Useful Notes / Professional Wrestling Jargon

When the death of kayfabe sometime in the 1990s pulled back the curtain on the choreographed nature of the business, most if not all of its secrets were laid bare. Now that there is no attempt to pass the event off as anything but a choreographed athletic exhibition, there's something of a cottage industry in retelling the stories behind old wrestling matches and storylines. This likely started with Dave Meltzer publishing the sport's premier behind-the-scenes news publication The Wrestling Observer Newsletter starting in 1980. It is much more prevalent today in the podcasting era, where many of wrestling's most prominent stars and backstage minds are now cashing in by presenting their accounts of wrestling's most famous moments, as well as reviewing today's product. These men and women tend to use backstage lingo or insider terms in their broadcasts. While most dedicated fans know these terms, an outsider or new fan may not. Here is a collection of the varied and rich backstage lexicon of Professional Wrestling.

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• A and B shows: Split touring crews of a promotion. In the pre-90's WWE and the larger territories, promotions would split their roster across two or even three shows, both to promote a larger number of events and ensure the same areas didn't see the same talent too often. When WWE was syndicated programming, the two crews would have separate television shows (WWF Superstars and WWF Wrestling Challenge). Unlike a brand extension, assignment to A or B shows was not permanent and would change based on storylines. A circuit of towns that was almost entirely B-shows was referred to as a "buttermilk run," particularly in the southern territories.
  • A show and B show can also be used to describe a wrestling promotion's television and their relative importance to that promotion, even if that promotion does not split its crews. Ex: "Thunder was WCW's B-show, while Nitro was the A-show."
  • B show can also refer to WWE's lesser pay-per-views (or "Premium Live Events", the preferred nomenclature now that most people watch them on streaming rather than PPV), in other words every PPV that's not one of the "Big 4/5": WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and arguably Money in the Bank (King of the Ring was considered a major show in the late 90s and early 00s). The B-shows cost less on PPV and usually have shorter run times than the Big 4.
• C Show: Used to describe a lesser television show, often syndicated, that featured only matches between mid-card and lower card wrestlers and recaps of the more important television programs. The 1980's-era WWF would also run a "C-team" house show tour, typically with only a handful of midcard talent, in very small buildings; these shows were often contractually obligated for local TV deals^note Or in other words, "running the local promotion out of business.". Today C-shows like WWE Main Event and AEW Dark are taped before Monday Night Raw and Dynamite (respectively) go on the air and are shown on streaming platforms (Hulu for Main Event, YouTube for Dark).
• Abort: To cut an angle or gimmick off abruptly because of poor reception or disinterest from the fans, or due to off-camera issues (like one of the people involved quitting/getting fired). Compare Aborted Arc.
• Ace: A term mostly used in Japan for a wrestler designated as the face of the promotion. Not necessarily the same as the top champion. The term comes from Riki Choshu's period of booking in the late 80s which was described as a "deck of cards;" his top wrestler was the "ace" and could beat any other wrestler on his own, but another "high card" wrestler (top guy) could work circumstances in his favor (cause or exploit an injury, or even develop a counter to a big move) and obtain a stronger "hand".
• Agent: Individuals working directly under the booker or promoter, often former wrestlers or managers. For live events, agents are responsible for ensuring wrestlers are at the building on time, make their entrance at the right times, and hit the necessary time cues for their match. Historically, a trusted agent would be assigned the task of dealing with the venue's box office and collecting the gate for that show. For televised events, agents go over matches with wrestlers, and ensure they are in position for their actions to be picked up on camera. WWE refers to its agents as "Producers", and AEW calls them "Coaches". Can be used as a verb to describe the agent doing his/her job, e.g. "agenting a match".
• André shot: A camera trick by which a wrestler is made to appear bigger by shooting from below. Named after André the Giant, a frequent subject of this shot.
• Angle: Not to be confused with Kurt Angle, an angle is a professional wrestling storyline. It is the purpose behind the match. it is the reason two wrestlers are fighting or "feuding". This can be over just about anything, but typically revolves around professional jealousy, a desire to claim a title belt, or a personal issue.
  • The term angle refers to the overall feud, and to the individual vignettes, interviews and backstage pieces filmed and presented as part of the storyline.
• Apter Mag: Slang for Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its former sister magazines, named after main contributor and photographer Bill Apter. Also called the London Publishing^note now Kappa Publishing magazines or the "Stu Saks mags" after their former editor-in-chief. These publications are known for strictly upholding kayfabe and refusing to use insider lingo (like most of what you see on this page, for example referring to babyfaces and heels as "fan favorites" and "rulebreakers", respectively), making them a sort of in-universe version of the "Dirt Sheet" shown below. PWI is also famous for the "PWI 500", a yearly kayfabe ranking of the top 500 wrestlers in the world^note In theory male wrestlers, though a handful of women made the list. Starting in 2008 the women got their own ranking for the "PWI Female 50", which was expanded to 100 in 2018 and to 150 in 2021 that is hotly debated among fans.
• Attitude Era: A time when WWE (then WWF) shifted its program to adult-oriented content, which included an increase in the level of depicted violence, profanity and sexual content. Typically considered to be from 1997-2003, give or take^note 2003 is WWE's company line, but most fans consider the end to be "Stone Cold" Steve Austin hugging Vince McMahon at WrestleMania X-7 in 2001. Many fans also consider the Attitude Era to have started with Austin winning the 1996 King of the Ring (and giving the famous "Austin 3:16" speech) or even the tail end of 1995, WWE's canon usually goes with the Montreal Screwjob. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was the star of this era, and it is typically considered to begin with his "Austin 3:16" promo. Aside from Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, and Mick Foley were the key stars for the WWF at this time.
• Audible: A change to a planned spot, finish, or segment during the actual match or segment. Sometimes done to cover for an injury. Can also result from fan reaction. Ex: "Chris Jericho called an audible after Neville broke his ankle."
• Authority figure: A person who, in storyline (and occasionally real life), represents the interests of the wrestling promotion. They may be referred to as a commissioner, president, or general manager. In territorial days, this was often a babyface role, even when acting (reluctantly) against the promotion's babyfaces, and represented the promotion's kayfabed interest in fair play. In modern days, due to the success of the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon storyline, the role is often a heel one.
• Babyface: Often shortened to "Face", this is the "good guy" or "hero" character in a pro wrestling angle or match. Faces usually fight according to the rules and are valiant despite overwhelming odds, as opposed to Heels who cheat, distract, use outside interference, or revel in their dominance over their opponents.
  • A 'White Meat' babyface is a wrestler who plays the good guy role to the hilt, with smiles, pure intentions, and earnest sportsmanship, but they can also be a bit bland and 2-dimensional. Ricky Steamboat was a career white meat babyface (and also, according to none other than Ric Flair, the best in the business), as was a young Rocky Maivia (before the audience soured on him and he switched to being a cocky heel).
  • "Babyface" can also be used as a verb when a wrestler or promoter tries to make themselves look good to other wrestlers, the fans, or the public. Ex: "Vince McMahon tried to babyface himself in the weeks following the Montreal Screwjob."
• Babyface program: When two face wrestlers feud with each other. Although much more common than a heel program, many old-school promoters, such as Vince McMahon Sr., refused to do these for fear of splitting the audience and hurting one or both faces. That said, many of these matches involve "passing the torch" by using an established babyface superstar to solidify the stardom of a new superstar. Compare Good Versus Good
• Belt: A professional wrestling championship or title, represented by a gaudy belt made of leather and precious metals/stones^note An old joke about wrestling is that it's "two men without pants fighting over a belt", typically gold (in kayfabe at least; they're more likely to be cubic zirconia and gold plate over white metal). Also sometimes called a "Strap". Note that WWE typically prefers "Title".
• Bicycle: In the territorial days, the term "bicycle" signified that there would be a time delay between a TV show airing in its home market and in affiliated markets ("the tape traveled on a bicycle"). This meant that the program for different markets would feature different matches at different times, and things like title changes would have to account for this. This term wasn't exclusive to the wrestling industry, as game shows (ie. The Hollywood Squares) and other syndicated programs also used this method; it wasn't until satellite transmission became a going thing in the 1980s that this term became obsolete, as using satellites meant production companies could transmit their shows to affiliates and be aired much sooner (the reason they had to do this was because syndication firms couldn't afford the system the Big 3 networks used, that being telephone lines leased from the Bell System/AT&T to send signals to affiliates).
• Blade: The act of using a small, concealed razor or utility blade to inflict a cut and draw blood for the purposes of making a match look more brutal. Also the instrument of performing the action. The process can also be referred to as "to blade", "blading", "gigging", "juicing", "juice", "color", or a "blade job".
• Blow up: To become physically exhausted during a wrestling match.
• Blowjob: A rather antiquated term for a smaller good looking babyface popular with young women^note It's antiquated because the only people that go see wrestling shows anymore are men in their 20s and 30s. The The Rock 'n' Roll Express made a 40+ year career out of it, Jeff and Matt Hardy were a more modern example (at least in their younger days), Finn Bálor is currently occupying this role in WWE.
• Blowoff: The final match of a feud, usually at a major pay-per-view event.
• Blue eyes: British term for a face wrestler.
• Booker: In filmmaking terms, a booker is a combination of a screenwriter, director, and producer in a wrestling organization. Bookers come up with, or 'book' matches, storylines and characters, and determine the length, content, and finishes to wrestling matches. They can also be involved with recruiting wrestlers, or arranging for guest appearances from another promotion.
• Botch: A noticeable accident during the course of a match. Can be as harmless as a slip and fall, or it can be something that leads to significant injury. In the 1990s and early 2000s these were met with a "You fucked up!" chant, assuming no one involved is badly hurt. As the PG Era wore on, the chants vanished (at least in WWE, they can still be heard in AEW and in independent promotions). Can also be used for a match that has completely fallen apart; the much less PC term "abortion" was once used instead.
• Boys, The: A term used among wrestlers to describe each other as a collective unit. Often used in the phrase "one of the boys." Ex: "I found out the old security guard at the arena was one of the boys. We talked about how the business was in his day." The term is gender-neutral, a female wrestler would still be referred to as "one of the boys."
• Breaking the field: A disorienting effect caused when the floor cameras are positioned opposite to the hard camera in the stands, causing action to be reversed when the director switches from the hard camera to the floor cameras or vice versa. Hallmark of a poor television production. (Though there can be extra floor cameras for showing a replay from a different direction where it's easier to see what happened.)
• Broadway: Traditionally a match that goes to an hour-long time-limit draw. These matches were common in the NWA territory days where the NWA World Heavyweight Champion toured between the territories and wrestled the territory's top guy. Since the NWA didn't want to put the belt on the territory star, but the territory didn't want their top star to look weak, this was often the compromise; they would wrestle for an hour (then the time limit of world title matches) and go to a draw. Popular usage has come to lead to the term describing any time limit draw usually by denoting how long said match went, such as "15-Minute Broadway", "30-Minute Broadway", etc. The term is almost obsolete in modern wrestling for many reasons. Matches are largely not presented with time limits, rarely go longer than ten minutes, and rarely end in a draw.
• Brown eyes: A British term for a heel. Unlike American wrestling programming (where most matches are between a babyface and a heel), there were very few "brown eyes" in British wrestling, with most matches being between babyfaces.
• Bruno spot: A main-event match programmed above what would normally be considered a main event match in its own right, such as a title match. Refers to Bruno Sammartino's position in the WWF from 1977-1981, where he would wrestle infrequent programs that were billed above champion Bob Backlund's title defenses.
