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Wrestling Tropes You Love / Hate


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When A accidentally punches the ring post (or something) and B starts working over the hand until a disadvantaged A throws a big punch with the injured hand but can't follow up because they're selling. Perfect intersection of brave & stupid that most babyfaces should aspire to - I see a lot of posts in this topic about "good babyface stupidity" and I'm pleased.

Luchadores blading their chins.

Joshi-style kickouts via bridge (why does this not happen more?)

Using your wrist tape to choke someone.

Nothing in the hate column could possibly approach non-lucha heel refs.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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1 hour ago, Eoae said:

This.  I can kinda understand it when a cowardly, chickenshit heel tries to run away from the match in a blood feud (since he kinda knows the babyface will kick his face in in an even fight).  I hate when the babyface does it, which is a trope the WWE books way  too often.  Nothing says "I hate you and have been waiting months to get my hands on you" like locking the wrestlers in a cage and having the babyface try to climb over the top of the cage 90 seconds into the match.

I understood it in the olden days, even if I didn't like it as much as pin or submission cage rules.  Like Bruno Sammartino would beat the living shit out of the heel and then leave in disgust like, "I've had enough of you."  But it's devolved in the ensuing years into a gimmicky, less violent climbing contest and who wants to see that?

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I've always hated it in tag matches when the ref would disallow a tag by the face in peril because he didn't see it but would always believe unseen tags by the heels.

I do like it when the heel on the apron claps loudly to make it sound like they made a tag when the ref's back is turned.

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1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

I understood it in the olden days, even if I didn't like it as much as pin or submission cage rules.  Like Bruno Sammartino would beat the living shit out of the heel and then leave in disgust like, "I've had enough of you."  But it's devolved in the ensuing years into a gimmicky, less violent climbing contest and who wants to see that?

There's a few Bruno cage matches on YouTube that are worth a watch. As a kid I saw Backlund in a few cage matches and he would dominate about 75% of the match and the heel would try to escape the few times he got an advantage.  Also other territories like LA with Blassie and Detroit/Toronto with The Sheik used escape the cage rules, but they would do the lame ending of the face accidentally knocking the heel out of the door.

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20 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

There's a few Bruno cage matches on YouTube that are worth a watch. As a kid I saw Backlund in a few cage matches and he would dominate about 75% of the match and the heel would try to escape the few times he got an advantage.  Also other territories like LA with Blassie and Detroit/Toronto with The Sheik used escape the cage rules, but they would do the lame ending of the face accidentally knocking the heel out of the door.

Cool!  I wonder if Snuka/Muraco was the first time WWF did that same lame ending?

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discussing Alexa Bliss in the RAW thread just reminded me of this one:

HATE:  when segments exist in a vacuum.  Used to think it was mostly an e-fed problem where everyone is off writing (producing) their own segment on their own and thus has no idea how to possibly weave interconnections into the rest of the show.  No, this is increasingly a problem for the real thing.  A specific subset of the larger "nobody watches the show" or "nothing backstage exists unless the camera catches it" or "all cameras are hidden/nobody knows they're being filmed" phenomena.  Characters are largely hermetically sealed inside their own angle and not only that, never seem to have thoughts/opinions/reactions/awareness of anything else going on up or down the card, with the sporadic exception of calling "next" on whoever wins the upcoming World Championship Bout. 

When Ole turned on Dusty, Georgia Championship Wrestling filled an entire episode of the weekly show just with everyone on the roster cutting a promo on how shocked, disgusted and dismayed they were that Ole turned out to be no good after all (or, in the case of the heels, jubilant that they had their buddy Ole back).  It was their biggest deal of an angle at the time, and they drove that point home by having EVERYONE have an opinion on it.

Conversely, when everyone is in the bubble of their own plot thread, they don't care about even the main event angle.  And if they act like it doesn't affect them in any way, if they don't care, why should we?  It gets especially silly when, JUST FOR EXAMPLE, someone gets set on fire.  I'm pretty sure I would have a reaction and an opinion if someone got set on fire at my workplace, even if I wasn't involved directly or hell, even if I wasn't on the job site that day.  Yes, I know we all got sick of Tony Schiavone and Larry Z ignoring the hour of cruiserweight bouts in front of them to talk exclusively about the current status of the NWO/WCW war but surely there is a middle ground?

