Wrestling Tropes You Love / Hate

[odessasteps]

Did the give Undertaker the tombstone piledriver because of the gimmick? I don't remember Mean Mark Callous using it. 

[BloodyChamp]

17 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

The Edge/Christian team was given the name "The Team of Edge and Christian" or TTOEAC on the internet because that was the introduction.

This Is Sting

And there are others but I’m suddenly blank 

[Ace]

14 minutes ago, BloodyChamp said:

This Is Sting

And there are others but I’m suddenly blank 

The Man They Call Vader.

 

[Cobra Commander]

was The Man They Call Vader more of a Vinceism because he originally wanted to call Vader "The Mastadon" or was it a trademark thing involving not being able to trade mark the name Vader?

[Zimbra]

6 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

was The Man They Call Vader more of a Vinceism because he originally wanted to call Vader "The Mastadon" or was it a trademark thing involving not being able to trade mark the name Vader?

My recollection is that White won the copyright struggle with Lucas over the name since Vader is German for "Father" so I think it was just a Vinceism.

[SirSmUgly]

On 10/25/2022 at 9:00 AM, BobbyWhioux said:

this is case by case with me.  Finishing holds that are obvious puns on the wrestler's name tend to feel unimaginative and "create-a-wrestler"y to me.  Unless the character is presented as the sort of dork that would earnestly do that (i.e. babyface version of Bayley using the Belly-to-Bayley Suplex.  Sasha Banks is a little too "cool" on the other hand to be calling something Banks' Statement).  Unless you're so cool it doesn't matter and you have a name that is a pun in the first place, like Rick Rude's Rude Awakening. Indirect references to the gimmick work better for me with most personas, like Nunzio/Guido calling it an Italian Leg Sweep rather than a Russian Leg Sweep, or the alcoholic Sandman calling a hurricanrana a Heinekenrana.  Bret "The Hitman" renaming the grapevine leg hold a Sharpshooter is brilliant, especially since the legs are held in a cross-hair pattern, though The Undertaker is probably my favorite because the hold was already known as the Tombstone Piledriver, so it's perfectly logical he would choose to use that hold.  "Rock Bottom" is dumb and only because The Rock himself is cool enough to survive it does he get away with it. "The People's Elbow" flowery and underwhelming as the move actually is, is a tremendous name, because it makes perfect sense that anyone arrogant enough to purport to be "The People's Champion" would also invoke the will of "The People" with every hold or claim it's done on behalf of "the people".  The Perfect Plex also works under the arrogance clause.  Rick "The Model" Martel never renaming The Boston Crab -- an excellent candidate for a name reclamation as most "place name" holds are, feels like a missed opportunity.  Something like the Runway Turn in reference to the application of the hold, or even the Montreal Crab or Milan Crab or Cocoa Beach Crab. Super serious wrestlers should, in my view, eschew cutesy names entirely in favor of keeping the generic [i.e. Arn Anderson not renaming The Spinebuster] unless it's a serious/unimaginative/"realistic" simple renaming of an old hold or naming of a new hold, directly after the serious character himself [LeBell Lock].  Kurt Angle had his goofiness to his personality but he always had the underpinning of being a very serious Olympic Champion Wrestler, so Angleslam and Anglelock work, as does the Tazmission and the complete assortment of Tazplexes.  And sometimes the hold in question is so over and ominous on its own that no rebranding can improve on the generic (i.e. The Piledriver, The DDT, and The Heart Punch).  And, finally, the opposite of that, when the personal nickname is just so cool sounding it doesn't even have to relate to the wrestler at all, i.e. The Ghostbuster.

Basically I love this trope when there's serious thought put into it and I hate it when it's just done to be done.

I have to disagree with your assessments of the naming for the Banks Statement and Rock Bottom. Both are perfect. You hit Rock Bottom when The Rock nails you with it; Sasha Banks racks up another statement victory when you tap out to her move. It's perfect. 

