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Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. [1] [2] Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. [3] In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the worked nature of the business. [1] [3] Into the 21st century, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms. [1] Many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to in-ring terms. [3]
A management employee, often a former wrestler (though it can be a current wrestler or even a non-wrestler), who helps wrestlers set up matches, plan storylines, give criticisms on matches, and relay instructions from the bookers. Agents often act as a liaison between wrestlers and higher-level management and sometimes may also help in training younger wrestlers. They are referred to by WWE as "producers" and by AEW as "coaches".
A wrestler intentionally cutting themselves (or, more rarely, allowing themselves to be cut by the opponent or referee) to provoke bleeding to sell the opponent's offense.
To determine and schedule the events of a wrestling card. The person in charge of setting up matches and writing angles is a "booker". [1] It is the wrestling equivalent of a director. A booker can also be described as someone who recruits and hires talent to work in a particular promotion. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa defined a booker in 1956 as "[...] any person who, for a fee or commission, arranges with a promoter or promoters for the performance of wrestlers in professional wrestling exhibitions". [10] Booking is also the term a wrestler uses to describe a scheduled match or appearance on a wrestling show (i.e., "a booked match"). [1]
A match that ends in a time limit draw.
The worked lowering (relegation) of a wrestler's status in the eyes of the fans. The opposite of a push, it is the act of a promoter or booker causing a wrestler to lose popularity, momentum and/or credibility, or damaging their gimmick through means such as forcing them to lose in squash matches, losing continuously, allowing opponents to no-sell or kick out of said wrestler's finisher, or forcing them to participate in unentertaining or degrading storylines, or not using them at all. A burial is often used a form of punishment due to real-life backstage disagreements between the wrestler and the booker, the wrestler falling out of favor with the company, or sometimes to demote an unpopular performer or gimmick.
The rule that a reigning champion, should they lose during a title defense by countout or disqualification rather than by the traditional means of pinfall or submission, would retain their title despite losing the match; it can sometimes be revoked as part of a storyline. [18] [19]
An event which occurs when two or more rival promotions put together one card or wrestling event. Some promoters have used cross-promotion style angles to further interest. Cross-promotion dates back to the early days of wrestling as challenges between rival promoters in the same area often occurred.
A point in a match in which the heel stops the face's attack or comeback and goes on the offensive. [2]
Also lackey or heavy
A (typically larger) wrestler who accompanies another wrestler as a second to matches and acts as a bodyguard. [1]A wrestler who is heroic, who is booked to be cheered by fans. [1] Heels are the opposite of faces and faces commonly perform against heels.
In a tag team match, the member of a face team who is dominated by the heel team for an extended period of the match. The tactic can be used to help get the crowd behind the face tag team and is usually followed up with a hot tag. During the 1980s, Ricky Morton of the Rock 'n' Roll Express was typically in this position while teaming with Robert Gibson; so much so that "playing Ricky Morton" has become synonymous with the term.
A brief offensive flurry by a face, before losing momentum back to a heel after being dominated for several minutes. [1] Usually, it occurs before the actual comeback.
The imagined barrier between competing wrestling promotions; wrestlers who are signed to one promotion but make appearances for another as part of a talent exchange agreement are said to have entered or passed through the Forbidden Door. The term was coined in January 2020 by New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Hiroshi Tanahashi when speaking of his desire to challenge Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship. [26] The term was further popularized by AEW general manager Tony Khan during an appearance on Impact Wrestling television during AEW wrestler Kenny Omega's concurrent reign as both AEW World Champion and Impact World Champion in 2021, and further codified in 2022 with AEW and NJPW announcing a joint pay-per-view with that title, which became the first of an annual series.
A jobber who defeats "pure jobbers" as well as mid-card wrestlers in matches, but consistently loses to main event level wrestlers.
A wrestler who is villainous, who is booked to be booed by fans. [1] Faces are the opposite of heels, and heels commonly perform against faces.
An untelevised event.
A smaller wrestling company that operates at a local (rather than national) level and typically employs freelance wrestlers, as opposed to signing wrestlers to exclusive contracts.
A wrestler who routinely loses in order to build the credibility of other wrestlers. [1]
1. Refers to real-life incidents or events that have not been booked or scripted and are therefore not part of the fictional and kayfabe presentation. It is often used to describe a genuine injury to a wrestler, as opposed to one scripted as part of a storyline.
A portion of a match, usually the very start of the match, where two wrestlers join together in a collar-and-elbow tie up.