• Bump: A wrestler falling and landing in a manner to both avoid injury and heighten the sense of impact from an opponent's move. In most of the world, bumping is done "flat-back" (squarely across the back, with arms out and chin tucked in, to protect the head and give a wide impact zone), and "flat-back" bumps are one of the first things taught to new wrestling students. Most wrestling rings have some manner of give and padding to make bumps easier to take. In Mexico, due to the intricate highspots done by wrestlers, the ring has little give for better balance^note Particularly the 6 sided ring popular in Mexico (and used at various points by TNA), which has no give whatsoever due to the hexagonal design, and flat-back bumps are discarded in favor of out-of-the-ring gymnastic tumbles. A wrestler who is working hard to get another wrestler over is said to be "bumping their ass off" for the other wrestler.
• Bury: To hold down a wrestler or talent by forcing them to lose matches, talking about them unfavorably to the fans (such as in promos or on commentary) or backstage, or putting them in unimportant matches in an unfavorable spot on the card. The act of burying someone is highly subjective and hotly debated amongst wrestling fans and other wrestlers. Fans are very quick to accuse a promotion of burying a favorite talent the moment they lose a single match or are put into an angle with someone the fans believe is beneath that performer's level. A good example of burial is the WWE-produced documentary "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" which WWE produced at a time when the Warrior was not on favorable terms with the company and an easy target. After WWE mended fences and The Warrior passed away, the DVD was removed from the WWE shop and is not available on the Network.^note A similar DVD was in the works for Bret Hart, but got axed when Bret returned to the WWE (it's been speculated that basically coercing Bret into coming back was the whole point and they weren't ever going to actually release it). Given that Bret is much, much more popular among his peers than Warrior was it might have been a little harder to get footage of other people in the business trashing him.
• Business: Whether or not one wrestler is willing to work with another. Typically, though not exclusively, used in the negative. Ex: "Shawn Michaels wouldn't do business with Vader at the Survivor Series."
• Business, The: Used by wrestlers to describe professional wrestling as an industry.
• Calling spots/Calling the match: When one wrestler indicates to his opponent what action to perform. This may be verbally (with some care, as for TV the ring is frequently mic'ed; some wrestlers such as Sid Eudy and John Cena are infamous for being particularly loud while calling their spots) or with body language. Traditionally, the heel calls the match, although a more experienced or prominent babyface may opt to do so instead.
• Card: The order of matches in a given show. Also used to describe the hierarchy of star quality of the talent. You have your top stars often vying for the main belts, and then the 'mid-carders' who are your strong, often veteran workers who can be relied to give entertaining matches but haven't transcended to top-level status, while the 'undercard' are your least popular/experienced talent, often used to job to the bigger stars.
• Carny: A pig-Latin style language used to disguise words by adding "-iz" to random syllables, so that "time" becomes "tizime", for example. Professional wrestling was a common sideshow at carnivals in the early 20th century, and acquired a similar culture. Wrestlers once used carny to call spots and otherwise disguise working; the language has fallen by the wayside in recent times.^note Strangely (and almost certainly unintentionally) it ended up being stolen by West Coast rappers, leading Jim Cornette to once jokingly exclaim on his podcast "Fuck Snoop, he's the one that got everyone speaking carny!"
  • Also used as an adjective to refer to an older culture of wrestling, where wrestlers would constantly "work" the marks, never drop their personas, and were willing to do anything for a couple of bucks.
• Carry: Also known as a 'Carry Job', where a skilled worker is able to make an inferior partner look good, sometimes by calling every spot for both wrestlers during a match. Bret Hart famously carried newcomer Tom Magee (an impressive bodybuilder and martial artist but awful wrestler) to a match so good Vince McMahon thought Magee could be the WWF's next Hulk Hogan. Note that Bret lost his match against Magee, so 'skilled worker' does not necessarily mean 'winner of the match', and even a low-ranked Jobber can carry a star to a good match. A common expression used to describe skilled workers is "[Wrestler] could carry a broom to a three star match".
  • Also note that 'inferior' here is not just 'incompetence' or 'inexperience', but can be due to many things, like intoxication (Bret Hart, again, carried Davey Boy Smith in their SummerSlam 1992 match when the latter was completely zonked out after smoking crack the previous night), or just sheer difference in talent and experience (Shawn Michaels called the entirety of Ric Flair's retirement match, despite the latter's seniority).
• Cheap Heat: Drawing a crowd reaction in a way that is seen as not being conducive to drawing actual money. Cheap heat can include things such as knocking a town or a local sports team^note Cheap heat can work both ways, for example instead of knocking the home team a babyface will come out wearing the star player's jersey to try and get a pop. Bonus cheap heat point if you can get said star player to appear on camera, or attacking people who are not involved in a planned match, such as officials or valets.
• Cheap Pop: The opposite of Cheap Heat; getting a crowd reaction by putting over or even mentioning the local town. Though the practice is as old as wrestling itself, the term first became popular when Mick Foley used to do this and started to lampshade it.
• Clean Finish: A finish without outside interference or other shenanigans that give the losing wrestler an excuse for losing. Contrast "Fuck Finish" below. Ideally a babyface should win all his matches cleanly, while a heel beating a babyface clean (unless the heel is much higher up on the card to begin with) is considered a humiliating experience for the babyface, and will often lead to smarks claiming the babyface is being buried.
  • Note that what is and isn't a clean finish is somewhat subjective. Heels are, after all, bad people and are expected to cheat to some degree. A heel getting a pinfall by putting his feet on the ropes or grabbing the opponent's tights would still be considered a clean win by most people, for example.
• Comeback, The: Part of what is considered the classic four-part match structure: The shine, the heat, the comeback, the finish. The comeback is the part of the match where the face begins to turn the tides and regain their momentum before the finish.
• Cold match: A match without a feud or angle behind it.
• Color: Blood, usually intentionally drawn with a blade, but can sometimes be done the "hardway". Typically used in the phrase "get color" which is the process of drawing blood.
• Creative: A sort of catch-all term to describe the booker and the group of writers, agents, and production people that work under the booker. Mostly associated with WWE (where the term is official lexicon and "Head of Creative" is an actual job title^note Currently held by Triple H, though as he's also "Head of Talent Relations" he's combined the two job titles into "Content Director". To put it another way, if WWE was a pro sports team than the Head of Creative would be the head coach and the Head of Talent Relations would be the general manager. His wife formerly held the position of Head of Creative) and their group of television writers. Wrestlers that aren't really being used are often told "Creative has nothing for you" if they're released; see "Future Endeavored" below.
• Creative Control Clause: A clause in a contract which gives wrestlers say over how they are used. Although top wrestlers often had substantial influence over their presentation, it wasn't until the '90s that these clauses became common. WCW was infamous for these^note Often incorrectly; only Hulk Hogan had contractual creative control, and his was limited to the finishes of his own matches, "not to be unreasonably withheld." WCW's top stars all held a lot of "soft power" regardless of formal contract wording, as management wanted to keep them happy., but it should also be noted that the Montreal Screwjob happened because of one.^note  Bret Hart had a clause in his contract that gave him final say over his character during his final days with the company. The Screwjob effectively happened because Vince refused to honor this.
• Crowbar^note Not to be confused with the wrestler that used Crowbar as his ring name: A wrestler that has a reputation for being stiff and difficult to work with. The most classic examples would be The Road Warriors in their early years, as they weren't anywhere close to fully trained when they started and would simply beat up their opponents.
• Curtain Jerker: The wrestlers in the first match of a show (typically a PPV). Can also be derogatory, referring to wrestlers whose matches are inconsequential and just meant to pad out the time (though many modern PPV open with strong matches with decent build).
• Cut off: The action of a heel taking over the match from the babyface at a given point (typically between the shine and the heat segment).
• Dark: A town that went unclaimed in the territory days. Traditionally, these were towns that were unprofitable to run in or had been “killed” by some incident. If a promoter decided to claim a town and start running it, it was said that the town was “opened up.” A good example would be when Jerry Jarrett decided to open up Louisville, Kentucky in the early 1970s after a period of being dark.
• Dark match: Traditionally, a non-televised main event match added to an arena TV taping (which would otherwise see squash matches with a few "marquee" matches featuring mid-card competitors) to increase attendance. Nowadays, is used for any non-televised match at a TV or PPV show. WWE has traditionally used pre-show untelevised matches to ensure all attendees are seated prior to the show going live, and their competitors have largely followed suit.
  • The term "dark match" comes from the Memphis territory. Their 90 minute live studio show would be cut to 60 minutes to air in affiliated markets such as Nashville, Tupelo, or Louisville. "Dark" segments were those which would only be seen by the Memphis audience, and great care was taken to ensure that promos aired outside of Memphis wouldn't refer to matches or storylines from the "dark" segments.
  • AEW has taken to calling these "Lights Out" matches.
• Dates: When a promoter agrees to lend a talent to another promoter, they are said to give "dates" on that wrestler. Very rare in the modern era due to contracts and various legal issues, but this frequently happened in the territory days. In exchange for a favor or payment, a promoter might offer dates on a top star. André the Giant frequently got sent around the territories this way. Compare "shot," which is effectively a date from the talent's perspective.
• Dirt Sheet: Also referred to as a "scandal sheet" or a "rag". Term for a type of publication that sprung up in the 1980's which would break kayfabe to report on the backstage developments of professional wrestling promotions such as planned angles, match outcomes, and talent being hired or fired. The Ur-Example would be Dave Meltzer's The Wrestling Observer Newsletter which was the first such publication to gain widespread notoriety. Before the internet, these types of publications were cheaply produced and distributed as subscription-based newsletters which were not widely read except by the most dedicated fans. These fans would be christened "smart marks" or "smarks". The proliferation of the internet and the death of kayfabe after the 1991 steroid trial changed the nature of these publications and their distribution. Today a cottage industry of wrestling insider websites and podcasts exist, and wrestling fans are in on the scripted nature of the business to a much greater degree than they were before the early nineties. The term "dirt sheet" still refers to these publications, though it is largely The Artifact at this point.
• Disney Tapings: WCW's syndicated TV tapings held at Disney Studios in Orlando, infamous for their marathon taping sessions that would reveal months of storylines in advance^note While the syndicated TV was taped months in advance WCW Saturday Night was taped every 2 weeks and PPVs and Clash of the Champions shows were shown live, but everything had to match up with what's already been taped. Thus if you knew the results of the syndicated tapings you could pretty easily predict the results of everything else. This is why the WWF never taped more than 4 weeks at a time and always held PPVs after a taping cycle rather than in the middle of it. These shows were also notorious for their crowds, which were basically paid extras that were told who to cheer and boo. WCW did their best to exclude actual wrestling fans to prevent the taping results from getting leaked (and to prevent them from booing babyfaces that weren't getting over), but a couple would always slip through the net and blab about it to the (admittedly tiny at the time) internet wrestling fanbase. This massive breach of kayfabe was believed to be the final straw for the NWA, who cut ties with WCW shortly thereafter^note and never recovered.
• Double Cross: Has the same meaning in regular parlance, meaning a betrayal within a tag-team, stable, or even between friends, sometimes involving an authority figure corrupting one party.