And as a matter of fact there is. 

LOVE: when disparate plot threads weave together, impact each other and culminate at the same time.  The Raven/Richards vs Pitbulls Dog Collar match and the parade of run-ins during its 3rd fall being a famous example, but even something as simple as a Six Man Tag involving 3 different singles feuds.  I was reminded of this because in discussing Alexa Bliss' fiend antics I remembered back in September there was this awesome visual of Roman Reigns holding up the belt as he came to the ring, meanwhile Bliss is heading back up the ramp after her match, and suddenly she stops, turns, and stares daggers at Roman/the championship belt.  Why? It's the men's belt, it's got nothing to do with her.  But she's The Fiend's agent (still semi-unwittingly at the time) and The Fiend absolutely does care about Roman/the belt, so it's logical to have her to do something in the margins on The Fiend's behalf that furthers that story, while she happens to be there, instead of obliviously walking to the back like she's no longer on camera because her segment is over.

Just generally giving the audience rewards for paying close attention, instead of wrestling feeling like it's punishing you for paying too close attention.

When segments exist in a vacuum, they look faker.

Unintended Consequences should exist, and matter.  Also, it plants seeds that can sprout into the next cycle of feuds.

 

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1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

I've always hated it in tag matches when the ref would disallow a tag by the face in peril because he didn't see it but would always believe unseen tags by the heels.

I do like it when the heel on the apron claps loudly to make it sound like they made a tag when the ref's back is turned.

rudo refs are easily overdone/overexposed.  CLUELESS refs hamstrung by dumb rules and/or getting worked by savvy heels who know the loopholes is great and reminds the audience all too much of shitty officiating in real sports (which is still the most effective way to get heat, as you know if you or someone you know has ever screamed at the TV about how there's no way that wasn't pass interference)

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31 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

As a kid I saw Backlund in a few cage matches and he would dominate about 75% of the match and the heel would try to escape the few times he got an advantage.

There is a tremendous Backlund/Patterson cage match that we posted here not long ago. Patterson told Bob before the match "if you don't stop me, I WILL get out of the cage" so both were scrambling like mad the whole time. It was far more even feeling and a real masterpiece of work thanks to Pat's psychology. Pretty much the best 'escape the cage' match you'll ever see. 

 

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58 minutes ago, BobbyWhioux said:

rudo refs are easily overdone/overexposed.  CLUELESS refs hamstrung by dumb rules and/or getting worked by savvy heels who know the loopholes is great and reminds the audience all too much of shitty officiating in real sports (which is still the most effective way to get heat, as you know if you or someone you know has ever screamed at the TV about how there's no way that wasn't pass interference)

I love a good clueless ref but, like, you work with Arn Anderson every week!  You know he's not a good person!  Why do you implicitly trust him even though you just saw him hit poor Tom Zenk in the balls?

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same reason they let Bill Belichek film his opponents, or Pete Carrol tell his guys to hold every play, or going further back Mike Shanahan & Bill Walsh teaching their linemen the legwhip.  Or John Madden's guys playing with casts that turned their hand into a mace.

the loophole the heel always exploits is that, in the name of "objectivity" you're not allowed to use your foreknowledge of what a cheating shitbag they've been 13 weeks in a row.  You have to catch them red-handed all over again this week.

besides, people tune in to see Dusty kick Arn's ass, not to see Dusty get a pyrrhic DQ victory. Yeah, you could call holding every play, they are holding every play, but if you did it'd take 8 hours to play and you'd get fired for driving off the audience and everyone would think you're making it all about you.

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I always hate when cowardly heel turns face and suddenly turns into a brave, no fear ass kicker overnight.

Reigns/Owens is a difficult one to buy here. Last time they had a program in 2017, Reigns disposed of him fairly effortlessly outside of assistance from Jericho etc.

