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WRESTLING LINGO YOU ARE TRYING TO GET INTO THE VOCABULARY


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Hey wrestling fan!  There are terms I have read and some terms I have thought of that I think should be used as shorthand to describe a specific thing that is kinda cumbersome to explain.  Let's list them and the marketplace of ideas will decide if they are worth repeating.

 

WORLDWIDE MATCH: Based on the matches taped for WCW in four day blocks that were used for usually a three month period.  The matches had to not get in the way of changes to the heel/face structure or title changes. Thus, the match was totally cold- in that there was no build up to the match, sometimes without a heel.face structure and the story of the match was usually self-contained, beginning and ending in the ring.  I use this term for any match where the psychology of the match and execution is based on the moment at hand and not relevant to any other match and where the entire story begins and ends between the bells.

 

What else you got?

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Having watched a bunch of Guerreros matches on NWA Classics 24/7, I'm leaning towards "Stuttering Heat" as the way their matches are structured, lots of little heat segments with little comebacks, sometimes leading to hot tags, sometimes just leading to the babyface coming back and having a mini shine within the match and a non hot tag switch after a time usually leading to another quick cut off and more stuttering heat. I've seen three matches like this now (vs Fantastics, vs Madril/Lothario, and the 6-man vs RnR/Lothario).

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I think we should use Zodiac as a term for a match that is everything you could have possibly wanted, until the finish kind of ruins it for you.  About a month or so ago I watched Steiners vs. Williams/Gordy from 6/16/92, and it was going so well until it ended on a chop block.  It is kind of like the movie Zodiac.  I watched it in the theater and thought I was watching one of the best movies of my life until it ended without actually resolving anything.  I sat in the theater and watched them search for a killer for 2 hours and 37 minutes, and they don't find him.  So the movie just ends, and you have a feeling who the killer might be, but you aren't really sure. 

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He doesn't mean wrestling terms we use in real life, but your personal terms for different things in wrestling and its own lexicon. I mean I think most of us have used "mark" or "no-sell" or whatever in conversation before just because we are fucking weirdos. 

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MORALES: Since this is becoming more common in WWE at the moment, this would describe most of the middling part-timers (think Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, etc.)- people who, for all intents and purposes, are JTTS's at the moment- but years ago, they were a main eventer, and they're sold as greater than just the average JTTS due to them having been a main eventer at that time. 

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I replace "piss break" with "palate cleanser".

This is my term for a match in a dead spot on the card eg. A random divas match or tag match that takes place between main events on a PPV.

Say we have Lesnar v Undertaker. There needs to be something between that and Cena v Rollins. Nothing big or too built up, just a light match to give the crowd a chance to relax before getting fired up again for the main.

Thus "palate cleanser".

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He doesn't mean wrestling terms we use in real life, but your personal terms for different things in wrestling and its own lexicon. I mean I think most of us have used "mark" or "no-sell" or whatever in conversation before just because we are fucking weirdos. 

 

I have a relative who works for Google and all he does is post on FB about how awesome Google is, like they can do no wrong.  I want to refer to him as a fucking mark but nobody would understand.  Sometimes wrestling terms are the only kind that sum it up.

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I will humbly submit the "Albert Arc" - when a guy gets brought in as a scary bad-ass but eventually ends up as comic relief. Why specifically Albert? Because it hapened to him twice!

Prince Albert became Albert became Hip Hop Hippo

Lord Tensai became Tensai Became Sweet T

At least he got to be head trainer at NXT.

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I think we should use Zodiac as a term for a match that is everything you could have possibly wanted, until the finish kind of ruins it for you. About a month or so ago I watched Steiners vs. Williams/Gordy from 6/16/92, and it was going so well until it ended on a chop block. It is kind of like the movie Zodiac. I watched it in the theater and thought I was watching one of the best movies of my life until it ended without actually resolving anything. I sat in the theater and watched them search for a killer for 2 hours and 37 minutes, and they don't find him. So the movie just ends, and you have a feeling who the killer might be, but you aren't really sure.

I'm not sold on the word, but I like the concept. Flair/Vader comes to mind

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I don't know if this is something I came up with on my own (and it's a borrowed term anyway) or if it was already in parlance, but I've always used "weekend TV" to describe short, one-sided squashes and inconsequential throwaway bouts of questionable quality (i.e. if a match feels like it wouldn't have been out of place on Wrestling Challenge or WCW Pro).

I've also fallen into the habit of describing any simple, one-dimensional "larger-than-life" style gimmick as a "Saturday morning cartoon show", in reference to how shows like Superstars in the late 80s/early-mid 90s with their colourful parade of warriors, cackling millionaires, hillbillies, race car drivers, plumbers and garbage men were never out of place as part of kid-friendly TV marathons of Raccoons, Animaniacs, Galaxy High, Real Ghostbusters and Flintstones summer re-runs.

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Cold Tag

 

The moment towards the end of a Japanese tag match where a vet/high ranked guy tags in a rookie/low ranked guy and the crowd groans because the finish is imminent and it's obvious who's going over. Like when Kobashi tagged in Go Shiosaki when freakin' Sasaki or Tenryu were still in the ring.

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I always called the jobbers "prelims" which I think I picked up from Superstars of Wrestling magazine (Power Slam forerunner) or some such, although I think it was Alan4L who said when he was a kid he called them "weaklings", which is a term I wholeheartedly advocate.

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I always called the jobbers "prelims" which I think I picked up from Superstars of Wrestling magazine (Power Slam forerunner) or some such, although I think it was Alan4L who said when he was a kid he called them "weaklings", which is a term I wholeheartedly advocate.

I think the apter mags used "prelim bums" a lot. . . .

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I think we should use Zodiac as a term for a match that is everything you could have possibly wanted, until the finish kind of ruins it for you. About a month or so ago I watched Steiners vs. Williams/Gordy from 6/16/92, and it was going so well until it ended on a chop block. It is kind of like the movie Zodiac. I watched it in the theater and thought I was watching one of the best movies of my life until it ended without actually resolving anything. I sat in the theater and watched them search for a killer for 2 hours and 37 minutes, and they don't find him. So the movie just ends, and you have a feeling who the killer might be, but you aren't really sure.

I'm not sold on the word, but I like the concept. Flair/Vader comes to mind

 

Yeah, Zodiac is just the first example I could think of something I really liked except the end.  Zodiac could also be used for a dude who was in a failed gimmick, only to be repackaged into a worse gimmick.

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Me and my friends came up with the phrase "Viscera pop" during Royal Rumble 2000. The crowd is getting big into the countdown gimmick and a lot of bigger stars had just come out. They are really active on the countdown. Then Viscera's music hits and a very loud collective GROAN echoes across Madison Square Garden from wall-to-wall. Not cheers, not boos, not silence...GROANS.

Not to be confused with the "Rob Conway pop" which is when someone's theme music hits and they saunter to the ring to the sound of their music...and complete silence from the crowd.

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I always used to describe the last bits of hair clinging to a mostly bald guy's head as his 'Hogans'. Nowadays bald guys shave their Hogans off though.

 

I remember a few people tried to get 'Angle Advancement Match' into the vocabulary, meaning something that is announced as a match but ends in a quick DQ or a walk out or something. But 'Piece of Business' works better.

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I always called the jobbers "prelims" which I think I picked up from Superstars of Wrestling magazine (Power Slam forerunner) or some such, although I think it was Alan4L who said when he was a kid he called them "weaklings", which is a term I wholeheartedly advocate.

 

I can't remember who used the term, I think it was Rob Naylor, but whoever it was called jobbers "wimpies". That immediately replaced jobber in my vocabulary. 

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