In professional wrestling terminology a work is anything that is planned or agreed on in advance, usually as a trick on the audience.

Specifically:

  • Scripted and staged rivalry between wrestlers, or other promotion-enhancing instances of high drama.
  • Any rigged wrestling match in which the winner is predetermined and the fighting is choreographed. The opposite of a shoot.
  • The parts of a match that are dedicated to active fighting, as opposed to restholds or lying around in a supposedly dazed state. The ratio of work-to-rest is referred to as workrate.