Derisive term given to a member of a tag team who, upon the breakup of the team, achieves markedly less success than their partner. Coined in reference to Marty Jannetty, who teamed with Shawn Michaels to form The Rockers. While Michaels went to become a four-time world champion and two-time WWE Hall of Famer, Jannetty was released from the WWF two months after the team's breakup and would repeatedly be hired and fired from the promotion (and other promotions) over the next twenty years, almost always participating in storylines which related to his status as Michaels's former partner. Other wrestlers often seen as a Jannetty of a team include Rick Steiner of The Steiner Brothers, Stevie Ray of Harlem Heat, and Jim Neidhart of The Hart Foundation. [32]
The ability to generate reaction from the audience using words, and generally by speaking using a microphone. [34]
A move or series of moves which are mistimed. [1]
A wrestler, often a respected or feared shooter or street fighter, responsible for enforcing the promoter's will against recalcitrant wrestlers by performing unscripted or painful moves within a match, punishing or intimidating them for defying the management. In today's industry it is a largely outdated because such tactics are illegal if they can be proved. Typically, it is only still used by dirt sheets and outside commentators who believe one wrestler is deliberately placed in matches against more dangerous opponents and injured deliberately after disagreements with management. While allegations of this sort persist, including being made by wrestlers themselves, few have been proven. [1] Also describes a wrestler who keeps order in the locker room by threats of physical force. [2]
A wrestler will make themselves dead weight, to prevent their opponent from lifting them up for a move. Though usually planned in a match, it can also be deliberately done by a wrestler who does not want to be lifted for a move, which can make the move harder to be properly executed and can cause a higher risk of injury to either one of the wrestlers.
Originally, along with "grunt-and-groan", used by the mainstream media when presenting a derisive story on professional wrestling, which often stereotyped the participants and audience. Now refers to a style of wrestling popular in the Mid-South region of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas (primary city is Memphis, Tennessee), and as a result, the southeastern United States, which emphasizes kayfabe and stiffness, generally with fewer squash matches and longer feuds, hence the more recent "southern style" or to be specific compared to the Carolinas (Jim Crockett) or Georgia styles, "Memphis style".
When a champion loses their title to another, this may be invoked as a storyline plot device to procure a title rematch in the near future (often the next pay-per-view event) in order to continue a feud. In recent years, this clause has often been explicitly ignored in storylines.
A match finish which occurs sooner (and often differently) than planned. It is used when a wrestler is legitimately injured and cannot continue as planned, when the match is approaching its time limit (or a television segment is running long), or after a botch significantly changes the plot of the match. The term "audible" is also used, referring to the finish being known to happen upon verbal instruction from outside the ring.
To sabotage a throw by letting one's body go limp instead of cooperating, which makes the throw much harder, if not impossible, to execute. This move is typically done deliberately to make the attacker appear weak or unskilled, but can also be the result of a botch. Sandbagging can be dangerous, as many moves require specific actions by the target to lower the risk of injury. [1]
To book an angle and/or match so as to explain in kayfabe a wrestler's upcoming (and usually inconvenient) absence, usually in the form of being "injured".
A rookie, particularly in Japanese professional wrestling. The term "young lion" is used for the trainees from the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo; although they usually perform at NJPW shows, typically on the lower card, they are also assigned other tasks such as security around the ring.
Professional wrestling is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama, with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship. The staged nature of matches is an open secret, with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction.
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. Throughout professional wrestling's decades-long history, some gimmick matches have spawned many variations of the core concept.
In professional wrestling, a heel is a wrestler who portrays a villain, "bad guy", "baddie", "evil-doer", or "rulebreaker", and acts as an antagonist to the faces, who are the heroic protagonist or "good guy" characters. Not everything a heel wrestler does must be villainous: heels need only to be booed or jeered by the audience to be effective characters, although most truly successful heels embrace other aspects of their devious personalities, such as cheating to win or using foreign objects. "The role of a heel is to get 'heat,' which means spurring the crowd to obstreperous hatred, and generally involves cheating and any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior."
In professional wrestling, a face (babyface) is a heroic, "good guy", "good-doer", or "fan favorite" wrestler, booked (scripted) by the promotion with the aim of being cheered by fans. They are portrayed as heroes relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains. Traditionally, face characters wrestle within the rules and avoid cheating while behaving positively towards the referee and the audience. Such characters are also referred to as blue-eyes in British wrestling and técnicos in lucha libre. Not everything a face wrestler does must be heroic: faces need only to be clapped or cheered by the audience to be effective characters. When the magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated went into circulation in the late 1970s, the magazine referred to face wrestlers as "fan favorites" or "scientific wrestlers", while heels were referred to as simply "rulebreakers".
In professional wrestling, a gimmick generally refers to a wrestler's in-ring persona, character, behaviour, attire, and/or other distinguishing traits while performing which are usually artificially created in order to draw fan interest. These in-ring personalities often involve costumes, makeup and catchphrases that they shout at their opponents or the fans. Gimmicks can be designed to work as good guys/heroes (babyfaces) or bad guys/villains (heel) depending on the wrestler's desire to be popular or hated by the crowd. A tweener gimmick falls between the two extremes, such as wrestlers who manifests many heel and face traits such as Randy Orton's viper gimmick. A wrestler may portray more than one gimmick over their career depending on the angle or the wrestling promotion that they are working for at that time.
A shoot in professional wrestling is any unplanned, unscripted, or real-life occurrence within a wrestling event. It is a carny term shortened from "straight shooting", which originally referred to a gun in a carnival target shooting game that did not have its sights misaligned. Terminology such as this reflects the professional wrestling industry's roots in traveling carnivals.