  • An older meaning of the term is when a wrestler (usually in conjunction with the promoter) changes the agreed-upon finish to the match. This was common in the early days of wrestling, especially around the NWA World Championship which toured the territories. Promoters would conspire to double-cross the champion to have their guy win the belt and bring more prestige to their territory. This was why old-time NWA Champions were usually shooters and hookers (see multiple below) like Lou Thesz. They were usually tough and skilled enough to handle things if the match turned from a work into a shoot. The most famous instance of this older meaning is The Montreal Screwjob.
• Double Shot: When a wrestler works on two different shows in different venues on the same day. Much more common in the territory days.
• Double Turn: An angle where the face and heel wrestlers or teams will have effectively switched alignment in the course of the match or angle. One of the best historic examples would be the submission match between Bret Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIII. Double turns are regarded as very difficult to pull off, and are rare for that reason.
• Draw: A wrestler's real or imagined ability to convince a crowd to pay money to see them. This is the core of how the business works, wrestlers need to convince people to come see their matches in person, or on television or pay-per-view. Frequently used standalone, or in the term "Draw money" which means the same thing.^note During the territory days "draw" also referred to an advance against your upcoming payoff for road expenses. A wrestler that took too many draws because he was at the bar until close each night would see a pretty light paycheck.
• Drop: A verb used to describe losing a championship title to someone. (e.g. Jon Moxley dropped the AEW Championship to Kenny Omega)
• Dusty Finish: A finish named for its inventor Dusty Rhodes ^note It was actually first popularized by booker Eddie Graham, and likely invented long before that, but Dusty's overuse of it in the 1980s led to him being the namesake, wherein one wrestler, typically a babyface, wins a match only to have it reversed after the match on an obscure technicality (double-pins, a foot under the rope, etc.) This was used mostly back in the days when champions would tour different territories to challenge the locals, usually putting their title on the line. The local would pin the champ, only for the decision to be overturned, thus giving a reason for the champ to retain the title and resume touring, while giving the audiences some satisfaction in seeing their hero in a sort-of victory. This was once a pretty standard practice, but was dropped by the wayside after the advent of television shows, where audiences noticed the same finishes occurring over and over again.
• Exposing the Business: Any action that implies Professional Wrestling is less than 100% legitimate. This can include selling botched moves, two enemies being seen together in public, publicly admitting wrestling is a work, or a variety of other offenses. Since kayfabe isn't protected these days, this is no longer considered a big deal to most wrestlers under a certain age. In the days of the territories, however, this was a fireable offense that could even get one blackballed from the entire industry, depending on the severity of the exposure.
• Face–Heel Turn: When a good guy (babyface) wrestler switches sides and becomes a bad guy (heel).
• Face in peril: The member of a face tag team who is dominated by the heel team for an extended period of time, a tactic often used to get the crowd behind the face team and prepare for a hot tag. This wrestler is often said to be "playing Ricky Morton", after the wrestler regularly used in this role by The Rock 'n' Roll Express.
• Fallout show: A promotion's first televised show after a pay-per-view event. New storylines are often introduced, and consequences of the PPV explained.
• False Finish: A moment in the match that seems like the logical end, especially after someone hits a finishing move, yet someone still kicks out.
• Feed: When a heel intentionally runs into a babyface's offense and takes a bump. Typically done several times during the comeback to get the crowd excited.
• Feud: When two wrestlers fight several times over an issue or title, or when two wrestlers do a lot of build up to one single match, usually over a title.
• Fight off: When two wrestlers get into a fight by the ring and continue fighting until they reach the back. In the territory days, it was actually common for a babyface to do this to protect a heel from a hostile crowd.
• Figured in: To be part of a promoter and booker's long-term plans. Alternatively, to be getting paid very well by a promoter. Pretty much synonymous with a high degree of job security.
• Finish: A wrestler's Finishing Move. Traditionally, this was highly protected by a wrestler^note  usually by refusing to let someone kick out of it or only using it in once in the finish of a match and sometimes by a booker/promoter.
• Finish, The: Part of what is considered the classic four-part match structure: The shine, the heat, the comeback, the finish. The finish is the end of the match, typically with one wrestler beating another, but there are other options like a double count out or no contest.
• Finish Up: To prepare for a wrestler's departure by resolving anything that wrestler is involved in, such as alliances, feuds, or angles. Frequently involves the departing wrestler losing to a variety of people on the way out.
• Format: In the territorial days of wrestling, this was as close to a "script" as one would find. It simply listed the segments in order to give the announcers and production crew an idea of what was coming up (something every TV show does). Information was kept to a minimum to preserve kayfabe lest a fan or other outsider find one.^note Today formats actually are scripts, at least in WWE, with promos written out word for word. Formats are frequently leaked online, and usually mocked, but no one really cares because by that point the show has already happened. To give you an idea of how over-produced wrestling has become, formats in the Attitude Era were around 5 pages and before that maybe one sheet of a legal pad. In the 2020s they average around 40 pages.
• Freebird Rule: An unofficial "rule" allowing a stable with three or more members to challenge for and defend a tag team title with any two of its members. Named after The Fabulous Freebirds, who popularized this concept.
• Fuck Finish: Basically any finish that isn't considered a clear and decisive victory for one of the participants. Draws, countouts, disqualifications, the dreaded Dusty Finish (see above), manager interference, and getting the pin after the ref gets bumped and about 20 heels come down and beat up the babyface are all examples of fuck finishes. Contrast "Clean Finish" above. When done properly they help build (or extend the life of) an angle and draw more money in the long run, when done too often or when done at the wrong time (like in blowoff matches or at major events) fans start feeling like they're being ripped off and tune out. Too many of these finishes are believed to have not only killed off WCW, with the constant nWo beatdowns, but also WCW's predecessor company Jim Crockett Promotions (again, see "Dusty Finish" above). In polite company the term "screwjob finish", which is closely related but not exactly the same thing^note A screwjob finish puts the heat on the heel, a fuck finish puts it on the promotion, will usually be used instead.
• Future Endeavored: Fired. Comes from WWE's standard message for announcing releases, in which the company without fail "wishes [wrestler] well in their future endeavors."^note When WWE doesn't do this, either by giving a very curtly worded press release (like "WWE has terminated [X]'s contract") or not saying anything publicly and just leaking it to the dirtsheets, it's a pretty sure sign the wrestler in question was canned for some sort of serious disciplinary issue, rather than cost cuts or "creative has nothing for you".
• Garbage wrestler: A common synonym for "hardcore" wrestling; a style based more on brawling, weapons, and highspots than traditional working styles.
  • It can be said that there's two grades of garbage wrestling. The first, generally referred to as "hardcore" or "extreme" wrestling involves lots of foreign object use (primarily chairs, tables, and ladders, WWE even has a show called Tables, Ladders, and Chairs) but the these objects are usually gimmicked in some way, or worked with in the safest way possible (see "Plunder" below). Blood is often seen but only from the forehead via blading, fire and barbed wire is used sparingly. Stunts such as jumping off a high place onto an opponent laying prone on a table are commonplace. This style was popularized by ECW^note Though it traces its roots back to the Memphis territory and was heavily featured in the WWE during the Attitude Era and the Ruthless Aggression Era, today it is prevalent across all North American promotions.
  • The second type of garbage wrestling is what's known as "deathmatch" or "Ultraviolent" wrestling, which is like if someone read the above paragraph and said "Okay, but how can we make it really unsafe?" Window panes, fluorescent light tubes, explosives, power tools, and liberal use of barbed wire and fire are the hallmarks of deathmatch wrestling. These matches tend to be incredibly bloody thanks to the participants getting cut to shreds on real broken glass and razor wire because there's no real "working" involved, it's just people willingly and intentionally inflicting injuries on themselves and each other. Unlike the hardcore wrestling above deathmatch wrestling is mostly restricted to the VFW halls and Juggalo gatherings, though it's a bit more popular in Japan. These matches are absolutely despised by many in the wrestling business (WWE refuses to even acknowledge it) because it takes no actual talent and it casts the entire business in a very bad light.^note Jim Cornette is probably the most vocal critic of this type of "wrestling" and rightly so, as deathmatch promotion IWA-Mid South went so far overboard with it that they nearly got pro wrestling banned entirely in Cornette's home state of Kentucky, which caused a ton of hassles when he owned Ohio Valley Wrestling (which at the time was WWE's developmental promotion). Even to this day Kentucky is second only to New York in having the strictest athletic commission with regards to wrestling, and a handful of states (Maryland in particular, as evidenced by them slapping AEW with a $10,000 fine after Kenny Omega used a barbed wire broom in a match with Jon Moxley, along with a warning that any further trouble would lead to their show getting shut down and their promoter's license revoked) have rules in place that act as a de facto ban of this sort of "blood and guts" wrestling.
  • To sum it up, if two wrestlers are having a match that's dangerous, but if everyone behaves like a professional and everything goes as it should then everyone goes home with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, that's a hardcore match. If a trip to the emergency room is a certainty even if everything goes exactly to plan, that's deathmatch wrestling.
• Gas: Steroids. Can also be used to note a wrestler is blown up or exhausted from a match "out of gas".
• Gate: The money collected in ticket sales for a show. During the territory days (and today with some smaller promotions) wrestlers were paid a percentage of the gate, meaning more fans equaled better payoffs^note Of course what the promoter said the gate was and what the gate actually was were often two different amounts. This skimming was done more to screw the IRS and the state athletic commissions (who usually got a 10% cut) rather than the boys, though some promoters were known for going a bit overboard with it, though today television rights fees are the main source of revenue and wrestlers are on fixed contracts. Shows like WrestleMania and the NJPW Tokyo Dome shows can draw gates in the 8 figures, while WCW's Road Wild pay-per-views and Bash at the Beach 1995 drew a $0 gate because they were held at the Sturgis motorcycle rally and an actual beach in Southern California, respectively, free for whoever wanted to show up.
• Gig marks: Deep scars on the forehead that stem from a wrestler blading too often in his career. Abdullah the Butcher was infamous for these ^note  To the point that he used to put items in his scars, but most wrestlers who were on top for a long period of time before the '90s would have them to some extent. They became less common among North American wrestlers during the '90s due to TV networks cracking down on the amount of blood and violence in wrestling, and WWE banning blading outright at various points in its history.
• Gimmick: A character portrayed by a professional wrestler. This includes the character's moves, mannerisms, appearance, entrance music and promo style. Many wrestlers have several gimmicks throughout their careers until, if they're lucky, they find one that resonates and they stick with it through their career.
  • Also can refer to merchandise; often in the context of (in an independent promotion) merchandise directly sold by the wrestler or someone in his employ.
  • Can also, as a verb, be used in the context of altering a prop for visual effect. For example, gimmicking a table consists of sawing partially through it on the underside for a better breakage.
  • Can also be used to describe an object that a wrestler always carries with him (or has someone else carry for them) like The Undertaker's urn or Sting's black baseball bat.
• Go/Going Home: Enter the final sequence of the match (comeback or finish). Typically refers to being called as an audible, for an injury, a missed time cue, because the handful of muscle relaxers you took before the match just kicked in, or other sudden reason.
• Go-home show: A promotion's last televised show before a pay-per-view event. Promotions will typically not run house shows in the days immediately before a PPV, allowing the wrestlers to literally go home and rest up for the PPV.
• Going into Business (for Themselves): A wrestler who, for real, decides to ignore the script or refuses to cooperate with their opponent and does their own thing (e.g. leaving a match halfway, intentionally hurting another wrestler, referee, or even a fan without provocation, performing a dangerous spot without conferring with their partner). This is regarded as the highest form of unprofessionalism in wrestling, as wrestlers need to be able to trust each other to be able to work together and protect each other. Wrestlers who go into business for themselves are often quickly, sometimes permanently ostracized by the industry.