Same thing with the Rude Awakening. Oh, you got in the ring thinking you had a chance to win? Here's your Rude Awakening, buddy.

EDIT: And while I like your point about the Sharpshooter having a visual relevance, I always liked it for what it suggested about Bret Hart and his wrestling style; he is precise, he is professional in taking you apart, and when it comes to locking on his big move and beating you, he's always got you in his crosshairs. 

OK, one of my favorite tropes in wrestling is move renaming to fit the wrestler. I'm going to have to think here of a bad example. 

I actually think Angle Slam sucks. Olympic Slam is better because Angle was a dick who had to remind you that he won a gold medal with a broken freakin' neck about once every segment. Once the IOC got the WWE to cut that shit out or whatever, bleh. Boring rename. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by SirSmellingtonofCascadia

[Coletti]

On 10/24/2022 at 10:30 PM, Gorman said:

A member of a heel tag team claps behind the referee to make it sound like they made a tag. On commentary, I call that the "Phantom Audio Tag."

This one is great because 99% of the time, the heels could just legitimately tag out, but why do that when you can be extra EVIL??! 

[Log]

18 hours ago, Zimbra said:

My recollection is that White won the copyright struggle with Lucas over the name since Vader is German for "Father" so I think it was just a Vinceism.

Ha! Love that Vader was basically "Daddy".

[tbarrie]

"Vader" does not, in fact mean "father" in German, so Leon must have pulled a fast one on the judge if he got a ruling based on that. (Or the case was ruled after Lucas started claiming that it did mean "father", and he ruined his company's case by doing so.)

[zendragon]

I've always been under the assumption that's how the Death metal band Vader got away with it

[Curt McGirt]

Eh I dunno if Lucas would go out of his way to mess with a Polish death metal band, but you never know. (Those demos and the first album still rule, btw)

 

[zendragon]

On 10/20/2022 at 12:47 PM, Zimbra said:

I love all of that shit, the more demonstrative the better.  Pretty much anything that is playing to the back rows instead of the camera is OK in my book.

It's even better when it's a heel doing it when the face hadn't actually cheated.

reminds me of a house show in 98 where in response to a HUGE Rocky Sucks chant the Rock put his hands over his ears and stomped around the ring

[eikerir]

On 10/23/2022 at 4:46 AM, DreamBroken said:

On the topic of fun ref mannerisms, the 'manager is ejected' spot is always a favorite of mine and often leads to a huge pop. The point at to build the drama followed by the huge wind up and throw to the back motion, classic.

I remember this recently got a MASSIVE pop in AEW when Aubrey Edward threw someone out, she build up to it with the little hand spinny thing and the crowd was going crazy for it. What's best for me is the heel getting kicked out always has the exact same reaction:

 

Has it EVER being explained why can't they just hang around? Do you need some sort of official license/permit to accompany someone to the ring? Will they get DQed?

[Zimbra]

3 hours ago, eikerir said:

I remember this recently got a MASSIVE pop in AEW when Aubrey Edward threw someone out, she build up to it with the little hand spinny thing and the crowd was going crazy for it. What's best for me is the heel getting kicked out always has the exact same reaction:

 

Has it EVER being explained why can't they just hang around? Do you need some sort of official license/permit to accompany someone to the ring? Will they get DQed?

Occasionally the commentators will bring up that you need to have a manager's license or be a tag team partner to be at ringside, most recently when Orange Cassidy faced Wardlow and Best Friends cut a promo about how Danhausen had gotten them managers licenses so they could be at ringside to cheat, but obviously it's not something they regularly enforce.

[SirSmUgly]

2 hours ago, Zimbra said:

Occasionally the commentators will bring up that you need to have a manager's license or be a tag team partner to be at ringside, most recently when Orange Cassidy faced Wardlow and Best Friends cut a promo about how Danhausen had gotten them managers licenses so they could be at ringside to cheat, but obviously it's not something they regularly enforce.

We need a gimmick where some doltish comedy heel manager keeps failing the requirements and tests needed to acquire a manager's license. Bonus if his charge gets increasingly frustrated with each failure. 

