History Main / TheatricsOfPain

!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* One of the most memorable examples of a wrestler ''over''-selling is the Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs Wrestling/HulkHogan match at Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Summerslam 2005. After Hogan screwed Shawn out of a win by cancelling a match to follow that one (in which Shawn'd get the pin), Shawn decided to screw him right back by turning his big match into an absolute ''farce'': He oversold every last blow he took like a cartoon character, flopping about with everything that landed until the match looked less like a main event and more like slapstick theater. Hulk was ''visibly'' furious throughout the whole thing as his victory was turned into a joke.

** He's able to do this in a non-physical way, too. In the build-up to a feud between him and Wrestling/MickFoley, Mick (as Mankind) claimed to be too beaten up to face Triple-H, so he found a replacement... Cactus Jack. Despite being the same wrestler with a [[LetsGetDangerous different gimmick]], the news (and Foley's changing into the appropriate outfit while approaching the ring) was sold like Hunter had just seen the devil himself emerge from the ramp, which Foley credits as giving the storyline as much credibility as it had.

->''"People can't feel your pain. They can only see it. You gotta make them feel it."''

-->-- '''Wrestling/Rocky Johnson''', ''Series/YoungRock''

* NXT's resident master of this is Kyle O'Reilly. While he'd been doing the same thing for years on the indies, NXT has given him a much bigger platform. O'Reilly seems to have very little vanity, screaming for help from [[Wrestling/TheUndisputedEra his faction]] or [[Wrestling/ReDRagon his tag team partner]], getting up from hits on legs that resemble spaghetti, doing an entire FaceFault, or getting "hit" so hard he falls out of the ring itself. His over-the-top heel antics provide a stark contrast to his babyface reactions, utilizing the same tactics, but making the audience sympathize with him instead of laugh at his misfortune.

** If Wrestling/RicFlair wants to blade[[note]]Wrestling lingo for self-induced bleeding, typically done by slicing open your own forehead after a spot with a concealed razor blade or the like[[/note]], ''Ric Flair will fucking '''blade'''''. His bleached blond hair will quickly turn orange-red, and his entire face will be caked in blood in moments. Even a simple knockdown punch will have him banging his own fist against his forehead until he's more bloody face than man. Infamously, Flair would even blade during a ''[[https://youtu.be/l9iOTtmBAsQ?t=228 promo]]''.

* It is creeping into UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball as well. Briefly, each team gets three time-outs per half. However, if a player is injured, the officials call a time out that is not charged to either team. Thus the well-timed "cramp," often induced by a look to the coaches on the sideline. This is somewhat balanced by the rule that a player who is "injured" has to sit out at least one play, and (in some circumstances) can also cause a 10 second run-off of the game clock.

* One of the most memorable examples of a wrestler ''over''-selling is the Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs Wrestling/HulkHogan match at Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Summerslam 2005. After Hogan screwed Shawn out of a win by cancelling a match to follow that one (in which Shawn'd get the pin), Shawn decided to screw him right back by turning his big match into an absolute ''farce'': He overseld every last blow he took like a cartoon character, flopping about with everything that landed until the match looked less like a main event and more like slapstick theater. Hulk was ''visibly'' furious throughout the whole thing as his victory was turned into a joke.

* One of the most memorable examples of a wrestler ''over''-selling is the Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs Wrestling/HulkHogan match at Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Summerslam 2005. After Hogan screwed Shawn out of a win by cancelling a match to follow that one (in which Shawn'd get the pin), Shawn decided to screw him right back by turning his big match into an absolute ''farce'': He overseld every last blow he took like a cartoon character, flopping about with every last blow until the match looked less like a main event and more like slapstick theater. Hulk was ''visibly'' furious throughout the whole thing as his victory was turned into a joke.

* One of the most memorable examples of a wrestler ''over''-selling is the Wrestling/ShawnMichaels vs Wrestling/HulkHogan match at Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s Summerslam 2005.

* As mentioned, often very blatant in soccer/football, often with the commentators snarkily pointing out the attempts. Unfortunately, it's often only blatant to those watching on television, as they have the advantage of multiple angles and slow motion, meaning that many a referee has been taken in. It is popularly associated with the Spanish, Italian, and South American leagues in particular, especially by British fans. However, while referees are a great deal less interested in injuries and theatrics in the UK, with far more leeway given in regards to what constitutes UnnecessaryRoughness, the English and Scottish game is far from free of the stain, one which goes right up to international level.

Usually, it is quite easy to tell in wrestling if someone has been injured for real or is "selling" the move by its absence. It is harder in film and television because the stuntmen (whose job it is to do all the dangerous maneuvers) are trained to handle such situations professionally in a contained environment--and such things are all behind the scene anyway. [[note]] Which isn't surprising, as many professional wrestlers are former stuntmen and many stuntmen are failed professional wrestlers. (Successful professional wrestlers are more often the ''actors'' in the role, and usually do require the use of a stuntman.)[[/note]]

* Soccer's propensity for faking injuries was parodied on an episode of ''KeyAndPeele'', where a player flopped so convincingly that he literally died and his soul went to heaven, then when his opponent was penalized and red carded, returned to his body to score the winning goal.

A common place to find ''unscripted'' Theatrics of Pain is in UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball. As the game allows tackling for the ball but penalises [[UnnecessaryRoughness reckless or deliberately injurious tackles]], it's in an unscrupulous player's interest to sell any physical contact whatsoever as theatrically as the referee can be expected to believe, often including crashing to the ground and rolling around wearing a grimace of agony. Such "diving" is stereotypically associated with [[DashingHispanic Latin American/South European styles of play]], but can in truth be found all over the world. Some fans are of the opinion that the game should adopt a rule of "If you're not bleeding profusely, or can still play, you don't deserve the foul", but the sporting gods hold that it's important to deter unsportsmanlike behaviour like intimidation, reckless tackles and shirt-grabbing (plus, multimillion-dollar-losing broken ankles are as terrifying to owners of football clubs as those of racehorses.) For the polar opposite of the stereotypical FragileSpeedster footballer, see RugbyIsSlaughter.