• Go/Going Over: To win a professional wrestling match. The opposite is to "put" someone over (see: Job).
• Going wide: Using the fixed-angle wide camera with no zoom for an extended period during a match. This is commonly due to an accidental cut or a wardrobe malfunction.
• Good hand: A wrestler regarded as skilled by other wrestlers. This isn't a synonym for "worker," as the emphasis isn't on action, but rather for being easy for other wrestlers to work with. This involves things such as not being too stiff, being in the right place for spots, and providing the right amount of assistance to the other wrestler. A particularly good hand can be referred to as a "night off." Can also be a form of damning with faint praise, as while other wrestlers may enjoy working with a good hand, a good hand may not have the necessary charisma or ringwork to be a star.
• Gorilla position: The area backstage immediately before the entrance ramp, or the senior agent placed there. The agent is responsible for cueing entrance music, and sending wrestlers out at the appropriate time, as well as ensuring they have any necessary props (weapons, championship belts, etc.) before hitting the ring. Named after the late Gorilla Monsoon, who fulfilled this role at many WWF TV tapings. Since communications technology was not readily available back then, the position also allowed Monsoon to signal the referees to wrap up a match by waggling his glasses. WCW called it the "Jody position", after Jody Hamilton, who often served in this role at its tapings; AEW calls it the "Dusty position" after Dusty Rhodes, late father of company cofounder Cody Rhodes.
• Green: Inexperienced, a rookie wrestler. Short for "greenhorn" and not exclusive to wrestling; it's a common term in many blue-collar jobs.
• Goozle: To choke, grab, or attack another wrestler by the neck. Sometimes the setup to the chokeslam.
• Guzzle: To completely dominate a match at the other wrestler's expense.
• Hardcam/Hardcamera: A fixed camera, typically positioned in the audience seats so that it can look down and capture the whole ring. Not only is this the most common view for home audiences, when wrestlers are delivering promos, they will often look directly at the hardcam. Floor cameras will generally be positioned on the same side of the ring as the hard camera, maintaining a consistent field of vision. Hardcams are also useful because a show can disguise an empty arena by having the live audience seated opposite the hardcam.
• Hardway: Drawing blood legitimately, without the use of a blade, either intentionally or by accident. When someone bleeds the "hardway" they typically had a cut or gash inflicted by a strike or a weapon and split open. Sometimes done intentionally, more often than not a mistake. Also used as a verb, to "hardway" someone is to strike them and draw blood. Brock Lesnar's forearm strike that split open Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34 is a good example of someone being busted open hardway.^note It's also a good example of why wrestlers use the blade, as both Reigns and Randy Orton ended up concussed in the process of being intentionally hardway'd thanks to WWE's strict "No blading" (but not "No blood") policy. The hardway was considered to be "good for the business" back in the day because many felt it made professional wrestling look legitimate.
• Heat: Heat can simply refer to a wrestler's ability to get a reaction from the fans. However, heat is usually used to describe the ability of a Heel (see below) to make the crowd hate him or her, with other kinds of heat being given other names. This is not a bad thing. Far from it. The more heat a heel has, the more the fans dislike them and want to see the babyface beat them, and is basically how the heel draws money.
  • Babyface heat refers to a babyface's ability to get people to like them and react loudly to them.
  • Backstage heat refers to legitimate anger between two pro wrestlers, or between any of the myriad backstage personalities, performers, and executives behind the show. This can lead to fights, disciplinary action such as de-pushes, suspensions, or even to people getting fired if the issue is detrimental enough.
  • A variant of Backstage Heat is Locker Room Heat, where wrestlers are unpopular with some or all of the other wrestlers in a promotion, but typically for things that wouldn't warrant disciplinary action (see The Miz being hazed in his rookie year for being a 'reality star' rather than a legitimate wrestler).
  • Canned heat is pre-recorded crowd noise edited into broadcasts or played over speakers.
  • Bad heat, sometimes referred to euphemistically as the wrong kind of heat, is when a match outcome or a character so offends the paying audience that they are effectively booing the product rather than the heel. This is exceptionally dangerous, as it can be mistaken for legitimate heel heat, and potentially damage a market if that heel returns in a leading role. For example, in the mid-90s when the Gangstas (a group of black wrestlers) debuted in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (a southern promotion with mostly white audiences), their racially charged promos drew loud boos, leading the promotion to think they were getting over as heels, but effectively killed live attendance in return meetings. If it gets really bad, sometimes to the point where the entire venue is about to riot and assault the wrestlers (see, again, the Gangstas), it's called Nuclear Heat.
  • A variant to bad heat that is so prevalent it has its own category is go-away heat, more famously known as X-Pac Heat, which is when a crowd legitimately hates a person on a wrestling show as opposed to hating the character a wrestler performs as and how it is presented in the context of the angle or match. This can happen for a variety of reasons.
    • Overexposure - this was how X-Pac became the Trope Namer, by regularly winning midcard and upper midcard matches against more interesting opponents without actually doing anything or evolving, despite being a talented performer.
    • A gap between push and the fans' perceived level of a wrestler's performance or entertainment value - this is the problem Roman Reigns faced for many years.
    • A real-life incident causing the fans to choose a side and rally against the wrestler they think was wronged, such as the case when Lita cheated on Matt Hardy with Edge and the fans turned on Lita and Edge. Edge managed to turn this heat to his advantage to become a top-line star, while Lita's career tanked as a result of it.
  • Having no heat, as in getting no reaction from the fans at all, is the kiss of death in wrestling. Wrestlers that get silence from crowds are usually quickly repackaged or told that their services are no longer required.
• Heat machine: Recorded crowd noise (cheers, boos, or chants for particular wrestlers) piped into the arena's PA system, used to encourage similar reactions among the live attendants. Can also refer to similar effects added in post-production. Can often become a thing of derision; such as when at one WCW PPV, referees were attempting to clean debris from the ring with loud cheers occurring at regular intervals. Largely a thing of the past. Or at least it was until the COVID-19 Pandemic, when WWE was forced to run shows with no fans. In their defense the heat machine was also being used in regular sports around this time.
• Heat, The: Not to be confused with Heat, but related to it. The Heat is part of what is considered the classic four-part match structure: The shine, the heat, the comeback, the finish. The heat is the part of the match where the heel cheats to gain an advantage.
• Heel: The "bad guy" or "villain" in a professional wrestling match or angle.
• Heel–Face Turn: When a bad guy (heel) wrestler switches sides and becomes a good guy (babyface).
• Heel program: When two heels feud with each other. Generally discouraged, especially in the old days, because the fans have no one to get behind, which is an important element of Wrestling Psychology. Sometimes done to set up a Heel–Face Turn. Compare Evil Versus Evil.
• Hey rube: A brawl. The term is antiquated but comes from the carny days when a wrestler or someone else involved in the carnival would get in a brawl with a mark and yell "hey rube" as a signal to others that they were brawling with a "rube" or mark.
• Highspot: Either a sequence of spots, a high risk move (legitimately and in Kayfabe), or a moment in a match where the crowd's reaction reaches its peak.
• Homesteader: Used in the territory days to describe a wrestler who never left a particular territory. Since most wrestlers cycled through the territories at some point in their careers, a homesteader was usually a wrestler who could only work in a specific territory due to their history and relationship with the promotion's fans that would be hard to recreate anywhere else. Sometimes this resulted out of loyalty, steady use, or great pay. The closest modern equivalent would probably be The Undertaker since he remained with WWE for thirty years and obviously couldn't take the gimmick with him had he left.
• Hooker: An archaic term, and the title of early NWA champion Lou Thesz's autobiography. What shooters are to performing wrestlers, hookers were to shooters; not only could they wrestle, but they knew how to hurt or maim someone.
  • The term's meaning changes with the times. Before the National Wrestling Alliance and for sometime afterwards, all champions such as Thesz would be hookers, in case someone tried to go into business for themselves. As the NWA territories became established so did the "hooking" practice of baiting fans into lasting a certain amount of time in the ring with a wrestler for a cash prize. In this case the "hooker" would know at least one hold that could quickly subdue an unexpectedly tough challenger, to prevent the promoter from having to pay up while also having the theatrical skills to let the suckers think they stood a chance. With the collapse of the territories, hooker tends to refer to someone a promoter or booker puts someone they don't like in a match with specifically to get them hurt (see policeman below).
  • British wrestlers often used the similar term "ripper", which not only connoted an ability to harm opponents in the ring, but also a legitimate mean streak and willingness to hurt others. Arguably the most famous "ripper" would be AWA wrestler Billy Robinson.
• Hope Spot: Often used in a Face-In-Peril situation, this teases the Ricky Morton's attempt to get the hot tag and let his partner take over to kick ass, only for the attempt to be quashed by the heel team.
• Hoss: A large wrestler with a well-built body, but often with little technical wrestling ability, sluggish in-ring style and sometimes not much charisma. Can be used as both a positive and a negative term.
• Hot shotting: Effectively, running the promotion in fast forward with rapid-fire can't miss angles, title changes, heel/face turns. While this can quickly burn out a booker, talent base, and paying audience, sometimes it's regarded as a necessary risk in order to build fan interest.
  • It can also refer to booking that is built at the spur of the moment and without a long-term plan. This can often lead to matches or angles that are developed out of nowhere and end just as quickly, leading to wrestlers who don't gain sustained pushes or satisfying payoffs (see Kofi Kingston's sudden push to the WWE Championship, and just as sudden loss).
  • Note that hot shot booking may not necessarily be bad. A wrestler may get injured or fall ill and derail an ongoing angle, perhaps even at the last minute before a show or pay-per-view, and something needs to be done to replace said wrestler.
  • Hot shotting was considered downright necessary in the territories if business fell in the toilet. A good booker, however, knew when to pull back so the hot shotting didn't burn out the fans and kill the territory's towns. Promoters also sometimes hot shotted to get a territory hot to sell it. This unscrupulous practice was done to make a territory look more profitable than it actually was and left the buyer holding the bag. The most unethical promoters would even buy the territory back at a reduced rate and then start the process again to sell it to yet another victim.
• Hot tag: The key moment in a tag team match. Typically, the heel team will isolate one wrestler from his partner, and then wear him out for an extended period of time. When the wrestler tags his fresh partner, typically this is the comeback for the babyface team.
• House: The paid live attendance for an event. As wrestlers have almost always been paid a percentage of the gate receipts, the term carries significant usage.
• House show: A live event not aired for television. House shows were once the bread and butter for wrestling promotions, with TV acting as a loss leader and advertising medium. Nowadays, they take a back seat to pay-per-views and television revenue.
• Hulking Up: The exaggerated movements, no-selling, and expressions associated with a wrestler's comeback. Although it's associated with Hulk Hogan, many other wrestlers, such as Jerry Lawler, have had similar routines.
• IWC: Internet Wrestling Community, the various websites, discussion boards, etc., where fans discuss wrestling.
• Japan tour: Professional wrestling in Japan doesn't run a consistent house show circuit, but rather "tours" of specific length, typically starting and ending in Tokyo. This allows for extended rest periods between tours for talent, shared travel and room accommodations, and allows rotation of talent between specific tours. Thus, many Western professional wrestlers will have made one or more of these tours, even if they don't otherwise work in Japan.
