Wrestling Definitions

This was an entry I had previously did a couple of times on Sporting News as well as on our old BWE Promotions site. This entry is for those who haven't seen this or that are not familar with these wrestling terms. Some are easily defined while others are not. Get ready for a real crash course of wrestling terms! This is not in any order, so be aware of that. Also, Paul H and myself will use these words quite often for our new readers of BWE and EBW, so this helps you understand what they mean when we use them. Here we go......

FACE or BABYFACE: A good guy that the crowd rallies behind.

HEEL: A bad guy that the crowd dislikes.

TWEENER: A wrester that is neither a face or a heel. They will get cheered or booed depending on who they are facing during a match or angle.

BOOKER: The person responsible for writing the storylines and angles. They are usually the ones who decides which wrestlers are thrown into certain angles as well as who gets pushed or buried.

PROMOTER: The person who runs the wrestling company. The promoter is usually responsible for taking the promotion to certain cities as well as booking events in them in order to sell tickets and increase revenue.

MARK: A wrestling fan who believes that everything they see is real and is not informed about what happens behind the scenes.

SMARK or SMART MARK: One who is very informed about the business, and knows what is going on behind the scenes.

STABLE: A group or team of wrestlers working together in a storyline.

POP: Basically means a sudden crowd reaction. Former WWE star Mick Foley was notorious for providing "cheap pops" when he would comment that he was thrilled to be "right here in(name of the city). So when you see the term "Huge Face POP" that means the crowd is suddenly cheering. "Huge Heel POP" means the crowd is suddenly booing or jeering.

HEAT: The constant reaction of the crowd . Alot of times, heels use insults on a certain city or town they are visiting in order to get the crowds reacting to them for an entire event. Faces will use opposite tactics a lot of times in order to get heat from the crowds. The bookers almost always push the wrestlers who receive the most heat whether it is a face or a heel.

OVER: Basically means that the crowd cares about that wrestler by either cheering or booing him/her. To be over means to be popular with fans, but is not limited to just faces. Triple H is one of the best in the business at getting a crowd over or to care about him no matter what side he is on. Getting the crowd to care about you is the most important thing in wrestling.

GIMMICK: A wrestler's character that seperates them from other wrestlers. These very drastically, and can make a career or kill it.

GIMMICK MATCH: A non-typical singles or tag team match. Cage matches, ladder matches, or battle royals are examples of this.

BLADE: The object used to induce blood which is usually from the forehead.

BLADEJOB: The method that wrestlers use to induce blood during an angle or match. Some have had blades in their wrist tape or in their trunks while some have even been rumored to have them in their mouth during a match! This helps to build drama in a match or storyline. The forehead is often used as a place on wrestler's head to draw blood because it doesn't have major arteries or veins on it.

ANGLE: A wrestling "plot". The reason behind a feud or a turn from face to heel or vice versa.

GREEN: A wrestler who is not a good performer because of being inexperienced.

BUMP: A wrestler selling a move that requires him/her to fall down. Example: An elevation backdrop that requires a wrestler to fall flat on their back. Another example would be a wrestler taking a series of punches, then falling to the canvas to sell them being stunned or hurt.

SQUASH: When one wrestler completely dominates the other and they usually win in very quick fashion.

SHOOT: This is when wrestling is real and not storyline. A "SHOOT interview" means that the interview is actually real. A "SHOOT match" means that the match is actually real. Many wrestlers have left the business because of an unexpected "shoot" on them in the form of either an interview or match. Example: The Montreal Screw-job in 1997 involving Bret Hart and Vince McMahon had a shoot ending in Hart's match with Shawn Michaels. That was Hart's last appearance in the WWE until his Hall of Fame induction in 2006.

STIFF: A move that causes real injury. Big Van Vader was considered a stiff worker who used alot of these moves on other wrestlers. Note: It is not a shoot, but it is fairly close.

SPOT: Any kind of move or situation during a match that's important to its outcome. A spot can be anything from a missed elbow drop or reverse suplex.

BLOWN SPOT: A move or situation in a match that has gone wrong where it can't be executed properly, thus a wrestler has "blown" it.

FINISHER: The finishing move that a wrestler uses to win a match.

FALSE FINISH: A time during the match where you expect it to end, but someone unexpectedly kicks out of a pinfall attempt or they reach the ropes breaking a pinfall attempt, extending the match which most of the time builds excitement for fans.

PUSH: A wrestler that is getting elevated or promoted by winning the majority or all of their upcoming matches. A wrestler receiving a "push" could also mean a promotion to main event status as well as a title contender or winning a particular title.

BURIED: A wrestler that is purposely jobbing to other wrestlers in order to diminish his/her drawing power. Most of the time, this happens because of a backstage conflict involving a wrestler and promoter/booker, another wrestler's spot is threatened, or that wrestler is leaving the promotion. This is done because the booker doesn't want that wrestler to be over immediately in another promotion.

