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TERM
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DEFINITION
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Angle
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A wrestling plot which may involve only one match or may continue over several matches
for some time. The reason behind a feud or a turn.
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Baby face
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A good guy.
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Blade
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The practice of cutting oneself or being cut with a part of a razor blade hidden
in tights, hair, under the ring or wrist tape in order to produce blood. Usually
cut on the hairline or in the upper forehead.
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Blind
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When a referee has his back turned while the other side is cheating. Usually done
by heels in order to gain the advantage in a match.
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Blow off
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The big money match to settle a feud between two rivals. The tension builds
until it needs to be blown off.
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Blow up
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To become very fatigued or exhausted, during the match.
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Booker
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The individual responsible for writing the angles, storylines, finishes of match.
Also helps in the hiring and firing in a promotion.
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Boy(s)
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A wrestler. Being on of the boys, just means you’re a wrestler.
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Bump
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A fall or hit to the mat which knocks the person down.
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Bury |
To push a wrestler not to the top, but to the bottom until they are no longer relevant or a draw anymore.
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Card
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The series of matches in one location at one time.
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Cleans house
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When a wrestler(s) eliminates every other man in the ring.
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Comp
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To be comped means you got a free ticket to a wrestling event.
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Curtain jerker
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Wrestlers who usually opens the shows up. Bascially the first match on the card.
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Dark match
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A match performed before the live TV/PPV show. Seen by the live crowd but not by
the TV audience.
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Draw
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To attract fans. The popularity of a wrestler, the ability to bring in fans.
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Dud
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A particularly bad and totally uninteresting match.
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Fall
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A referee’s count of three with the loser’s shoulders on the mat.
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Feud
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A series of matches between two wrestlers or multiple groups. Many times they will
interview and bad mouth the other wrestler(s).
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Finish
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The event or sequence of events which leads to the ultimate outcome of a match.
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Garbage
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Matches or promotions that have no wrestling but pure violence. Use of nothing but
weapons and violent gimmick matches.
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Getting light
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To get light on your oponnent means that you try work with your opponent and get
as light as you can so he can get you into in a move. i.e. posting your hand on
shoulders for a gorilla press, or jumping up into a body slam.
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Gorilla position
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The area wrestlers wait their turn to come out for their match/run-in/interview.
Most all the time it’s the area right behind the curtains.
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Green
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Not good due to inexperience in the ring.
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Hardway juice
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Real blood produced by means other than blading. Done the hard way.
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Heat
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Enthusiasm, a positive/negative response from fans.
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Heavy
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The opposite of getting light. Basically being dead weight and not helping your
opponent get you in any type of move.
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Heel
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A bad guy; rule-breaker.
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House
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The wrestling audience in the building
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House show
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A wrestling event that is not televised.
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International object
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Foreign object, something not allowed in the ring.
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Job
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A staged loss. A clean job is a staged loss by legal pin fall or submission without
resort to illegalities.
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Jobber
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An un-pushed wrestler who does jobs for pushed wrestlers. Usually a wrestler who
is on a long losing streak.
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Juice
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Blood. Also means steroids
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Juicing
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Means two things; A wrestler who is be bleeding. It also means a wrestler who is
taking steroids.
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Kayfabe
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Of or related to inside information about the business. To break kayfabe is to break
out of your character. It is also used by wrestlers to kayfabe each other, which
means to keep quiet on certain things with other people and to not let them know.
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Kill
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To stop a gimmick or match that is not getting a good response from the crowd.
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Mark
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A member of the audience, presumed gullible. Basically a wrestling fan who attends
all the shows, buys all the merchandise etc.
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Mid-carder
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A wrestler who wrestles on the under-card but is usually well known.
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Over
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When a wrestler’s gimmick is well liked by the fans or he receives a great amount
of heat whether it be cheers or boos. To be over is to get a big response from fans
whenever a wrestler comes out.
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Paper
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Free complimentary tickets, given to fans and friends/family of wrestlers to make
the arena look as if it sold out.
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Pop
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A loud sudden heat from a house as a response to a wrestler’s entry or hot move.
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Post
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To run or be run into the ring post.
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Potato
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to To injure a wrestler by hitting him on the head or causing him to hit his head
on something. He is legitimately hurt from the move.
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Powder out
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to To powder out means either you get knocked out of the ring and leave, or you
run out of the ring.
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Cut a Promo/Promo
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A solo rant or person being interviewed, that tries to put themselves over by charismatically speaking highly of themselves and degrading his opponents.
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Push
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When a wrestler starts to go on a winning streak and gets title shots. Also gets
more interview time and TV time.
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Put Over |
When a wrestler of higher or equal credibility to the fans, takes a clean loss to another wrestler to give more credibility to the wrestler's bio and career. |
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Psychology
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To tell a story by working over a certain body part, making a series of moves make
sense in the ring. Working the crowd at the right momen, and to sell a lot.
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Referee position
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Most wrestlers use this to start their match. It is the collar and elbow tie up.
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Rest hold
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When wrestlers need to take a rest during a match, or figure out the next series
of moves, or they can’t decide what to do next. They will apply some type of boring
non-damaging hold. It only serves to stretch out the match and give the wrestlers
time to breathe.
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Rib
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A rib is playing a practical joke on someone else. Many wrestlers do this to each
other on the road.
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Run-in
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Interference by a non-participant in a match.
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Save
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A run-in to protect a wrestler from being beat up after a match is over.
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Screw-job
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A match or ending which is not clean due to factors outside the rules of wrestling.
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Sell
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Means to act hurt and use facial expressions when a move has been applied.
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Shoot
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The real thing. A match where the participants are really attempting to hurt another.
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Smark
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A smart mark. A guy who thinks he knows everything there is to know about wrestling.
Doesn’t care much for gimmicks or angles. Like good matches with psychology.
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Spot
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An sequence/series of moves which makes a particular match distinctive, the climax
of a match.
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Spot fest
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A match with no psychology. Just high impact moves after high impact moves. There
is no storytelling during these types of matches.
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Squash
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A totally passive job where one wrestler completely dominates another.
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Stable
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Multiple wrestler’s united to form a group.
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Stiff
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A wrestler who cannot maneuver around the ring very swiftly. He doesn’t have much
flexibility or stamina. To get stiff also means that all your blows and moves are
more physical and hurts more.
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Stretch
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A form of shoot where one wrestler dominates rather than injures the other as a
proof of personal superiority. To stretch someone is to get a wrestler in a submission
and stiff him by pulling back.
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Tap out
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To give into a submission maneuver
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Turn
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Change in orientation from heel to face or vice-versa.
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Tweener
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A wrestler who is part heel and part face. He isn’t classified as a heel or face,
he is more in the middle.
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Vignette |
A teaser for a debuting wrestler or event, usually done cinematically without an interviewer or real purpose. |
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Work
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A deception or fraud, the opposite of a shoot. Also to work the crowd means to get
the crowd into.
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Worker
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Another term for wrestler.
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Workrate
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The approximate ratio of good wrestling to stamina in a match or in a wrestler’s
performance.
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