Why, How, What: How to Write a Wrestling Promo That Doesn't Sound Like an Ad

I spent twenty years pitching ideas to big brands before I ever stepped into a wrestling ring (and i still do). Now I'm Chakao, an art director and a wrestler, and I've believe that the same framework I used to sell ideas to executives works just as well on the mic.

That framework isn't something I invented. It comes from Simon Sinek's book Start With Why, and once you understand why it works on a boardroom, it's easy to see why it works in a wrestling ring too.

Why Most Wrestling Promos Fail

Most promos fail because they sound like an ad. And people skip ads.

You've heard the version I mean: "This Sunday, in the ring, we're gonna fight."

Sure. Everyone already knows the match is happening. By the time the promo gets to the part that's supposed to be exciting, half the audience has already scrolled past.

What actually grabs people isn't the announcement of a fight. It's the reason behind it.

THE WHY

The Golden Circle

Sinek's core idea is what he calls the Golden Circle: three layers, Why on the inside, How in the middle, What on the outside. Most people and most brands communicate from the outside in. They lead with what they do, then how they do it, and the why (if it comes up at all) gets mentioned last, almost as an afterthought.

Sinek's argument is that the people and organizations who inspire the most loyalty do the opposite. They start from the inside out. Why first.

That's the whole reversal this promo framework is built on.

Why the Order Actually Matters

Sinek's argument for the Golden Circle isn't just structural, it's biological. He connects the three layers to how the brain is built. The outer layers, What and How, correspond to the part of the brain responsible for rational, analytical thought. The inner layer, Why, corresponds to the part responsible for feeling and decision-making.

That's the part worth sitting with: people don't make decisions by reasoning through a list of facts. They decide based on how something makes them feel, and they use the facts afterward to justify the decision they already made. A promo that leads with What (the date, the venue, the stipulation) is talking to the wrong part of the brain first. A promo that leads with Why talks to the part of the brain that actually decides whether to care.

Applying It: Why, How, What

There's an order to this, and getting it right is what separates a promo people remember from one they scroll past.

Why. How. What.

Get that sequence right, and no promo you write will ever feel flat again.

The Why

The why comes from your past. It's whatever put you in this rivalry in the first place, something already established through storytelling, not invented on the spot. You use it to tell the audience the actual reason behind your fight, and it's what makes people feel something about the match before it even happens.

Sinek makes a similar point about the source of a why: it isn't a slogan you write in a meeting. It's something that already exists, usually rooted in an origin, a founder's story, a company's earliest days, a person's history. The job isn't to invent a why. It's to find the one that's already there and say it clearly.

The How

The how is what you're going to do about it. Think of it as your tactical map: the obstacles in front of you, and the way you plan to get through them.

There's a rule from creative writing that applies to write a good promo; never connect your ideas with "and." Connect them with "therefore."

Compare these two lines:

"I've been training hard, and I'll face my opponent."

"I've been training hard, therefore, I'm ready to face him."

The first is a list of two facts sitting next to each other. The second is a consequence, one thing causing the next. That's how wrestling works too, everything is a consequence of what came before it. Your how isn't a random list of things you'll do in the ring. It's what your why demands of you.

The What

The what is the payoff. It's what the audience expects once they've already believed your why and already trust your how.

This is the moment a match stops being just a match and starts causing an actual reaction. Spectacular moves hit harder when the audience already knows why you're doing them. They believe your plan, and now they're waiting (genuinely anxious) to see how it plays out.

The Test for Whether It's Working

Sinek describes something he calls the Celery Test: when you know your why clearly enough, you can tell instantly which decisions belong on your grocery list and which don't, even if the ones that don't belong sound good on their own.

The promo version of that test is simple. Before you write a line, ask whether it serves your why or just sounds cool on its own. A sharp insult or a clever line that has nothing to do with the reason you're actually in the fight is the promo equivalent of an item that doesn't belong on the list. It might get a reaction in the moment, but it won't build the kind of investment that makes people come back for the what.

Why. How. What.

Get that order right, and your promo stops sounding like an ad. It starts sounding like a reason to watch.