• Job: A loss in a wrestling match. The act of losing can be referred to as "jobbing", "to do/doing the job", "doing the honors", "doing the favors" or "putting someone over".
• Jobber: Also referred to as "job guy", "carpenter" and "enhancement talent", this is a pro wrestler whose primary purpose is to lose matches. These performers are important, as they are needed to build up new stars by giving them ring experience and someone to win matches against. Oftentimes Jobbers are some of the more experienced wrestlers in a promotion and work with young talent, sort of on the job training. The Brooklyn Brawler served in this role for a long time in WWE, and is still a trainer and agent behind the scenes. Although the term carries negative connotations today, professional jobbers were often highly respected within the industry. The term carpenter came from the expression "They can't draw you a house, but they can build one," emphasizing their importance in helping get other wrestlers over. Jobbers with unique skills, such as taking a specific bump or voluntarily dislocating the shoulder, were highly sought after and traveled from territory to territory to help get a wrestler or move over.
• Jobber to the Stars: Can mean two different things depending on who's using it.
  • Historically, it was used to refer to wrestlers who were so low on the totem pole they didn't always make it onto the shows, but who were still a step above the generic doughy no-entrance no-gimmick full jobbers. Unlike a normal jobber, who strictly worked television tapings, a jobber to the stars would work underneath on house show tours. They were usually given at least a little bit of time to shine in their matches, and might occasionally win matches against full jobbers or each other. The position was often given to young wrestlers seen as potential future superstars who needed more experience, and to veterans who the company didn't want to push anymore but who were valuable for their ability to make their opponents look good. The vast majority of jobbers to the stars would be considered babyfaces, as they would be used to build up the heel side of the roster in preparation for matches with higher-up babyfaces. Well known jobbers to the stars include Special Delivery Jones, Barry Horowitz, and The Gambler. This usage is falling off as the role itself isn't used much anymore, but as of 2021 AEW has a great example of one in Serpentico.
  • In more modern times, it's used to refer to wrestlers who always seem to be in or near the main event scene, but can't ever quite seem to win the big one. They may even be given a 'transitional' title reign, but in the long run they'll always come out looking inferior to the true superstars (The Rock, John Cena, etc...). Kane is a great example.
• Job out: To lose a series of matches when on your way out of a company. Called the "time honored tradition" by Vince McMahon during the famous "Bret screwed Bret" interview. As there's really no point in investing time and resources in a wrestler that's leaving by pushing them the only sensible thing to do is use them to help get other talent over. Depending on the acrimony of the promoter-wrestler divorce these can range from simple clean losses in competitive matches to outright burials.
  • "Job(bed) out" can also refer to a wrestler losing most (or all) of his matches as punishment for some sort of infraction. Triple H's burial in 1996 as punishment for the "Curtain Call" incident is the most widely known example of this.
• Juice: Typically synonymous was blood, i.e. getting juice, but it can also allude to steroids, especially when prefixed with the.
• Kayfabe: The art of presenting professional wrestling as a legitimate athletic competition. Up until the 1980's kayfabe was kept at all times, wrestlers never appeared out of character or acknowledged their lives outside of the ring. These days kayfabe refers more to the in-world context of specific parts of wrestling performance, e.g. someone suffering a "kayfabe" injured shoulder doesn't actually have an injured shoulder, they are pretending to for the purposes of a story line.
• Killing a town: An action or inaction that severely damages the houses in a particular town. This can include exposing the business in that town, poor booking, or a popular wrestler leaving. Note that some wrestlers used to kill a town on purpose, especially smaller towns, because they no longer wanted to work there. Can be instantaneous or stem from years of bad decisions. Ex: "The Sheik killed Detroit by staying on top for twenty years and refusing to do jobs." A town or territory that had been killed off was referred to as having "gone dark".
• King's Road: A style of Japanese pro-wrestling that emerged from AJPW in the 90s. It took the in-ring fantastical storytelling of American pro-wrestling, and stripped it of all gimmicks, feuds, or angles, as well as elements such as blading and submission holds being discarded. Matches could only be won by pinfall, and the narratives typically involved 'fighting spirit' and surpassing one's limits. Unfortunately, this translated to an escalation of dangerous stunts to increasingly raise the stakes, with wrestlers constantly resorting to using moves that dropped their opponents on their heads and necks. After Mitsuharu Misawa, one of Japan's biggest wrestling stars, died in the ring likely due to prolonged use of this style, it has since been largely phased out. See also 'Strong Style', the competing style of Japanese wrestling at the time and has had greater longevity.
• Light: Essentially, the opposite of stiff. A move that doesn't hit hard. Can be a negative quality in a wrestler though if the lightness makes the move look fake.
• Live-to-tape: For a TV production that isn't filmed all the way live, live-to-tape recording means that the show is recorded ahead of time, but it is recorded in order and with gaps for commercial breaks; the live audience is effectively seeing the same show that will air on TV later. The alternative is a "clip show."
• Locker room sellout: A match that the wrestlers themselves want to see and watch from the back, either because they know it's going to be great, terrible, or real life heat exists between the competitors.
• Loose or Light: Opposite of "snug" or "stiff", a wrestler that doesn't hit with any force and doesn't crank down on holds. Appreciated by the opponent unless it looks really fake, which it usually does. Most of the Rock n' Wrestling Era guys (Hogan, Savage, Warrior) were pretty loose workers. Sid, despite his reputation as being difficult to work with, has been said to actually work very light and safe.
• Main event: The primary ticket or PPV-selling match of a wrestling card. Often the last match of the card; WWWF/WWF/WWE house shows have historically put the main event before the intermission, giving the top wrestlers a chance to get out of the building without being mobbed, as well as allowing the promotion to use the main event finish to sell tickets for the next month's event (i.e., if a top heel was counted out walking to the back, next month's event could be a steel cage match, preventing such an escape).
• Mark: (1) An older derisive term for a fan that still believes wrestling is real, or a much more neutral term for any fan that has no connection to the business besides buying a ticket. (2) An insult to describe a fan, wrestler, or promoter that doesn't understand how the wrestling business works^note To quote Dutch Mantell, "Wrestling was a lot better when the marks were in the crowd and not in the ring". (3) To call yourself or someone else a fan of a particular wrestler, tag team, faction, or promotion; such as "I'm a Kevin Nash mark".
• Mid-carder: A wrestler who is over enough to be considered a popular wrestler, but is not over enough to consistently work main events. Mid-carders typically hold the majority of a promotion's secondary titles.
  • A related term is upper mid-carder, referring to a mid-carder who can transition to the occasional main-event programs, or even back again. Chris Jericho and The Miz famously spent most of their careers as upper mid-carders, even though they main-evented several major events^note Jericho main-evented WrestleMania X8 and lost to Triple H, Miz defeated John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27 and won the main titles before.
• Milking: Drawing a move, angle, match, or spot out to maximize the reaction. Generally, bookers and wrestlers want the audience anticipation at its highest before executing something to get the biggest reactions and draw the most money.
• Monday Night Wars: A period of time when WCW's Monday Nitro went head-to-head with then WWF's Monday Night: RAW for ratings supremacy, starting in 1995 with the debut of Nitro. WWF started out strong, but lost ground as the nWo storyline took off. At one point WCW won the ratings battle for 83 weeks, before ultimately losing out and closing in 2001. The final episode of Monday Nitro aired on March 26, 2001.^note That final Nitro was also WCW's last wrestling card, with the majority of the WCW employees being let go two days later. However, that wasn't WCW's last broadcast, the final episode of WCW Worldwide (which was just a clip show with no matches shown in full) aired on April 1, 2001 and had commentator Scott Hudson wishing the fans goodbye.
• Money mark: Usually an insult. An independent wrestling promoter who runs a promotion to get himself over as a wrestling star or player in the wrestling business, rather than as a legitimate promotion. It is widely, though not totally, accepted that this was Dixie Carter's reason for buying and operating TNA for many years. AEW's Tony Khan gets (justifiably) accused of this as well.
• Monster: A wrestler, typically a heel but sometimes a babyface, who is booked to win matches in a quick, decisive fashion to make them look intimidating and unbeatable. If a heel is a monster, often they'll go through the entire roster until the top babyface finally finds a weakness to exploit. If a babyface is a monster, they'll often go undefeated for a long period of time. Note that monster and hoss can sometimes overlap, but a monster need not be a hoss. It's more about the presentation.
• Mouthpiece: A manager or other on-air personality who does all of the promos for a wrestler due to their lack of promo skills.
• Muta Scale: An informal measure among some fans of the amount of blood shed in a match. The scale starts at 0 (no blood), with 1.0 Muta being equivalent to the blood loss of The Great Muta in an infamous 1992 NJPW match with Hiroshi Hase. A small handful of matches have been rated above 1.0.
• New Generation: A shift in WWE (then-WWF) programming starting after the steroid trial in 1993. After Hulk Hogan left the company, WWF turned to wrestlers like Bret "Hit Man" Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Lex Luger, and Yokozuna to become its top stars. The New Generation era focused on smaller, more athletic wrestlers and moving from the cartoonish gimmicks of The '80s "Rock and Wrestling" era to gimmicks where wrestlers had to take a second job^note Among them a wrestling country singer, a wrestling stock car racer, and a wrestling IRS agent. Jim Cornette (who was on the creative team for most of this) refers to this period as the Occupation Gimmick Era. The New Generation Era is considered to be from 1993-1997, before WWF transitioned to the Attitude Era, and is considered a low point in WWF history both financially (the WWF posted a net loss for FY's 1994 and 1995) and creatively.
• No-Sell: Not reacting to an opponent's move, as if it didn't hurt them at all. Unplanned No Selling is considered a major dick move for making the other guy look weak and/or undermining kayfabe, but it can be used legitimately to convey that a wrestler is just that tough.
• No-Show: When a wrestler or other employee deliberately misses a show or other event. Usually happens due to contract, pay, or creative disputes.
• Office, The: (1) The promotion, promoter, booker, or non-wrestling staff in general. (2) A squeeze of a wrestler's or referee's forearm by a wrestler (also often called "the Iggy"); can be used as a signal to signify the wrestler is selling and not legitimately hurt after a rough move, tell another wrestler to lighten up on a hold, or various other meanings.
• Out: An explanation for a wrestler's loss so that said wrestler doesn't appear weak for losing. Typically done to continue a feud or to move a wrestler on to a different feud if the "out" in question is outside interference from a third party. Ex: Edge attacked John Cena during his match with RVD to give Cena an out.
• Outlaw promotion: An archaic term for a specific kind of independent promotion. In the days of the territories, professional wrestling was essentially a series of regional monopolies. Outlaws tried to break those monopolies by running against the established promoters, who were often affiliated with the NWA. "Outlaw" shows generally featured weaker talent and wackier characters and angles. This is partly because wrestlers who worked for outlaw promotions could be blackballed and partly because outlaw promotions were even more notorious for having No Budget than the territories. The term "outlaw" is also used as a catch-all insult (mainly by Jim Cornette) towards anyone or any promotion deemed unprofessional, more or less the wrestling equivalent of "bush league".
• Over: How popular a performer, angle, or match is with the crowd.
• Overbooked: Too much stuff going on in a wrestling match. Either too many gimmicks or stipulations in the match, or too many people involved in the match.
• Oversell: When a wrestler sells a move in an unrealistic and exaggerated way. Heels typically do this when a babyface makes a comeback to get the crowd even more excited, but the most famous example comes from the infamous Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan match wherein Michaels oversold Hogan's offense to get back at Hogan for refusing to have more than one match by putting Michaels over.
