The face of getting over: Facial formidability informs expectations for the performance of male professional wrestlers.

The simulated nature of professional wrestling requires promoters to identify performers who appear capable of winning legitimate fights.This appearance may track ancestrally relevant morphological features from which perceivers accurately infer men's formidability.One feature through which perceivers infer men's formidability is their facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), which is diagnostic of men's actual fighting ability and connotes heightened aggression.This study considered how fWHR informs how professional wrestling fans evaluate the effectiveness of men in their performance.Participants evaluated the extent to which men appeared effective at utilizing various performance styles and how likely they would be to promote these men to the top positions in a company.High-fWHR men appeared most effective as brawlers and powerhouses but less effective in more technical performances compared to low-fWHR men.Formidability additionally tracked an interest in positioning men to be stars of a company.These results indicate how functional formidability inferences inform modern decision-making in simulated combat based on expectations of physical prowess.