outstanding Wrestler" five years in a row) pitted against The Miz, a charismatic heel who got his start on reality shows.
• The oldest and longest continually operating wrestling promotion in the world, EMLL turned CMLL, has been the technician to all of its national rivals, most obviously Lucha Libre Internacional/Universal Wrestling Association and AAA. Its reluctance to feature Gimmick Matches and blood, adherence to multiple weight classes as well as a tendency to push mat technique or athleticism first make it the technician to all but a few promotions in the world but LLI and AAA also tended to have far more outlandish angles, grandiose presentations and sometimes changed the very ring itself compliment more visually impressive styles.
• Zigzagged with the two JWA breakaways All Japan and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. All Japan tended to have a much more realistic, formal presentation with more grounded angles and gimmicks. New Japan had sillier happenings and more relaxed about things such as competitive division but tended to focus more on stiff striking, complex mat strategies and practical submission holds over the large power wrestlers that were All Japan's favorites. Played straight with two of their breakaways, Pro Wrestling NOAH from All Japan and Pro Wrestling ZERO1 from New Japan, as the latter's shows not only carried over the more relaxed atmosphere but were often just bizarre.
• Since its founding, the locker room of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was heavily divided between two factions, the "shooters" (most prominently, former boxer Rumi Kazama) and "entertainers" (most prominently Jackie Sato of The Beauty Pair fame), which split the company in two by 1992, the "shooters" going on to found Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling (which became LLPWX) and the "entertainers" continuing the brand legacy with JWP Project (which was then succeeded by JWP Joshi Puroresu, which was then succeeded by Pure J). Tellingly, LLPW's leadership went to judoka and mixed martial arts crossover star Shinobu Kandori(who in fact beat Sato into retirement and left pro wrestling for five years until LLPW's establishment) while JWP's went to the body building Non-Ironic Clown Command Bolshoi.
• In an interview, Ricky Steamboat favored his matches with Ric Flair (with whom he could improvise for 20 minutes and tear down the house with) vs. his critically acclaimed match with Randy Savage (who planned and rehearsed their match right down to the smallest detail, even randomly quizzing Steamboat in the weeks leading up to the event).
• In the Divas division, WWE was long notorious for pushing performers (Sable, Miss Kitty, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, Kelly Kelly) over technicians (Jacqueline, Molly Holly, Jazz, Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix, Natalya). Ivory, Mickie James and Victoria are examples of ones who could go both ways.
• Similarly we had WCW (technician) vs. WWF (performer) rivalry, epitomized by the two companies' top stars, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan respectively. Some even blame WWE's reluctance (from at least the mid 1990s) to use the phrase "Professional Wrestling" on this trope.
• During the brand extension era, the two main WWE shows — RAW and SmackDown — were based on this dichotomy, with RAW putting more emphasis on storyline and spectacle while SmackDown was seen as the "wrestling" show. Ironically for the women, it was the other way around: RAW was the wrestling show where the Women's title was defended and the majority of wrestlers ended up; SmackDown meanwhile had less women, and those it did have were used for Fanservice. As of 2016, with the brand split re-instated, it has fallen back into the old divide of SmackDown being a wrestling show and RAW focusing primarily on entertainment; this time, however, both shows have been treating the women in their respective rosters as legitimate wrestlers.
• One of WWE's most common tactics is to pair up two less-than-over midcarders in a Tag Team; one highly skilled on the mic but with mediocre in-ring ability, and one with great wrestling skills but deficient in character or charisma; so they can conceal each other's weaknesses. One will work the crowd, while the other will do most of the heavy lifting in the ring.
• Gateway Championship Wrestling had upstart technicians Delirious and Daizee Haze against veteran performers Matt Sydal and MsChif. Granted, these were relative cases. Delirious may have been an excellent mat technician with some brawling tendencies but he also wore a mask, constantly babbled and ran around erratically. He was merely the technician because Matt Sydal was an intention announcing acrobatic high flier whose main reason for being a wrestler was to sell shirts. MsChif was well versed in submission holds and counters. She was the performer because she was also a loud mouth prone to excessive and often illegal maneuvers while Daizee Haze focused more on moves that ended matches.
• Veteran evil foreign technician American Angel vs recently arrived Funny Foreigner performer Xstasis in LLF. Averted when the Dangerous Angels fought the Canadian Ninjas, where Nicole Matthew's often forgotten mat technique contrasts Portia Perez's "power".
