As I've learned a little more about calling spots in the ring lately, I've gotten curious about how a match between two wrestlers without a common language works on a technical level. Anybody have any insight here? Without the ability to call a high spot to your opponent, are such matches always partially pre-planned, or are there some tricks of the trade to convey more involved information to your opponent?

I'm hardly an authority, but in the case of people I know who've worked Japan it's predominantly pre-planned. Also, a large percentage of moves are known by their English names (dropkick, clothesline, etc), you hardly need call a basic suplex etc, and the company will also assign their most bilingual referee where possible. In the cases of guys who worked Japan for years like a Hansen or Doc, I'd be amazed if they didn't pick up some Japanese where and when necessary and also that the natives would become very familiar with the guys' move-sets (and vice versa). But, yeah, for a one-off fly-in it's planned-out in advance.

From my buddies who have worked overseas. If it is your first time over they will usually have a bilingual referee with you and you will go through everything. Just about every move is known by it's english name so calling a match isn't difficult,

It is important to know the basic match before hand because there isn't a whole lot of communication that you can do during the match.

 

The rest is just being able to work a match. knowing how to bump and when and being easy to work with.

Thanks for the answers, guys. Nothing too unexpected, but its good to know for sure.

Thanks for the insight. This was something I wondered myself for years.

It's different now than it was years ago. As you were kept seperate from the natives, and besides the finish you just went out and worked. Now even the Japanese go over their matches more than they used to.