• Paid Show: A show where the promoter, instead of collecting money through ticket revenue, is paid a flat fee in advance for putting on the show. Whoever is paying (usually the owner of the building the show is in) collects the gate and concession revenue. Largely done by smaller promotions^note often as a fundraising effort, for instance a high school will run one in their gym to raise money for the football team and are usually spot shows, though WWE also runs paid shows with the "Crown Jewel" events in Saudi Arabia.
• Paper: Complimentary tickets (hence the term "comped") to televised shows, allowing for the appearance of a larger crowd than would pay to see such an event. Historically, nearly all TV shows gave tickets away free of charge (although many would have long waiting lists for such events), as TV events were shot in small venues and would feature multiple tapings per one attendance with few "marquee" matches. WCW was notorious for doing this even for bigger shows during their down period in the early 90s, leading their PPVs to be mockingly referred to as "Paper-views" by smarks^note And it still didn't really work, even with free tickets and the entire crowd herded over to the hard camera side tons of empty seats can be seen. The WWF was also papering some PPVs during the New Generation era, of the 60,000 people at 1997 Royal Rumble (held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX) somewhere in the neighborhood of a staggering 18,000 were comped, and most of the paid tickets were heavily discounted. With weekly traveling TV productions, promotions such as WWE are typically able to charge full freight for live attendance to their programs.
• Payoff: The amount of money one receives for working a single show. This used to be determined primarily by the house, but now wrestlers in larger promotions are paid on a contractual basis. A payoff can also refer to the conclusion of a feud and usually sees the babyface go over.
• Phantom Bump: A bump taken for no logical reason because the person taking the bump was never hit by anything. Usually the result of a misunderstanding, miscommunication, or mistiming.
• Piece, A: When a wrestler has a stake in a promotion or a town. Wrestlers in the territories who became essential to the business of a town could negotiate for a percentage of a town's gate or even a percentage of the territory. Notable examples include Jerry Lawler for Memphis, Bruno Sammartino and Gorilla Monsoon for the WWWF, and the Briscos for Georgia.
• Pillmanize: To "break" a wrestler's ankle, arm, or neck by placing it between the seat and headrest of a steel chair, and then stepping or jumping on the chair. Named for Brian Pillman, whose real-life ankle injury in a 1996 auto accident was sold for storyline purposes as the result of an attack of this type by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
• Plant: A wrestler, stagehand, or actor, usually seated in the front row, who poses as a fan. Sometimes the subject of an attack by a heel; also occasionally "randomly selected" from the crowd to take part in a match or storyline. For example, on the April 16, 2007 episode of Raw from Milan, Italy, Santino Marella was a fan who Vince McMahon selected as a Challenger for Umaga's Intercontinental Championship. The unknown Marella scored a surprising upset and won the WWE Intercontinental Championship with an assist from Bobby Lashley. But in reality, Marella had been wrestling since 2002 and had been in WWE's development system since 2005. Note that sometimes large numbers of "fans" can actually be plants. WCW in the '90s would hire models to sit at their television, which gave the impression that attractive people liked their product and reduced the number of black children appearing on their television. ^note  Since WCW taped in the middle of Atlanta, many local kids, predominantly black, regularly attended tapings, much to the dismay of executives.
• Plunder: The assortment of weapons and paraphernalia wrestlers can/will use in a match, including but not limited to tables, chairs, trash cans, kendo sticks, chains, fire extinguishers, bags of flour, barbed wire, and thumbtacks. Many of these weapons are either found around or underneath the ring, and are almost always gimmicked (unless some production crew screws up).
• Policeman: A tough wrestler who can physically punish an opponent in the ring for slights against the promoter or locker room. In the earliest days of professional wrestling, a policeman effectively acted as a bodyguard for the champion to protect him from hostile challengers. As the number one contender, the policeman would have to be beat before the challenger could take on the champion, with such matches actually constituting "shoots."
• Politician: A wrestler known for getting themselves or their friends top positions on the card and keeping those positions by influencing the promoter and/or booker. Politicians are also sometimes responsible for getting bookers to bury talent. Despite this, politicians often remain popular among the other wrestlers in the locker room due to their ability to play both sides. (In)famous politicians include Hulk Hogan and The Kliq. Also called a locker room politician or backstage politician.
• Pop: A sudden loud cheer from the crowd, usually for a babyface wrestler making an appearance, a comeback or scoring a win. When it gets cranked up to eleven, it's called a Road Warrior Pop.
• Potato: A stiff or painful punch, delivered intentionally or accidentally.
• Popcorn match: Historically, the match after the intermission in an arena show. This would typically be a slowly-worked match with no key gimmick or top star, encouraging the fans to take their time at the concession and merchandise tables. Can be something of a rehab assignment, giving an injured wrestler an easy night's work. Crudely referred to as the "piss break match" these days and has basically replaced the intermission.
• Powder/Powdering Out: A wrestler escaping a ring, often after sustaining attacks from an opponent.
• Pre-show: A free TV program aired before the start of a pay-per-view event, also known as a kickoff show. Usually shown either via streaming on the promotion's website or social media outlets, or on a promotion's normal TV outlet. Serves the same purpose as a pre-game show for televised sports, and often features preliminary matches.
• Program: An extended feud with multiple meetings, designed to reach a desired conclusion and set the wrestlers up for new programs with other wrestlers.
• Promo: An interview, skit or monologue delivered by a wrestler in-ring, backstage, or in a vignette. Delivering or performing a promo is known as "cutting a promo". If the promo has a specific target, that person is said to have had the promo cut "on" them by the wrestler who delivered it. Ex: "The Rock cut an epic promo on Billy Gunn." Can also be used in a behind-the-scenes context if a wrestler yells at another. Ex: "Dusty Rhodes cut a promo on Bubba Rogers for dropping a jobber on his head."
• Promoter: The head of a wrestling company or federation. The boss. The man in charge. The equivalent of a film/television Executive Producer. The most famous example of a Promoter would be Vince McMahon, owner of WWE.
  • The term promoter can also refer to live event promoters, responsible for booking house shows and TV arena shows in the buildings under their control. These individuals arrange the times and dates with the building managers, and arrange local advertising in exchange for a piece of the gate. For example, WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome was promoted by Zane Bresloff, who would later promote live events for WCW. In territory days, some promoters (in this sense of the term), such as Paul Boesch in Houston and the Tunneys in Toronto, had their own local specialized TV, and would often feature wrestlers not associated with the talent office they were aligned with.
• Protected: Anything (can be a person, particular weapon, spot, or wrestling move) that is considered effectively sacrosanct by the booker and/or promoter. A protected wrestler doesn't lose often, a protected move wins matches very frequently, protected officials aren't touched by wrestlers.
• Pullapart: Two or more brawling wrestlers being pulled apart and/or held back by a crowd of 'security guards' or referees. Typically done outside of matches during a storyline segment.
• Push: Putting a wrestler in a position to succeed and draw money. This is typically done by having the wrestler win matches, putting them in favorable angles where they look good, and giving them high profile matches against quality opponents in highly visible settings. Typically means to have the pushed wrestler win the world title.
• Push/Pushed to the Moon/Rocket Push: When a performer is pushed very suddenly and very quickly to a prominent spot on the card. Possibly even the world championship. Same as Strapping the Rocketship (see below) to a performer. Sometimes this is done to a new character or a newly-signed free agent to establish them as a major player. The phrase "pushed to the moon" is often used derisively in hindsight when this happens to a character but they failed to get over.
  • Example: In spring 2017, Jinder Mahal was pushed to the moon, receiving a WWE Title reign that lasted until November of that year. (Long by 2017 standards.) This was largely because WWE had a major tour of India planned, and wanted to have a champion of Indian descent holding the belt. Once the tour was over, Mahal lost the title and has slipped back into midcard obscurity, as he failed to get over with fans. His reign was marked by lackluster or offensive promos, mediocre matches, a failure to win matches cleanly, and the perception that he had been elevated beyond his abilities.
• Put Over: To lose a match to someone. Alternatively, to make another wrestler look good, even if the person putting over the other wrestler comes out on top, to the point that fans see the wrestler being put over as an equal after the match or angle.
  • Related to this is the term "Showing Ass", which is to do things that will make your opponent look like a legitimate threat regardless of if the opponent is winning (and especially if he's losing), and can be said to be the difference between just doing a job and actually putting someone over. Contrast most of the matches between The Undertaker and Mick Foley (which were mainly Foley beating the hell out of Taker until Taker used his "supernatural powers" to make a comeback and gut out the win) to the matches between Hulk Hogan and Billy Kidman (which were Hogan beating the hell out of Kidman until Kidman won with a fluke pin, at which point Hogan just went right back to beating on him.) The term usually only comes up in conversation when complaining about wrestlers that don't do it; Hogan^note Perhaps an even better example of Hogan not showing ass was completely no-selling a powerbomb from 450 lb. Big Van Vader during the build-up to their match at Superbrawl V. This made the outcome of the Hogan-Vader match a forgone conclusion (as if it wasn't obvious already), and the poor PPV buyrate for Superbrawl reflected this, in addition to completely turning the crowd against supposed heroic babyface Hogan, though this would actually come in handy when Hogan turned heel about a year later, Triple H, Jeff Jarrett during the early years of TNA, and to a lesser extent John Cena and Brock Lesnar^note The most blatant example being his match with Dean Ambrose at WrestleMania 32, where he refused to do any of Ambrose's spots and basically treated him like a jobber. While this is somewhat understandable on Lesnar's part (especially considering some of the things that Ambrose has done now that he doesn't have Vince telling him "no") the match came off looking really unprofessional and the WWE braintrust would have been much better off booking both guys with someone they were more comfortable working with were/are the most frequent targets for those complaints.
• Rat: A female fan who attends the matches to sleep with the wrestlers. Also called a "ring rat". Rats are less common now as the wrestling fanbase becomes more dominated by 18-49 year old men, but they were prevalent within the industry before the 2000s.
• Receipt: A stiff or shoot punch delivered in response to the same, or to an insult.
  • An insult or promo delivered in response to an insult.
• Ref bump: When a referee is knocked over during a match, usually by accident, and often leaving them unconscious for several long minutes. With the ref out, the heel can use underhanded tactics without consequence, and the face can't win the match legitimately.
• Repackage: To take a wrestler off house shows and TV for several weeks and bring them back with a new gimmick, name, or both.
• Resthold: A hold, such as a side headlock or reverse chinlock, that can be applied with little effort, and has little context in the match's storyline. Restholds are used when wrestlers need a moment to catch their breath, or can't think of what to do next. Frequent use of restholds are a sign of a poor worker.
  • "Resthold" also used to be a derisive term for long, drawn out holds applied very loosely by unathletic and/or lazy wrestlers. Yokozuna was notorious for these, his near 10 minute "nerve hold" on Lex Luger at WrestleMania X being one of the more famous examples^note In fairness Yokozuna still had to work the main event with Bret Hart later on and needed to conserve his strength, and no one really cared about the Yoko-Luger match to begin with. As these types of wrestlers have long since disappeared from the business this use of the term has fallen by the wayside.
  • It should be noted that resthold began as a derisive term among smart fans (Dave Meltzer is believed to have coined the word), and many old-timers, such as Al Snow and Jim Cornette, don't recognize the term as legitimate wrestling terminology.
