How to Follow Wrestling Week to Week

Wrestling is built for weekly habits. Stories are told in instalments, and the fun is in following them as they unfold. If you're not sure how to keep up without it taking over your life, here's a simple approach.

The weekly rhythm

Most promotions run one or more weekly shows on a regular night. Those shows develop the stories: matches are made, rivals clash, and something happens that the next show picks up. Once a month or so, a premium live event pays off the biggest stories. That rhythm, weekly build then monthly payoff, is the same across most major promotions. The weekly TV schedule shows what's on over the next seven days, and the events page shows the bigger shows coming up.

You don't have to watch everything

A promotion can put out six or more hours of television a week, which is a lot. Many fans follow in layers:

• Casual: watch the premium live events, and read a quick recap of the weekly show leading up to each.
• Regular: watch the main weekly show from your favourite promotion, and the premium events.
• Dedicated: follow several promotions, including Japanese or Mexican ones, and keep up with news and podcasts.

Catching up

• Headlines: Wrestl's Headlines page gathers stories from across the wrestling press in one feed, and every story links to the outlet that reported it. The In the news strip at the top shows what several outlets are covering at once.
• Results and cards: each event page lists the match card, and results appear after the show.
• Podcasts: the Listen page has episodes from the major wrestling podcasts, including post-show reviews that are good for catching up.
• Champions: the Champions page tells you who holds each title, which is a quick way to see what's changed.

Spoilers

Wrestling results travel fast, especially for events in different time zones. If you want to watch something without knowing the outcome, mute keywords on social media and avoid headline pages until you've watched. If you're only after the result, that's what the news feed is for.

Making it social

A lot of the enjoyment of wrestling comes from sharing it. Rate the shows you watch on the Rate page, see how your score compares to other fans', and use the glossary when you want to talk the language. The Wrestl Android app brings the same headlines, ratings, champions and schedule to your phone, with optional alerts for new champions and when a big show is ready to rate.