Now they're trying to sell it as Reigns being scared of having to face him again for the third time. Nah.

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I honestly think you guys are discounting the trying to powerbomb Kidman thing.  Seriously, if you were a wrestler, and you were wrestling Billy Kidman, wouldn't your first thought be, "Oh, I'm going to powerbomb the shit out of this scrawny little motherfucker?"

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3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Cool!  I wonder if Snuka/Muraco was the first time WWF did that same lame ending?

They had done it before, the most famous being Superstar Graham and Bruno in Philly the night before Graham dropped the strap to Backlund. I also saw Muraco beat Rocky Johnson with that finish in Pittsburgh a few months before the famous Muraco-Snuka MSG match. That was the finish your were going to get if it was a heel champ.

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I can't stand the WWE "Stupid Shocked Face" after a two count. Especially when it's done after the guy/girl hits their opponent with a secondary move that never gets a pin. I remember Baron Corbin being really bad about that after hitting opponents with his Deep 6.

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The Austin Aries spot where he will do the dropkick is stupid. Just like the Kidman spot it was overdone. 

When a worker would work a masked guy and have every chance to go after the mask yet not do it. 

Heel champ with a manager should theoretically never lose. The manager could automatically get DQ'd if his guy was in peril. 

Fans with gimmicks. ROH streamer guy is the most recent I can think of.  Dude it's not about you it's about the guys in the ring which brings me to

Evil commentators. Not heel but evil. There is a huge difference between Bobby Heenan and Michael Cole (when he was heel)'

Ring announcers getting themselves over instead of the workers. JRose I'm looking right at you. Not every intro has to be over the top. When Bruce Buffer does it you can at least identify the fighters name he is saying. With JRose you cannot.

Ladder matches in general. You can always tell the guy climbing the ladder is waiting for someone else to get into place. It's dumb and happens in every ladder match.

Battle Royals when half the guys just lay down waiting for their turn to do a spot. I noticed this with the Rumble and right now on AEW as I type this. At least 7 guys are just laying there while 2 others do a spot. 1 guy gets up and rinse and repeat. 

 

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All (of the best parts) (that differentiate it from other entertainments/sports) of pro wrestling is tropes. I am still pondering this topic, but some very generalized thoughts on the cage match escape styles:

Cage matches as a race to escape is misapplied logic (always a dangerous thing to bring near rasslin') - "Hey, why wouldn't I rry to get out before (the Heel)?" sez the young finisher-filled Babyface. The concept of the cage match here is to incapacitate your opponent so you can walk out and win. But these workers are putting logic where emotion should be. The match is really so the anger-filled babyface can trap the cowardly heel in the ring with the cage (which can be used as a weapon, so I've been told) so REVENGE & BLOOD can be exacted. As a feud-ender, the face should be furious going in there, as well as anticipatory and determined NOT logical and devious. Of course, there are always different and unique ways to book any match, so it is delightfully possible be surprised., even by these young kids...

- RAF

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When a heel turns face and starts teaming with other faces after that like no big deal. I loved when Alex Shelley turned face in ROH back in 2005 and no other good guy wanted to team with him so he had to get Delirious to be his partner.

 

The way feuds are structured in WWE is exhausting because two guys face each other for usually at least 3 PPVs in a row. So you might have a new champion ready to have new exciting matches with the rest of the roster but he's stuck facing Kane for 3 months, then Baron Corbin for 3 months and then Randy Orton for 3 months and then his reign ends. I much prefer the way NJPW or AEW does it where feuds keep going but other matches or challengers are mixed in between.

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12 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

I can't stand the WWE "Stupid Shocked Face" after a two count. Especially when it's done after the guy/girl hits their opponent with a secondary move that never gets a pin. I remember Baron Corbin being really bad about that after hitting opponents with his Deep 6.

Good timing!  Thunder Rosa did this on AEW last night and it suuuuuuucked.

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On 2/3/2021 at 12:39 PM, The Natural said:

Tower of Doom.

My favorite part of the Tower of Doom is when the guy(s) doing the powerbomb part of the spot act like they were injured in the move which makes no sense whatsoever.

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