• Rib: A practical joke played by one wrestler on another. A frequent occurrence on the road and in the locker room. Although any wrestler can be a victim of a rib, they are even more commonly played on new wrestlers to test them. Wrestlers who commit ribs are called "ribbers". Infamous ribbers include Mr. Fuji, Curt Hennig, and Owen Hart.
• Ribbing on the square: A practical joke meant to make a point; a wrestler on the receiving end of one of these has typically offended the wrestler playing the prank or the rest of the locker room in some manner.
• Ring General: Not to be mistaken for a Four-Star Badass, a ring general is a very skilled, very experienced, and very respected worker, and are often locker room leaders. Ring generals are known for their professionalism and reliability to produce quality matches while keeping their opponents safe, and even though they may not be main eventers or title holders, they will often be the ones calling the shots and setting the pace in a match against younger, more popular wrestlers. Famous ring generals include The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Ric Flair, and Bret Hart. Less famous but no less respected ones include Christian, Dustin Rhodes, and Christopher Daniels.
• Road Warrior Pop: A crowd reaction named for The Road Warriors. An extremely loud pop, usually louder than the typical pop for even the top babyface. The Road Warriors were usually tremendously popular wherever they went, and would almost always generate the loudest pop, or crowd reaction, of the night with their entrance.
• Rock and Wrestling: Basically, The '80s. Wrestling exploded with the proliferation of cable and pay-per-view. Regional promotions (territories) began to vanish as WWF and NWA/WCW quickly emerged as the two largest promotions in the country, fighting for dominance. WWF took the lead with stars like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, André the Giant, The Ultimate Warrior, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Roddy Piper, and Jake Roberts. WCW built around established, primarily southern stars like Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes; as well as developing new talent such as Magnum TA (whose career was cut short in a horrific car accident) and Sting. Staple events WrestleMania and Starrcade were both created during this time, as were secondary events Survivor Series and tThe Great American Bash.
  
  WWF aggressively bought out many territories during this time, such as Calgary Stampede, Maple Leaf Wrestling, Houston Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling. WCW (based mostly off of Mid Atlantic Wrestling) consumed Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid South Wrestling, and Championship Wrestling from Florida. The only other major promotion was Verne Gagne's AWA which managed to limp into the next decade, until finally dying in 1991 after losing most of its top-tier talent to WWF. Both companies entered an Audience-Alienating Era following the boom, and wouldn't truly emerge until the Attitude Era.
• Rub: Putting a new or lower card wrestler with a more popular wrestler in hopes of getting the less popular wrestler over. EX: "Brutus Beefcake was given the rub by putting him with Hulk Hogan."
• Run-in: Any time a wrestler who is not announced to be in the match appears, typically to interfere and help a wrestler who is participating.
• Running opposition: When one wrestling promotion runs house shows, television, or pay-per-view against another. All "outlaw" promotions did this by design, but even larger promotions, such as WWE, can do this to try to hurt competitors.
• Ruthless Aggression Era: Typically seen as lasting from 2003-2008, this era of WWE programming followed the Attitude Era. It is marked by the decision to split the enormous WWE roster into two separate brands (Raw and SmackDown). The SmackDown Six emerged on the "blue" brand led by Paul Heyman creatively. Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Edge, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero became the brand's centerpieces. This era also saw the emergence of the famed Ohio Valley Wrestling (then a WWE developmental territory/school) Class of 2002. Headlined by John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, and Batista; most of this group would go on to become major main event players for the company for the next decade-plus. Those four, alongside Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, and Edge, were considered the headliners of the era, with Kane, Big Show, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield generally making up the second tier.
• Sandbag: Not providing the necessary assistance for a "lifting" move such as a bodyslam or a suplex. Can be done unintentionally out of inexperience or a mistime, or if intentional, it's a spot, a rib, or deliberate non-cooperation (which is extremely unprofessional, when done on purpose it's sometimes called "lead ass").
• Schmoz: A chaotic brawl between a crowd of wrestlers, usually to close out a show and leave it as a cliffhanger for the next episode or Pay-Per-View.
• Screwjob: An unfair ending to a match, often involving cheating and/or an authority figure to cause some distraction that costs a wrestler (often a babyface) the win. Done right, it can keep heat on a program for a bigger rematch. Done poorly, or done too often, can kill interest in the feud or promotion. Also called a "fuck finish." It can also be a shoot (real life), where a change to the finish of the match is made between the promoter and one of the participating wrestlers without telling the other. Considered incredibly unscrupulous and unprofessional, the most famous example would be the Montreal Screwjob, but a lesser known and earlier example would be the match between Wendi Richter and The Fabulous Moolah, where Richter was screwed out of a finish and stripped of her Women's Championship because she refused to sign an extension to her contract unless she was properly compensated (she was being paid far less than some of her male counterparts despite being almost as big a draw).
• Scripted: For a long time, something of a dirty word in the wrestling business. In the past, both matches and promos were largely improvised by the talent, with broad direction given by the booker. Beginning in the 1980's, some wrestlers such as Randy Savage would begin planning matches move-for-move, and even rehearse them with their opponents ahead of time. Nowadays, nearly all matches and promos are planned in such a manner, in order to meet tight time restrictions on the television product.
• Shine, The: Part of what is considered the classic four-part match structure: The shine, the heat, the comeback, the finish. The shine is where the face comes out to gain an early advantage and demonstrate that they are the superior competitor, thus establishing the heel's need to cheat and employ underhanded tactics.
• Sell: Pretending to be hurt to make a wrestling move look painful, or to convince the audience that a performer is suffering an injury where none exists.
  • Sell can also refer to a reaction generally. If a wrestler doesn't react to a rib, he or she is said to have not sold it. This can extend to botches or other mishaps where a wrestler is expected to remain calm and not break character.
• Seven-Year Rule:: Coined by Jim Cornette to describe the amount of time before it's acceptable to reuse an angle or gimmick, with the thought being that enough of the audience has changed and enough time has passed to have not seen or forgotten the previous use of that angle or gimmick.
• Shoot: To fight for real with real attacks and holds. This can be done intentionally, such as a performer throwing "shoot" punches to try and inflict believable damage for the purposes of the performance (such as getting color the hardway, see multiple above). It can also be done when two wrestlers have a personal issue. It can be done by mistake, a wrestler not pulling their punches, or an opponent not preparing to take a move or blow correctly.
  • Also to use personal or real life issues in a promo or interview either for humor or to make the content more vicious. Such as when A.J. Lee told the Bella Twins that it was unfortunate that talent wasn't "sexually transmitted", as the Bellas were dating John Cena and Daniel Bryan at the time^note Brie eventually married Bryan and were not perceived to be great wrestlers in their own right.
  • Anything that involves a pro wrestler publicly breaking kayfabe is a shoot, including positive things, such as an interview where Jimmy Jacobs praises his hated enemy Delirious.
• Shooter: Someone who has a legitimate fighting background. Shooters are revered even amongst wrestlers as tough guys as someone that even they don't want to fight in Real Life. In the old days most pro wrestlers were legitimate amateur wrestlers, some with impressive pedigrees. Verne Gagne was a two-sport All-American for example. Brock Lesnar was an NCAA and UFC Heavyweight Champion. Kurt Angle won an Olympic Gold Medal (with a broken freakin' neck). Some guys were just tougher than nails and nobody wanted to fight them, most notably Haku/Meng, who was one of the few people André the Giant was legitimately afraid of.
• Shootwrestling: A Japanese style of professional wrestling that became very popular in the 1980's and early 90s^note A UWFI pay-per-view aired in the US, only one month before the first UFC. Under various rulesets, promotions, and names, these promotions eschewed virtually all "cooperative" professional wrestling moves in favor of something appearing much more competitive and "real" looking. Largely came out of New Japan's "King of Sport" mentality, with stars such as Maeda, Sayama, and Fujiwara having been recruited by Inoki from legitimate combat sport backgrounds. Many of these promotions, such as RINGS, would later forego fixed outcomes entirely and become part of the first generation of Japanese MMA. One lasting impact of shootwrestling was that the popularity of their "all clean finish" format more or less permanently eliminated "brawl to the back" finishes that the major promotions used to use to protect top stars.
• Shot: A scheduled appearance for a promotion. Typically used in the context of a single or limited number of appearances in exchange for good pay or as a favor to the promoter. Ex: "Jim Cornette agreed to make a shot for Paul Heyman in exchange for an apology for Heyman's handling of the NWA tournament."^note Heyman was actually supposed to apologize to then-NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo, who was made to look like a fool when Heyman double-crossed him. According to Cornette the apology was never given, which is why you never saw him in ECW again, though he notes that he was paid $750 cash (despite saying he didn't want money, just the apology) and that Heyman paid for a steak dinner for Cornette and Coralluzzo and a limo ride from New York City to Philadelphia and back.
• Sickness, The: Refers to the multitude of drug addictions and premature deaths (particularly of prescription drug overdose and/or heart attacks due to steroid-induced left ventricular enlargement). For a "fake" sport, professional wrestling has a very real and very horrifying body count.
• Sloppy: A match with a lot of botches, miscues, near-injuries (or just injuries), etc... or a wrestler known for having such matches. Most rookie wrestlers are this by default, because they're rookies and haven't been around long enough to get any good yet.
• Smart: Knowing that professional wrestling is a work and having at least a rudimentary knowledge of how it's worked. "Talking smart" meant using wrestling terminology in front of others. To "smarten up" meant to educate someone to the business and its finer points.
• Smart Mark or Smark: A fan that understands the finer points of wrestling and keeps up with the business aspect of the sport (see "Dirt Sheet" above) as much as they do with the in-ring action and storylines, but doesn't have any actual connection to the industry. Though once quite rare (and almost unheard of outside of the Northeast) the overwhelming majority of wrestling fans today can be considered smarks thanks to the death of kayfabe, the internet, and many popular wrestling personalities doing podcasts and shoot interviews that expose the business.
• Snug: If being 'stiff' is to deliver legitimate strikes, then being 'snug' is to put on legitimate submission holds.
• Spot: A move predetermined to happen in a match, including the reaction by the opponent. While the outcomes of pro wrestling matches are decided in advance, most of the action is improvised, with the exception of spots at key moments.
  • A Spot can also be a wrestler's position on the card, which is highly sought after and protected.
• Spotfest: A derisive term for a match that emphasizes spots and highspots over Wrestling Psychology.
• Spot Monkey: A derisive term for a wrestler whose matches consist of highspots instead of psychology and often refuses to sell moves. Whether a wrestler counts as a spot monkey can be very controversial in fan circles.
• Spot show: A house show performed in a location that is not a regularly scheduled town. Typically involves (or involved, the term is more or less synonymous with "house show" nowadays) a subset of a touring crew working a shorter card. Historically, these often overlapped with paid shows.
• Squash Match: A quick and overwhelming victory. The vast majority of matches involving jobbers are squash matches.
• Stealing a House: Getting a one-time bump in business by using a wrestler who has no chance at longevity. A promoter might come across a local celebrity, sports star, or a person with a unique quality who wants to be used in the wrestling business, though the person in question has no talent. The promoter will utilize their top wrestlers or best workers to help build a match with the subject. If done correctly, the promotion will see a temporary increase in business because of that match, but the match can only be done once per town (or once nationally) since the fans will see the attraction lacks talent and won't want to see it again.
• Stable: A group of three or more wrestlers who form an alliance.