• Homicide may have been the technician when he and Low Ki fought Special K, and in fact was probably the technician vs Colt Cabana, and in a dual technician's feud with Steve Corino, he and Low Ki being in another case against Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal, to show the latter's growth...but he was the definite performer contrasted to Bryan Danielson. In their first feud Homicide knew he was the inferior technical wrestler and thus decided stabbing Danielson, should the opportunity present itself would be perfectly valid. In their second feud when Homicide was the face it instead became the question of how the performer would find a way to best the superior technician... though fans were perfectly fine with the prospect of Danielson being stabbed after he paid someone to break Homicide's arms.
• After the fact that EVOLVE didn't have the Dragon Gate roster, this was the most noticeable difference between it and DG USA, in the beginning anyway. EVOLVE had much more strict rules and was more strict about enforcing them, a rigid ranking system as well as an emphasis on technical wrestling and contrasts of wrestling styles. DG USA was far more relaxed about who could face who, penalties for breaking rules and what even constituted breaking rules in the first place, which a stronger focus on fast paced action between multiple competitors and the faction wars associated with Dragon Gate in general. This largely came to an end as power stables from FIP and DG USA (particularly the Premier Athlete Brand) increasingly made their presence felt on EVOLVE shows and were increasingly not punished for it.
• The dance-offs between Summer Rae and Emma, with Summer (Fandango's long-time dance partner) as the technician and Emma (a Cloud Cuckoolander) as the performer.
• The Four Horsewomen of NXT became notable partly because they were able to merge these two tropes. Charlotte and Bayley were more performers when they started - emphasis on their gimmicks - but worked hard to really improve their wrestling. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch meanwhile started out as technicians who were solid in the ring but lacked character - only to develop gimmicks of their own and connect with crowds.
• Behind the scenes, the Bella Twins commented on merging these two tropes when they were training with Natalya Neidhart in developmental. Nattie was the Technician who helped them with their wrestling. They meanwhile were the Performers, who helped her do "the Diva thing".
• Subverted with the feuds between The Kingdom, Bullet Club, Search & Destroy and The Rebellion. The latter two formed in response to the former two, Alex Shelley seeing if it wasn't possible to steer younger wrestlers back to the wrestling and code ROH had been established on while The Rebellion rose from a campaign that could be summarized as "No More Super Kick!" But not only were Kingdom and Bullet Club traditional enemies, The Rebellion thought the younger wrestlers Search & Destroy was catering to were part of the problem, leading Shane Taylor to purposefully put Lio Rush and Donovan Dijak out of ROH. In turn Search & Destroy dismantled The Rebellion with a passion they never brought against Kingdom or the Club.
• Team Australia vs Trifecta in SHIMMER. While Kellie Skater and Shazza McKenzie have been hailed for their mat work, on a SHIMMER card it's their showboating, goofiness and energy that makes them stand out. Meanwhile Mercedes Martinez has always been a pretty straightforward wrestler, and while she got more vocal over the years she also became less concerned about showing what she could do if a quick win was possible. Nicole Savoy was a suplex enthusiast at first, but when that didn't get her many SHIMMER wins she became a jujitsu fanatic. And Shayna Baszler was determined to return pro wrestling to its "catch" roots(breaking bodies whenever possible). Madison Eagles could have swung the Aussie pendulum to "technician" but seemed uninterested in formally taking Jessie McKay's place and "Ninja Kangaroo" McKay already solidified their performer reputation.
• Celtic Championship Wrestling put Xavier Burns - a tactical heel - versus Ricky Combat - a brawling babyface. Out of universe however it was the other way around - with Xavier having the over-the-top character and Ricky being an expert in Wrestling Psychology.
• One of the earliest examples would probably be Lou Thesz vs Gorgeous George. George was one of the several "world champions" who Thesz defeated on his way to unifying every championship under the National Wrestling Alliance. Thesz is considered one of the granddaddies of technical wrestling, which George was arguably the very first wrestler to get over with his gimmick and showmanship rather than his athletic prowess.
• Kazuchika Okada, one of the greatest modern Aces of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, is considered the technician to his biggest rivals, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and Kenny Omega.
• In All Elite Wrestling, this was the basis of the feud between the Blackpool Combat Club (pure wrestlers originally led by William Regal) and the Jericho Appreciation Society (self-proclaimed sports entertainers led by Chris Jericho).