"How did you fail this test? The questions are so easy! 1. How long a count does a wrestler have to get in the ring before they are disqualified during an official match?"

OK, I should have known that one.

"They're all in multiple choice, too!"

Yeah, my strategy is just to fill in all Cs when I do multiple choice exams. 

 

[zendragon]

I mentioned managers licenses needing to make a comeback a while back in the thread 

[BobbyWhioux]

11 hours ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

We need a gimmick where some doltish comedy heel manager keeps failing the requirements and tests needed to acquire a manager's license. Bonus if his charge gets increasingly frustrated with each failure. 

"How did you fail this test? The questions are so easy! 1. How long a count does a wrestler have to get in the ring before they are disqualified during an official match?"

OK, I should have known that one.

"They're all in multiple choice, too!"

Yeah, my strategy is just to fill in all Cs when I do multiple choice exams. 

 

this so easily could've been resume-era Billie Kay either trying to lawyerball around the mandatory IIconics split or forcing herself into the Riott Squad's corner and I will now be forever disconsolate it didn't happen.

[zendragon]

Jericho needs to due this so he can have 2.0 in his corner but daddy magic (once again) gets in to Coach Tony's coke stash...

[The Green Meanie]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:17 PM, zendragon said:

I mentioned managers licenses needing to make a comeback a while back in the thread 

And per Gorilla Monsoon you need a license to be either a manager or a wrestler, and you can't hold both at the same time.

[Cobra Commander]

The concept of managers license testing reminds me of the angle from Florida where JJ Dillon was supposed to be exclusively managing Ron Bass, but he was using a manager named Gentleman Jim Holliday as a front man to also manage the Zambuie Express/Abdullah the Butcher. Which is my evidence for the theory that JJ Dillon's on-screen persona was a manager very likely to be engaging in various forms of fraud.

There's stories about people taking job interviews to get other people hired. But it might hit a little close to home for some indy guys to do a "using somebody else's managerial license" gimmick.

You know what gimmick really died off once promotions couldn't be so racist with gimmicks? Native American gimmicks (either real Native Americans or Italians impersonating Native Americans)... I guess the Muhammad Hassan experience means that we can't get Native American heels who talk about how wronged they were by the federal government and how they'll take it out on opposing wrestlers to get retribution.

Also, for some reason (probably a really damn valid one), they didn't wanna have Tatanka be an evil casino baron in the 2000s.

[odessasteps]

Managerial partnerships are always fraught with peril. Like H&H International in World Class. Seems likely it more often than not leads to a manager v manager feud, not necessarily with someone turning face either.

[Cobra Commander]

Having a storyline where a heel manager raided the stables of other heel managers would hit a little close to home if it was done in the mid/late-1980s.

Although the Captain Lou/Jimmy Snuka/Buddy Rogers storyline was essentially an embezzlement storyline years before the "Don King spending Mike Tyson's winnings on total bullshit" happened

[Cobra Commander]

A Jim Holiday clip. Gordon seemed pleased at the joke about his liquor license.

https://youtu.be/Gv_jkPFzHwg

[zendragon]

2 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

 

You know what gimmick really died off once promotions couldn't be so racist with gimmicks? Native American gimmicks (either real Native Americans or Italians impersonating Native Americans)... I guess the Muhammad Hassan experience means that we can't get Native American heels who talk about how wronged they were by the federal government and how they'll take it out on opposing wrestlers to get retribution.

 

Well we do have Native Beast Nyla Rose, personally I think we are due for a non stereotypical Native American wrestler coming out to Testament 

 

[Cobra Commander]

8 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

A Jim Holiday clip. Gordon seemed pleased at the joke about his liquor license.

https://youtu.be/Gv_jkPFzHwg

Another Holiday clip. He looks like a Miami Vice villain who knows a guy that flies cocaine in from the Bahamas. Or he’s evil Ringo Starr. Take your pick.

https://youtu.be/HkvKlL79vjY