• Stiff: A punch or move that hurts more than it should for being performance. Someone whose moves are this way is said to "work stiff" or be a "stiff worker", either as a deliberate choice to enhance the danger and seriousness of the fighter, or just by accident. Stan Hansen was a notoriously stiff worker, mostly because he was so blind without his glasses that he couldn't see his opponent to pull his punches.
  • "Stiff" (or usually "big stiff") can also refer to a wrestler that has a lot of muscle but very little agility, making them pretty hard to move around the ring. Sid, Ultimate Warrior, and Kevin Nash in the latter half of his career are examples. Ironically most big stiffs aren't stiff workers.
  • "Stiff" can also refer to a mean-spirited remark or rib considered beyond the acceptable boundaries of locker room etiquette. These actions or remarks can often be the basis of legitimate heat (animosity) between wrestlers.
• Stooge: A wrestler, manager, or road agent who acts as a "spy" for the promoter, informing them of any indiscretions committed by the wrestlers on the road. Longtime WWF manager Mr. Fuji, who was very much one of these, was often called "Fuj the Stooge" on WWF TV by opposing babyfaces, and former road agents Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson would become the on-air "stooges" during the Attitude Era.
• Strap the Rocket Ship to (Performer): To give a performer a huge push, typically involving a World Title win and lengthy reign. This is usually only used in reference to a young wrestler's first big main event push. Once this process is complete a performer will either have proven themselves as a main event draw; or they will return to the midcard to regroup and have their character adjusted.
• Stretcher job: When a wrestler is injured badly and carried out on a stretcher. Used to get another wrestler, angle, gimmick, or move over due to the gravitas of the situation.
• Stretching: The act of physically harming aspiring wrestlers in the ring, both to drive off uncommitted wannabes and humble future trainees. Usually by way of holds meant to strain or other cause discomfort. Not done so much anymore, out of legal fears and the fact that many wrestlers nowadays are not trained shooters. Stretching can also be somewhat synonymous with shooting, though stretching is exclusively applied to former amateur wrestlers who can legitimately hurt opponents with holds. Ex: "Lou Thesz could have stretched most of the locker room if he wanted to."
• Strong Style: A style of wrestling that incorporated realistic/stiff martial arts or MMA-style strikes, kicks, and submission holds while eschewing the high-flying, bombastic moves. Originating in the 90s from Japan's NJPW, whose wrestlers often came from legitimate martial arts backgrounds, the style has influenced and permeated throughout the wrestling world. See also "King's Road/Royal Road", a style from NJPW's rival company AJPW. New Japan's dominant role in the Japanese professional wrestling scene since the early 1980's, and the numerous successor promotions created by its stable of volatile personalities, "strong style" tends to be frequently misapplied to New Japan-adjacent movements such as "shootwrestling" or all Japanese wrestling.
• Swerve: Originally meant to con someone, but has since come to reflect a style of booking where an unexpected event occurs in the opposite direction of where the angle seemed to be heading. The term is heavily associated with Vince Russo. Let's say, for example, that a company had an angle building that implied Bob was turning on Steve. A swerve would have Steve turn on Bob. A swerve could also have a completely unrelated talent turn on Bob for no adequately explained reason. Compare Ass Pull
• Sword: Synonymous with a blade. The instrument one uses to cut oneself. The main difference between the two words is that sword is always a noun, while blade can be either a noun or verb depending on the context.
• Take care of: This can mean different things in different contexts, but it's usually used to describe when a wrestler looks out for another wrestler in a match due to inexperience or injury so the other wrestler doesn't get hurt or hurt worse. Generally, it's the opposite of taking liberties. This might involve calling an audible or working light if there's an injury or giving more guidance in a match than normal for an inexperienced opponent.
• Take liberties: To shoot, or inflict actual pain on someone during a match in a manner that was not agreed upon beforehand. This is not the same as working stiff or working strong, or a botch that causes injury. This is to beat up the other performer and hurt them legitimately for no reason, typically while limiting or negating their ability to fight back. This is considered a dick move of the highest order. When John Layfield beat up The Blue Meanie at the ECW One Night Stand pay per view in 2005, he took liberties with the Blue Meanie^note A couple nights later (with the blessings of WWE management) Stevie Richards knocked Layfield out cold with a shoot chairshot during a match, see "Receipt" above. This is still a step below "going into business for yourself" which also involves going against the previously decided finish. Note that a key element in taking liberties is a power or experience disparity between the person taking liberties and the person on the receiving end. An experienced wrestler in a position of power is unlikely to face this situation because the person taking liberties is likely to be fired, receive "receipts" from the other wrestler, or both. A good example of this is when Hardcore Holly took liberties with Matt Cappotelli during an episode of Tough Enough. Holly got away with this but certainly would've been fired if he had pulled that with someone on his level or higher.
• Territory system: Refers to the system of promoting professional wrestling in the United States until the rise of national wrestling promotions. This was a de facto monopoly in which each promoter held exclusive rights to promote wrestling in a given area of the country. With the exception of the AWA and the WWWF (from 1963 to 1971), these promotions recognized the NWA World Champion.^note While the territories are long dead the NWA title still exists, the assets of the National Wrestling Alliance were purchased by Smashing Pumpkins frontman (and longtime wrestling fan) Billy Corgan in 2017, shortly after his failed attempt to purchase TNA. The NWA is now just a single promotion rather than an alliance of many that has a show on FITE TV and YouTube, as of January 2023 Tyrus is the champion.
• Transitional Champion: Someone who wins a title from one performer to pass it to another who couldn't beat the old champion for whatever reason. Usually because they were both babyfaces. Sometimes because a champion had a looming injury or suspension and there wasn't time to build a match with the other performer, so they drop the title to their current opponent. Bill Goldberg's 2017 WWE Universal Title win is an example; there wasn't time or interest in building a feud between then-champion Kevin Owens and Brock Lesnar, so Goldberg beat Owens and lost the title to Lesnar a month later at WrestleMania 33.
• Tweener: Short for In-betweener. Refers to a wrestler who is neither a strict heel nor a strict babyface. Compare Anti-Hero.
• Underneath: The bottom half of a wrestling card, typically working matches before the intermission. Wrestlers working underneath are the lowest full-time wrestlers in a promotion, typically only ranking above part-time TV jobbers. In the territory days, underneath matches would have shorter time limits and restrictions from the booker (no two men on the floor at the same time, no color) in order to not eclipse the top wrestlers.
• Vanilla Midget: A term popularized by Kevin Nash to describe a small wrestler who lacks personality.
• Virgin crowd: A crowd that has never been exposed to live professional wrestling or hasn't experienced it in a long time. Considered very easy to work back in the day because they reacted to everything more than other crowds. Sometimes the result of returning to a "killed" town after a prolonged absence of several years.
• Visual Pinfall: A pinfall that is seen by the crowd and commentators, but not the ref, so it doesn't count (see "Ref Bump" above). Usually done so a losing babyface isn't just jobbing flat and can legitimately say he got screwed over ("I had you beat and everyone saw it, but you took out the ref!"), making a rematch an easy sell to fans, provided they care about the guys to begin with. A "visual tap-out" is the same thing, but with a submission hold.
• War: When two wrestling promotions are heavily competing against each other and trying to drive the other out of business. Historical wars include The Sheik's territory vs Dick the Bruiser's, Ann Gunkel's war with the Georgia territory, Jerry Jarrett's war with Nick Gulas, and the WWF vs WCW in the Monday Night Wars. Can result from running opposition. Often leads to a brief boom period for one or both promotions^note But not always, TNA tried running head-to-head with Monday Night Raw and got absolutely slaughtered, not only failing to put a dent in Raw's ratings (which actually went up thanks to counter-programming with stuff like the first face-to-face meeting of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels since the Montreal Screwjob 12 years earlier) but losing over 50% of their own viewers in the process and never getting them back, followed by a decline, which is why the territory promoters tried to avoid them.
• Wednesday Night Wars: The period when AEW's Dynamite went head-to-head with WWE's NXT for ratings supremacy, starting in October 2019 with the debut of Dynamite. The "war" proved to be one-sided, with AEW winning the ratings battle almost every week, both in total viewership and in the key 18–49 demographic^note Though keep in mind that Dynamite was beating WWE's developmental sub-promotion, not the shows that the wrestlers you'll see at the "Premium Live Events" (aka PPVs) appear on. Monday Night Raw gets one and a half times the viewers Dynamite does at minimum, Smackdown (which has the benefit of being on network TV) does anywhere between double and triple the ratings AEW pulls. The war ended with WWE moving NXT to Tuesday nights starting April 13, 2021.
• Work: The opposite of a shoot. The art of constructing believable storylines and matches to further the fictional story told in pro wrestling.
  • Work is also a wrestler's ability to perform in the ring. And can also refer to any performer's ability to immerse the audience in the product. The best wrestler may not always be the best worker.
• Worked Shoot: An angle or promo designed and executed in such a way as to attempt to convince the viewers it was real, spontaneous or unplanned. CM Punk most famously delivered a worked shoot promo (the "pipe bomb") on Raw on June 27, 2011 about the state of WWE and why he was planning to leave it.
• Worker: A wrestler's ability to get the audience invested in themselves and/or their opponents. This can apply to knowing what moves to use and when to use them or knowing what to say to get the reaction you want. Note that a great worker isn't necessarily a great wrestler and vice versa. A classic example of a worker vs wrestler would be Dean Malenko, who could outwrestle 95% of any roster but never managed to connect with the audience at the level of anyone above a mid-carder. Meanwhile, Jerry Lawler could hardly outwrestle anyone in real life, yet Memphis wrestling fans came to see him for decades because of his ability to connect with them.
• Working the Boys: A type of worked shoot designed not just to fool the fans into thinking it's real, but also to fool the other wrestlers in the locker room. These are quite rare, mainly due to their tendency to go from a worked shoot to just a shoot, often causing problems off-camera^note To give two examples, the real-life hostilities between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and the hostilities between Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman started off as total works designed to fool the locker room (and by extension the dirt sheets). This sort of angle also gave birth to the real life love triangle between Kevin Sullivan, Chris Benoit, and Nancy Toffoloni.
• Wrasslin': A term used to denote wrestling in parts of the southern United States. Often employed more violence, blood, and personal feuds than territories further north. This style developed because smaller territories in the South had to draw from smaller population centers, so the promoters and bookers would keep people coming back with grudges and blood. Also called "Rasslin" or "Memphis style".
• Wrestler's Court: A Kangaroo Court proceeding backstage, with respected veteran wrestlers as "judge", "jury", and "prosecutor". Wrestler's court was used to mediate disputes between wrestlers or punish behavior considered unruly to the locker room, usually by some sort of compensation in terms of gifts and/or favors. Wrestler's court is now considered very controversial, as many feel it was often used as a tool to haze younger wrestlers, and has largely been phased out since around the beginning of the PG Era in the late 2000s.
• Wrestling Psychology: In-ring acting ability, which includes both portraying a consistent attack strategy, and ability to sell the other guy's blows. Good psychology is what make a match look more like a believable competition, and less like two guys taking turns hitting each other until one of them suddenly loses. Psychology also involves knowing what to say and what to do to get the Intended Audience Reaction. Moreover, a wrestler with good psychology can be considered a good worker, but a good wrestler with bad psychology could not.
• X-Pac Heat: Refers to genuine hatred/dislike of a wrestler, not because that wrestler is a heel but because the fans don't want to see that wrestler anymore. Also called "go away heat", "go home heat", or simply "the wrong kind of heat".

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