In professional wrestling, a push is an attempt by the booker to make the wrestler win more matches and become more popular or more reviled with the fans depending on whether they are a heel or a face. A push can also be based on a single major win against a major star (for example, Shelton Benjamin’s 2004 winning streak over Triple H), and it is not uncommon for a push to be accompanied by a turn or a change in the wrestler’s gimmick. Pushing is usually done for new wrestlers. This is essentially the opposite of a bury (or depush), which in contrast to the high profile of a push is typically done with little or no fanfare. Sometimes the fans generate the push for a wrestler themselves when their approval for the wrestler’s work generates a positive reaction from them that is not anticipated. A push can also be attributed to a political shift in the promotion’s offices. Cowboy Bill Watts, whose promotions always consisted of an African-American main event babyface, began pushing Ron Simmons, a midcarder, to main event status and eventually to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship upon being put in charge of World Championship Wrestling. In WWE, following the fallout from the Signature Pharmacy Scandal, smaller and less muscular wrestlers such as CM Punk and Jeff Hardy began to get pushed and Vince McMahon confirmed the paradigm shift by mentioning that today’s fans are drawn by charisma and not size.
