Wrestling Tropes You Love / Hate

[BobbyWhioux]

5 hours ago, Eoae said:

Hate: Anything to do with entrance music.  Not sure what's more annoying: heels who become hypnotized and stop paying attention to the match as soon as the guy they're feuding with's theme plays (even though the wrestler himself is either not in sight or at least 50 yards away) OR babyfaces who do impromptu run-ins to save other babyfaces from heel beatdowns, but still take the time to have the sound guy cue up their theme, 

agreed.  though bizarrely I love ECW Sandman for taking this to it's logical, extreme and ridiculous conclusion [exposing just how silly it is.  "Here is your 5 minute warning to finish your beatdown before Sandman arrives.  Okay there's the guitar solo, time to wrap it up."]  Also in that one case the crowd was so super into it, it was almost forgivable.

[BobbyWhioux]

actually, you could combine the hated theme music run-in trope with one of my other love/hate tropes, the Stockholm Syndrome Turn:

"I'm back from injury to turn heel and join forces with the people who injured me, because I'm more angry at my friend for not saving me/not even calling while I was out."

If I were injured because my friend and fellow babyface took 6 minutes to let his theme song finish before rushing the ring and rescuing me from a gang beatdown, I would ABSOLUTELY be as pissed at him for leaving me hung out to dry like that as I was at the people actually taking me out. With friends like that who needs enemies, indeed

[Curt McGirt]

TNA Turning Point '08 is on right now and I just watched Sting win with a rollup 

[Eoae]

21 minutes ago, AxB said:

So, you didn't see him winning the WCW World Title (in 1990, his first) by reversing an attempted Figure 4 into a Small Package?

I know I've seen the match (a couple times, at least), but offhand, I don't remember how it ended.  I stand corrected.

Trope I love; You can't headbutt a Samoan.  Or a Tongan.  Or a Hawaiian.  Or anyone of vaguely Polynesian or Asian descent that could pass for a Samoan in dim light. 

Trope I hate: the 619.  My god, do I loathe the overly choreographed setups that require the heel to stumble halfway across the ring, slump just perfectly across the rope, then take a nap while they wait for Rey to do the rest of the move.  In general, I dislike any move where you could get yourself out of the predicament by going limp and not holding yourself up (hi, Orton draping DDT).

[BobbyWhioux]

13 minutes ago, Eoae said:

Trope I love; You can't headbutt a Samoan.  Or a Tongan.  Or a Hawaiian.  Or anyone of vaguely Polynesian or Asian descent that could pass for a Samoan in dim light.

 

the head immunity stems from Cousin status.  If a Samoan family confers the title of Cousin on you, your head becomes impervious to headbutts, ring posts, etc.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

5 hours ago, BobbyWhioux said:

Hate: tag team partners who hate each other.

Love: mismatched tag team partners who look like they shouldn’t get along but actually do (ala Whipwreck/Tajiri and Kiss/Janela)

The only time tag partners that hate each other was done well was Chris Candido and Lance Storm. 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

1 hour ago, BobbyWhioux said:

the head immunity stems from Cousin status.  If a Samoan family confers the title of Cousin on you, your head becomes impervious to headbutts, ring posts, etc.

How does the immunity travel to African Americans, such as JYD and Koko B. Ware, who were also impervious to headbutts?

[BobbyWhioux]

dunno, but it does further beg the question of why the Samoan-In-Law Naomi isn't headbutt-proof

she should start no-selling blows to the head IMO

[odessasteps]

24 minutes ago, BobbyWhioux said:

dunno, but it does further beg the question of why the Samoan-In-Law Naomi isn't headbutt-proof

she should start no-selling blows to the head IMO

We used to have a flow chart for headbutt, featured Polynesian wrestlers, black wrestlers and people we called "mutants" like the Missing Link, Andre, Bigelow and others. 

[BobbyWhioux]

3 hours ago, L_W_P said:

I hate the "I beat the champ in a match so I want a title shot" trope. It's lazy writing.

I also hate the "Two singles guys team up to beat a tag team" story.

other complaints related to the randoms beating the established tag team:

a 2 out of 3 falls match or a best of 7 series always goes the distance.  Every once in a while a sweep ought to pop up, or else why should anyone care about the first two falls/first 6 bouts? everyone knows they're going to be split.  At least with an Ironman match you can defer that equalizing fall for 25/55 minutes of someone desperately turtling/defending a 1-0 lead

having numbers is supposed to be an unfair advantage, yet the shorthanded side always wins handicap matches (or arguably worse, the power play side still has to cheat so damn much to win even with numbers they might as well have lost).  It's not a dramatic overcoming of the odds unless the audience usually sees numbers prevail

[tbarrie]

2 hours ago, BobbyWhioux said:

If I were injured because my friend and fellow babyface took 6 minutes to let his theme song finish before rushing the ring and rescuing me from a gang beatdown, I would ABSOLUTELY be as pissed at him for leaving me hung out to dry like that as I was at the people actually taking me out. With friends like that who needs enemies, indeed

Well that's short-sighted. Your friend has presumably seen enough wrestling to know that as soon as his music starts, the heels will stop what they're doing to gawk stupidly at the entranceway. If he just ran out, they'd probably keep beating on you until he actually got there.

