Are you new to pro wrestling? Or do you have friends or a family member who talk about pro wrestling and you don’t know what they are talking about? Well here are some terms to know in order to further understand what pro wrestling fans are talking about.
Angle – An angle is a complete storyline going on during a feud.
Babyface – A babyface, or face, is a good guy during a feud. The babyface is usually the one that the fans get behind and cheer for.
Backyard Wrestling – Backyard wrestling is exactly what it sounds like, wrestling that takes place in someone’s backyard. Backyard wrestling is often very dangerous because it’s usually done by kids and teenagers who haven’t been trained and don’t know how to correctly execute the moves.
Bait and switch – A bait and switch is when the writers are making the fans believe that one thing is going to happen then they suddenly switch to something else in order to shock the fans.
Beatdown – A beatdown is when multiple wrestlers attack one wrestler and gang up on him.
Blade – A blade is usually a small razor blade that a wrestler has hidden on them somewhere.
Bladejob – A bladejob is what a wrestler uses the blade for. Often during a match one wrestler will want to bleed to add to the drama of the match. The wrestler will use the blade hidden on him to cut his forehead since the forehead contains no major arteries or veins.
Blown Spot – A blown spot is when a wrestler does not execute a move correctly.
Blowoff – The blowoff match is the final match in a feud where everything is finally settled.
Booker – A booker is the person who is in charge of writing the angles for the wrestling company. There are often several bookers which are referred to as the booking team.
Bump – A bump is when a wrestler falls down in order to make a move look real.
Buried – When a wrestler is continuously told to lose thus killing any kind of momentum their character may have had is being buried.
Buyrate – The buyrate is the amount of show sold for a pay per view.
Card – The card is the scheduled list of matches for a given show.
Carry – When one wrestler is really good and does the bulk of the work in the match in order to compensate for a poorer wrestler it’s considered carrying the match.
Cheap Heat – Cheap Heat is when a wrestler does something that will easily get them booed like insulting the fans or the city they are in.
Cheapshot – A cheapshot is when the wrestler cheats by doing an illegal move like a low blow or a chairshot.
Count Out – A count out is when a wrestler gets disqualified for being outside the ring for too long. A count out is usually ten second.
Curtain Jerker – A curtain jerker is a wrestler that is normally reduced to wrestling on the first match of the show, which means he is not a big enough star to be in the main event.
Dark Match – A dark match is a non televised match at a TV taping.
Double Turn – A double turn is when a face and heel will simultaneously both change sides. The best example of this was a match between Steve Austin and Bret Hart. Austin started the match as a heel and Hart as the face. By the time the match was over Austin was a face and Hart was a heel.
Draw – Being able to draw means being able to get people to view your product.
Drawing Power – Drawing Power is how many people a specific wrestler can get to view the product. For example the Rock has a lot of drawing power because people will come to the show to see just him and his merchandise will sell really well.
DUD – Matches are often rated using a number of stars like movies. A DUD is basically a rating of zero.
Extreme – Extreme is a style of wrestling that often includes jumping off high places and hitting each other with weapons.
False Finish – A false finish is when the fans expect the math to finish but the wrestler suddenly kicks out.
Filler – A filler match or skit is something that is added the show with no purpose other than to fill TV time.
Finish – The finish is how a match ends.
Finisher – A finisher is a wrestler’s signature move that they typically use at the end of the match to win.
Foreign Object – A foreign object is an object that is used in the match as a weapon like a chair, table or brass knuckles.
Full House – A full house is an arena that is sold out.
Garbage Wrestling – Garbage wrestling is a style of wrestling that doesn’t take much wresting skill. Garbage matches usually tend to have nothing but punches, kicks and hitting each other with weapons.
Gimmick – A gimmick is a wrestler’s character.
Gimmick Match – A gimmick match is a match that some kind of stipulations other than just a normal wrestling match like cage matches or ladder matches.
Going over – The wrestler who goes over in a match or feud is the one who wins.
Heat – The amount of crowd reaction a wrestler or match gets.
High Spot – A move that is executed from a high place like the top rope.
Hoss – A hoss is a term that is used for a wrestler who is very big but not very talented.
Hot tag – A hot tag takes place in a tag team match. One wrestler is being dominated in the match and he finally makes a tag to the fresh wrestler who then begins to dominate the match.
House Show – A non-televised show.
Interpromotional – A match, feud, angle, or show involving more than one promotion.
IWC – IWC stands for the Internet Wrestling Community.
Job – A job is what it is called when you are booked to lose a match.
Jobber – A jobber is a wrestler who is continuously booked to lose matches.
Jobber to the stars – A JTTS is a wrestler who is considered to be above the regular jobbers but never beats any of the main event wrestlers.
Joshi Puroresu – Joshi Puroresu is Japanese Women’s wrestling.
Juice – Juice is another term for blood.
Juiced – Someone who is juiced looks like they are on steroids.
Juniors – The Japanese term for cruiserweight wrestlers.
Kayfabe – The illusion that everything in wrestling is real.
Kickout – A kickout is when a wrestler escapes from a pin attempt.
Luchadore – A luchador is a male Mexican wrestler.
Lucha Libre – Lucha Libre is Mexican Wrestling.
Main Event – The Main Event is the match at the top of the card that happens at the end of the show.
Mark – A mark is a fan who believes that what they see is real.
Midcard – The midcard are the matches that take place in the middle of the card.
MOTYC – MOTYC stands for Match of the Year Candidate.
No Selling – No selling is when one performer does their offensive moves and the other worker acts as if the moves aren’t hurting them.
Over – A wrestler’s overness is the level of reaction they get from the crowd.
Pinfall – A pinfall is when one wrestler pins the other for a three count to win the match.
Push – A push is one a certain wrestler is being put over to win a lot of matches in order to gain a lot of popularity.
Rope Break – When a wrestler is in a submission move they can reach the rope and the wrestler will have to let go of the hold.
Rub – A rub is when a top performer tries to get a lower performer some recognition just by associating with them.
Run in – A run in takes place when one wrestler not in the match comes down to the ring and attacks one of the wrestlers in the match.
Screwjob – A screwjob is when a wrestler loses because he was cheated by the other wrestler or an interfering wrestler.
Selling – Selling is the art of acting as if your opponent’s moves are hurting you.
Shoot comment – A shoot comment is when a wrestler doesn’t go by the script he is given and isn’t in character but rather says something that is about real life.
A shoot fight – A shoot fight is a real fight.
Smart Mark – A smart mark is a fan that is clued up on the business and knows about all the rumors and backstage on goings, usually because of the internet.
Spot – Any kind of move or situation in a match.
Squash – A squash is a match in which one wrestler completely dominates the other wrestler.
Stable – A stable is a group of wrestlers that have joined forces.
Stiff – A stiff worker is someone who hits hard and legitimately hurts his opponent.
Turn – A turn is one a wrestler makes a transition from a heel to a face or vice versa.
Tweener – A tweener is a wrestler who is not a heel or a face but somewhere in between.
Valet – A valet is a woman who accompanies a wrestler to the ring.
Worker – A worker is another term for a wrestler.
Workrate – A wrestler’s workrate is their ability to perform a good match.
