In Japan a tradition has been for newer wrestlers to be jobbing more often due to inexperience Japanese pro wrestling legend Kenta Kobashi lost his first 63 matches (in an intentional attempt by Giant Baba to build him as a "never say die" Determinator before his first win), and Naomichi Marufuji was mostly a jobber in All Japan Pro Wrestling before jumping to Pro Wrestling NOAH.
These wrestlers, otherwise known as "carpenters" or "enhancement talent," primarily serve to make the other wrestlers look that much better, by selling everything the other wrestler does as if they're dying.
Sometimes a local challenger would "steal" the title by refusing to job to the champion (such events would likely be with the blessing of the local promoter but not national sanctioning body), which for many years meant that the champion would always be somebody who can legitimately fight back against an uncooperative foe.Īs strange as it may seem sometimes, there is an entire class of pro wrestlers whose primary purpose in being on TV is to "do the job" on a regular basis. It rarely happens because the inevitable result would be getting fired. There have been times when a wrestler would refuse to "do the job" and would fight for real and defeat the guy who they were scheduled to lose to this is called "going into business for yourself." This occurred primarily in the early days of pro wrestling, which was done on a regional basis aside from the champion who'd travel across regions.
But they finish the match and let the other guy pin them as agreed, because that's part of the job. This is especially true if he's booked to lose in a championship match (because there's nowhere to go but down after losing a feud for the top championship) or get squashed. This terminology came about because losing the match tends to make the wrestler look worse, and could be a sign that the promotion is transitioning him into a less prominent role (in wrestling parlance, getting "buried").