[odessasteps]

13 minutes ago, BobbyWhioux said:

other complaints related to the randoms beating the established tag team:

a 2 out of 3 falls match or a best of 7 series always goes the distance.  Every once in a while a sweep ought to pop up, or else why should anyone care about the first two falls/first 6 bouts? everyone knows they're going to be split.  At least with an Ironman match you can defer that equalizing fall for 25/55 minutes of someone desperately turtling/defending a 1-0 lead

having numbers is supposed to be an unfair advantage, yet the shorthanded side always wins handicap matches (or arguably worse, the power play side still has to cheat so damn much to win even with numbers they might as well have lost).  It's not a dramatic overcoming of the odds unless the audience usually sees numbers prevail

Since i was just talking to Al about this after this tweet of his. 

 

[BobbyWhioux]

6 minutes ago, tbarrie said:

Well that's short-sighted. Your friend has presumably seen enough wrestling to know that as soon as his music starts, the heels will stop what they're doing to gawk stupidly at the entranceway. If he just ran out, they'd probably keep beating on you until he actually got there.

well let's be honest: I'm joining the heels for the sake of joining the heels because Mouthpiece For Cool Heel Faction is my dream role, I'm just in want of a pretense to turn

EDIT:  No Bump, Only Talk

Edited February 3, 2021 by BobbyWhioux

[Guest Jimbo_Tsuruta]

As much as I like lucha, and understand the significance of 2/3 falls in Mexico (The Holy Trinity), I would be interested to see any 2/3 falls lucha matches that buck the trend. If anyone can point me towards any notable examples (Mexican or otherwise) that would be appreciated.

[Unnatural]

Love it when you have someone like a Rey Fenix or Gran Metalik that can spring around on the ropes with superhuman agility before doing some mind blowing spot

Hopping from one corner to the other using dexterity and the top rope always blows me away, or springing off the middle rope to the top, always fucking gets me going

 

Hate it when someone like Charlotte/Brock/Goldberg/Orton can just climb into the title picture at any time without earning a shot, especially returning from injury or whatever form of leave, like everyone else is a FUCKING MORON for never missing any time and always making it to the show and busting their ass week in, week out. Because guaranteed you've got your Cenas and Alexas who can just step out on stage after being gone a bit and sure as shit they're immediately in the title picture just for showing up on TV 

[odessasteps]

29 minutes ago, Jimbo_Tsuruta said:

As much as I like lucha, and understand the significance of 2/3 falls in Mexico (The Holy Trinity), I would be interested to see any 2/3 falls lucha matches that buck the trend. If anyone can point me towards any notable examples (Mexican or otherwise) that would be appreciated.

I think a decent number of Los Ingobernales tag matches did, where they would lose one fall and then lose the second by DQ and/or excessive violence. 

That seems to be how it often happens jn lucha.

The Flair/Arn vs blonds match from the clash in 1993 ended in 2 falls, with a DQ in the second fall. 

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie]

The Briscoes had a run of winning matches in two straight falls circa 2007. IIRC, their streak ended against the No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero).

I think the first time I ever saw a 2 out of 3 falls match end in 2 straight was the Islanders defeating the Young Stallions @ the 1988 Royal Rumble.

[Eoae]

Another trope I dislike: Heel (usually) gets title shot THAT NIGHT because he either went on tv and sat on a chair in the center of the ring and demanded a title match, or he insulted or slapped the babyface champion.  It devalues the importance of actually earning a title shot (and, by extension, the title).  Moreover, it makes smart heels look dumb.  I have no idea why a dude agrees to wrestle in a #1 contender's match with Braun Stroman or risks getting pummeled by seven other guys during a Money in the Bank match when the smarter, safer play would be to go on tv the next night and pitch a fit until the GM or champ gives him an immediate match.

Used sparingly, it's kind of interesting.  Like everything else, WWE has overused it and killed the concept. 

[Technico Support]

9 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The Briscoes had a run of winning matches in two straight falls circa 2007. IIRC, their streak ended against the No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards & Rocky Romero).

I always laugh at the idea that Gabe thought "remorse" rhymed with "corps."

Trope I hate: modern booking of chain/strap/bullrope matches where you need to touch all four corners, and it turns into the face sneakily touching the corners behind the heel (I believe Sting/Nikita did this at least once).  Nothing says "I hate you and want to end this feud once and for all" like cleverly sneaking out a win.

Really, any time a gimmick match is booked in a counterproductive way that contradicts the whole purpose of the match.  Like cage matches that feature "escape the cage" rules and outside interference.

[Kuetsar]

Not sure if its a trope or if they even do it anymore, but I remember back when there was an actual tag division you could always tell when the heel team would drop the straps, as that's when the cheating shit they did for the entire reign suddenly didn't work anymore.

[Eoae]

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

Really, any time a gimmick match is booked in a counterproductive way that contradicts the whole purpose of the match.  Like cage matches that feature "escape the cage" rules and outside interference.

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.

[Shartnado]

16 hours ago, Ramo2653 said:

It's silly but I love the "face get's knocked out and accidentally headbutts heel in the groin" trope. Surfer Sting did this a ton.

Yeah, anything with "accidental" and "groin" usually gets at very least a chuckle out of me. Probably way more than that!

[John E. Dynamite]

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 February 3, 2021 by John E. Dynamite

[Technico Support]

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?

[The Natural]

Tower of Doom.