BAIT AND SWITCH: This is a tactic used when a booker teases fans into believing one thing is going to happen, then switches it to shock fans or disappoint them. This tactic has been known to save storylines and keep fan's interest, but it has also been known to ruin ratings as well.

SWERVE: This is when a promotion uses their best efforts to make fans believe that one thing is going to happen, but then changes the entire course of feud to trick them.

DRAW(during a match): When neither wrestler wins, and the match is undecided on the finish which most of the time is because the time limit has expired.

DRAW(wrestling numbers): This is the term used when bringing in viewing and monetary revenue.

DRAWING POWER: A wrestler's ability to help the promotion draw bigger buyrates, ratings, and attendance based on their overall character within the ring as well as on the microphone. The look of a wrestler is very important for drawing power as well.

BUYRATE: The amount of shows that are bought for a Pay-Per-View. This is usually an indicator of how good or bad a promotion is doing.

JOBBER: An unpushed wrestler who frequently loses most of his/her matches in order to help elevate talent within the promotion. Example: The Brooklyn Brawler was a jobber used by the WWE for many years to elevate the careers of faces and heels.

JOB: A wrestler that is forced or has agreed to lose a match.

HOT TAG: This is a term used in tag team matches when a face, who has been in the ring taking a pounding for a period of time, makes a heroic tag to his partner towards the end of the match. The crowd usually reacts with a face pop when this happens, and gives the tagged in wrestler a look of being in the "zone" or invincibility for a period of time thus being on a brief hot streak in the ring.

KAYFABE: Pig Latin for "be fake". This means they are worked events and are actually part of the storyline. Wrestlers who violate this will usually see their career suffer for it. People who follow the movie industry have probably heard this term before. Here are a few examples......
Example #1: A face and heel not talking with each other in public to help stick to the storyline.
Example #2: Shawn Michaels took time off in the summer of 2004 to be with his pregnant wife with WWE approval. He was purposely written out of storylines after being a victim of an attack by Kane that left him with a "crushed larynx" to give him the time off.
Example #3: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon as an on-screen married couple before they actually married in real-life.
Example #4: Chris Jericho being "fired" by the WWE in 2005 so he could take time off to tour with his rock band FOZZY.
Example #5: Feuds that occur between two wrestlers that would never happen in real-life. A great example of this type would be Triple H and Shawn Michaels who are real-life best friends, but have had great in-ring feuds against one another.
Example #6: Wrestlers with very exaggerated gimmicks like being evil. The Undertaker is a good example of this.
**Note: Probably the most well-known violation of kayfabe occurred in 1996 when "The Clique" consisting of Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Triple H violated kayfabe in the famous Madison Square Garden Incident. Triple H was booked to win that year's King of the Ring, but was punished for his part in that incident. I'll cover that in a future entry.

HOUSE SHOW: A wrestling show that is run by a promotion that is not televised. Most of the time, promotions use storylines only during TV shows, and not house shows. House shows are used alot of times to help promote the upcoming televised events. Typically, wrestlers who are scheduled to work against each other at the next PPV, will work against each other at house shows.

INTER-PROMOTIONAL: Matches or feuds that involve wrestlers from more than one promotion. Example: BWE and EBW! LOL!

DARK MATCH: A match that is not televised during a taping of a particular show.

UNDERCARD: The wrestlers that are on the lower end of the promotion that usually have their matches at the beginning of a show.

MIDCARDER: Wrestlers that typically have their matches in the middle of a show. They are neither jobbers or main eventers. They usually have average to above average drawing power.

MAIN EVENT: The match at the end of a show that almost always involves the top drawing wrestlers wrestling. This is what most promotions will hope draws the most fans to a given show.

MAIN EVENTER: A wrestler that is at the top of the card, and has received the biggest push as either a face or a heel. Example: Right now, Randy Orton is the top main eventer(as a heel) on RAW while Edge is top heel on Smackdown. Likewise, John Cena(as a face) is the top main eventer on Raw while Triple H is the top face on Smackdown.

OK, there you have the majority of the wrestling definitions. We won't use all of them during our BWE or EBW storylines, but you can always refer to this entry to understand what we mean when we say them.

Also, I will announce the fictional location for the next BWE Throwdown! show from Malaysia as well as other announcements in a BWE Newletter later this week.

In the meantime, our rosters for both bands are currently under construction. There will be some moving around on them, but we hope to have them complete soon.

If anyone wants to know more about how BWE Promotions works, then click the buttons above. Also, you can request to be involved in storylines with no guarantees that we can use at anytime. Furthermore, some members will be written in as heels to have it all make sense as well as add uniqueness to storylines. It should be something wrestling fans will enjoy if you haven't seen them and we hope others find it entertaining, too.

Here are our previous entries for BWE Promotions:
BWE Throwdown! written by David Funk
EBW UnCut written by Paul H.

Also, if you follow politics and wrestling, then check out our friends at Political Championship Wrestling(PCW). Those guys over there are GOOD!

Thanks everyone for viewing!

Posted in: definitions, pro wrestling, wrestling

Reactions: