On April 2nd, four WWE wrestlers will join one of the internet’s most popular tabletop role-playing game shows, Dimension 20, for a wrestling-themed Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign. “Titan Takedown” will see Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Bayley, and Chelsea Green play warriors in a story inspired by pro wrestling and ancient Greece.
It’s the latest instance of wrestlers sharing their love of D&D. Woods has played D&D on his YouTube channel, UpUpDownDown, and on well-known D&D streams.
Brandon Cutler introduced various AEW wrestlers to the game on Critical Botch. The group Top Rope Top Table sees indy wrestlers sharing their game with fans.
The trailer sees all four wrestlers having a blast with renowned Dungeon Master Brendan Lee Mulligan. And why wouldn’t they?
D&D and tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) are an awesome collective experience enjoyed by a diverse range of folks. Search up the famous faces who play D&D and you’ll find Paul Wight and The Rock amongst them.
There’s a lot to gain from playing TTRPGs and so much of it crosses over with wrestling. For brevity, here are the five biggest similarities. Roll initiative.
1. Kayfabe and Collaboration
Whether we’re sitting down on the sofa, table, or laptop to watch wrestling or play, we all agree to a lie. Rear, wrestling and TTRPGs are fictional. Yet, that doesn’t matter.
We suspend our disbelief. We collectively agree to buy into the fantasy and the theatre.
D&D more than wrestling will always involve more theatre of the mind. Even with maps, models, and scenery, we still need our brains to fill in the blanks and enjoy the stories. In both cases, it’s real to us.
Having a character die can hit as hard as seeing a wrestler’s career end. A character’s resurrection can feel as meaningful as a huge return.
Through TTRPGs, we don’t just watch but play out the experience through our characters. We are emotionally invested.
Plus, both are collaborative processes. Wrestlers work together to tell stories. So do the players in a TTRPG with the DM, like the wrestling booker/promoter, structuring the stories and events.
Each responds to developments with their own creativity, playing off each other. Yet, sometimes, like wrestling’s backstage drama, this leads to headbutting.
2. Collaborative Conflict
Personality clashes, fallout, and nightmare creative decisions aren’t exclusive to wrestling. TTRPGs can be tumultuous too. Scroll through the Reddit communities dedicated to TTRPG horror stories.
Some stories of D&D interpersonal drama could rival locker room fallouts. In both, miscommunications, unspoken expectations, and crossing personal boundaries spoil the fun.
A wrestler might “shoot” or “go into business for themselves” against other wrestlers or the booking with the aim of protecting their character. The same can happen with players/DMs who make decisions because they want events to go their way.
Some players want to be the hero and remain strong at the expense of others. Like Hulk Hogan, they must pose. In doing so, they may antagonize other players.
Some DMs make decisions that take away players’ agency and ignore personal boundaries in favor of telling a story their way. At worst, perhaps comparable to some wrestling bookers, DMs can make the game about themselves, booking themselves as the star at the expense of their players.
In both cases, fights over the creative vision. Friction can mess up everyone’s ability to tell and enjoy the fiction.
3. Creative and Dynamic Storytelling
A TTRPG campaign, a series of sessions that lead to a climax and the story’s end, can mirror wrestling build. Sessions are episodic with peaks and dips leading to the blow-off – almost like a PLE/PPV cycle, Although sometimes longer. Some campaigns go on for years.
Session by session, like weekly TV, there are combats (matches), side-quests, interactions with others (NPCs), and roadblocks. The story and characters develop over time. The stakes can be high.
Wrestling often feels like the world might end if someone loses. Facing the final boss is equivalent to WrestleMania, only losing means the world might end.
Like wrestling, it’s often about those moments in between moves and matches that grab us. Changes occur week by week. Like rolling a dice, luck is involved.
Some creative choices and decisions pay off. Sometimes there’s a Nat 20, and everything goes perfectly. Sometimes, you roll a Nat 1. Everything fails and falls apart.
In both, things don’t always stick to the script. Improv and reactiveness are key. The story never stays static.
Characters and events are always changing. How the story is told can vary. It can be cliched or subverted.
Essentially…
4. More Than One Way to Tell a Story
Rife with tribalism and gatekeeping, some fans claim there is a “correct” way wrestling should be done. In D&D, a similar mindset exists where for the same reasons, fan preference, pre-conceptions, and lack of wider exposure can lead some players to expect games to fit the set of narrow traditional perimeters.
In the TTRPG community, we have a term for this named after the amazing DM of Critical Role, a D&D web show perhaps comparable to WWE in terms of popularity and prominence. The Matt Mercer Effect refers to the pre-conceived expectations that some players and/or DMs have that D&D should be played and follow the template set by Critical Role. It’s reflective of WWE fans expecting all wrestling to be akin to their preferences.
Those involved in TTRPGs, like Matt Mercer, and many wrestlers on social media, rebuff this restrictive outlook on the art form online. Creativity isn’t limited by expectations. Like wrestling, TTRPG games subvert them.
It can be comic, realistic, sci-fi, or horror-based. It can be varied and appeal to different audiences.
5. Makes Our Lives Better
In distinct ways, both have changed mine and others lives for the better. Both offer more than escapism and community. They have helped me become a better person.
TTRPGs can be learning tools. Playing can help critical thinking, self-confidence, mental health, personal development, general life, and communication skills. As someone who taught kids and adults to play D&D, it’s not hyperbole to say the games change us.
Teaching, I have seen students with special educational needs apply the lessons learned in D&D to their real lives. It is not an exaggeration to say TTRPGs can help players find and explore their identity. Thom James Carter’s They Came to Slay explores how D&D’s shaped and can help the LGBT community.
The same is true of wrestling. Our fandom impacts us, in small days and in everyday life. For good and bad, it’s taught me a lot.
As a teen, being a fan of Ashley Massaro helped my slow progression towards feminism. AEW’s portrayal of modern masculinity has helped male fans feel comfortable in their skin. Violence, for some, will remain controversial, and yet it can replicate Shakespearian storytelling.
Despite the stereotype, wrestling, and TTRPGs can be intellectual and thought-provoking. Both involve individual and collective rituals that can at times feel spiritual. They give our lives meaning and fulfillment.
And if you’re interested in trying TTRPGs, there are several wrestling ones out there.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
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