In professional wrestling slang, a job is a losing performance in a wrestling match. It is derived from the euphemism "doing one's job", which was employed to protect information related to kayfabe from being revealed. The term can be used a number of ways. When a wrestler is booked to lose a match, it is described as "a job". The act itself is described with the verb jobbing, while the act of booking to job is called jobbing out. To lose a match fairly is to job cleanly. Wrestlers who routinely lose matches are known as jobbers or "dummy wrestlers". A wrestler skilled at enhancing the matches they lose, as opposed to a jobber, is called a carpenter. In the post-kayfabe era the term has taken on a negative connotation, leading to the use of the neutral term enhancement talent.
A house show is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive during televised events, as well as to test reactions to matches, wrestlers, and gimmicks that are being considered for the main televised programming and upcoming pay-per-views. As house shows are not televised, all matches are technically dark matches, though that term is usually reserved for non-televised matches at otherwise televised events.
In professional wrestling, a feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or groups of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised. Feuds may last for months or even years; conversely, they may be resolved with implausible speed, perhaps during a single match. WWE's terminology discouraged the use of the term along with the word "war".
Earl William Hebner is an American retired professional wrestling referee. He is best known for his time as senior referee for the World Wrestling Federation from 1988 to 2005. Hebner played a prominent role in the inaugural The Main Event card in 1988, in which André the Giant controversially defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the infamous "Montreal Screwjob" during the main event of the 1997 Survivor Series. He also participated in a number of storylines, including feuds involving The McMahon–Helmsley Faction and The Alliance. Hebner was also the senior referee for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2005 to 2017, and was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2015.
Richard Henry Blood Sr., better known by his ring name Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his work with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation. Steamboat is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential professional wrestlers of all time.
Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name and identity.
In professional wrestling, a manager is a supporting character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. A woman accompanying, or "seconding", a male wrestler to a match is sometimes referred to as a valet.
A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes. The bookers in a company will place the title on the most accomplished performer, or whom they believe will generate fan interest in terms of event attendance and television viewership.
The Invasion was a professional wrestling storyline in the World Wrestling Federation during the Attitude Era that ran from March to November 2001 and involved stables of wrestlers purporting to represent World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)—which merged to form The Alliance—placed against a stable of wrestlers purporting to represent the WWF. The storyline began shortly after the WWF's acquisition of WCW in March 2001, and concluded with a "winner takes all" match between The Alliance and the WWF at Survivor Series.
BattleBowl was a one-time professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The show took place on November 20, 1993, at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida. The event featured only the "BattleBowl Tournament", where the first round consisted of eight tag team matches where the teams were drawn at random in a "Lethal Lottery". Members of the winning teams would advance to the BattleBowl battle royal main event. Big Van Vader, who was already the WCW World Heavyweight Champion at the time of the show, received a ring for winning the tournament.
Daniel Davis is an American former professional wrestling referee and wrestler best known under the ring name "Dangerous" Danny Davis when he worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). For years, he competed as Mr. X, a masked wrestler while also working as a referee.
When Worlds Collide was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that took place on November 6, 1994, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. It was scripted and produced by the Mexican lucha libre company Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), now known as Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and their American partner, International Wrestling Council (IWC). The show was produced by the technical staff of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). WCW Executive Vice-President Eric Bischoff had helped AAA secure the show to be broadcast by American pay-per-view providers, marking the first time a non-US-based wrestling promotion was shown live on US PPV television. The show was broadcast in both English and Spanish. Chris Cruise and Mike Tenay called the action in English, while Arturo Rivera and Andrés Maroñas handled the Spanish announcing. This event also marked Tenay's first commentating role in professional wrestling.
In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. The referee's purpose is similar to that of referees in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, that is, as an arbiter of the rules and the person charged with rendering decisions. In reality, the referee is, like the wrestlers, a participant in executing a match in accordance with its script including its predetermined outcome, and is responsible for controlling the flow of the match and for relaying information or instructions from backstage officials to the wrestlers. Like wrestlers, referees are also responsible for maintaining kayfabe, and must render decisions in accordance with the promotion's kayfabe rules.
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged. The term kayfabe has evolved to also become a code word of sorts for maintaining this "reality" within the direct or indirect presence of the general public.
Lawler & Jarrett came over to Mid-South, watched some of the TV, and noted that there were no "blowjobs". Watts through they meant literally, but indeed they were referring to pretty boy teams to draw in the Backstreet Boy demographic.
'Ring of Honor, it's all about sport. That's the genre, pure wrestling. That is what makes us unique, and I kept telling the office that we needed this market of our own. A lot of fans feel the same. They want their wrestling to be pure, technical wrestling, so let's fill that void.' [Italics added].
Styles' bitter rejoindre, delivered forcefully with convincing fire, was even more impactful as it further banished the notion that the former IWGP champion can't hang with the best on the stick.