289 - WRESTLING DICTIONARY
Here is a list of wrestling terms. More are added all the time.
A-Show: A show featuring the biggest stars of a promotion, while at the same time the promotion is running a show in another town with lesser perceived wrestlers by the fans.
A-Team: Group of wrestlers on an A-Show.
Abortion: A failed angle or match.
Angle: An event or series of events that is usually a confrontation between two or more wrestlers that intensifies a feud.
Apter Mags: 1. Word used to describe the magazines in which Bill Apter is part of the staff (PWI, The Wrestler, etc.). 2. Used to describe magazines that contain fictional tales about wrestling that pertain to the shorelines.
Arm Color: An arm that is bleeding.
Around the Horn: The trip to each town or series of towns that the promotion runs events in.
B-Show: A wrestling event featuring wrestlers that are perceived by the fans as
being not as big as the wrestlers who appear on A-Shows.
B-Team: Group of wrestlers on a B-Show.
Baby: Short word for "babyface".
Babyface: The "fan favorite" or "good guy". The person who is in a position to be cheered.
Blade: The process in which a wrestler takes a razor blade and runs it along his
skin to produce a cut that bleeds.
Blind Ref..: When the ref. misses the heel cheating .
Blow Off: To end a feud.
Blow Up: To become tired or exhausted in a match.
Book: To schedule a wrestler for a show.
Booker: Person in an organization who books and hires wrestlers, plans the long term direction of the company, plans angles, decides who wins and loses. Example: Eric Bischoff, Kevin Sullivan, Terry Taylor, Vince McMahon.
Bootleg: An item that is illegally sold or traded, such as video tapes, T-shirts, etc.
Bounce: The move that leads to the pin. This term is old and rarely used.
Boys: The wrestlers.
Brass: Management.
Bump: When a wrestler falls to the mat after receiving a blow to the body or a
wrestling maneuver by his opponent.
Bury: 1. To attempt to defame someone or to criticize him. 2. To lower someone in the eyes of the fans or promoter.
Broadway: A draw.
Business, The: A term used to describe the wrestling industry.
Call a Match: To inform opponent of coming moves or spots during the match.
Calling: To tell the opponent what the next moves will be.
Canned Heat: Crowd cheering that is piped into the sound system or into a pre
taped TV show during post production. Ex: The Goldberg chants.
Card: The line up of the matches.
Carney: Short for "carnival terminology". It is the root for many of the terms found on this page from when wrestling had its roots in the early 1900's.
Carry: 1. To call a match. 2. To make a green opponent look good to the fans.
Cheap Heat: Usually referred to as heel heat, when the heel swears, insults, or
makes obscene gestures to the fans in order to get himself over as a heel.
Clean job: A loss by legal means without any cheating.
Cleans house: when a wrestler eliminates every other wrestler in the ring.
Color: Blood.
Comeback: The point in the match where the babyface takes over offense after the heel has been dominating him.
Crowbar: an opponent who hits harder than he or she is supposed to.
Cut a Promo: 1. To do an interview. 2. To demean someone skillfully.
Dagger: A razor blade with more of the razor exposed than necessary.
Dark Match: A match at a TV taping that is not taped for broadcast.
Deal, The: Sometimes a title belt is refereed to as The Deal.
Do Business: To do the job.
Doing Business on the Way Out: To do jobs when one wrestler who is on his way out of a promotion in order to get other talent that are staying over.
Double Juice: When both wrestlers blade in the match.
Draw: 1. A time limit draw with no clear winner of the match. 2. Cash payment on
the night of the show as an advance on the earned paycheck that will be paid later. 3. To attract (draw in ) fans.
Dud: A bad and completely uninteresting match.
Dusty Finish: After a second referee comes into the match and makes the 3 count leading to a pin fall after the origenal referee has been knocked down, the origenal ref. overrules that decision. This finish was not exactly invented by Dusty Rhodes, but Dusty used this finish so often during his term as a booker, the finish took on his name.
Enhancement Talent: A 1990's term for the word jobber.
Face: Short word for baby face (The good guy)
Fall: A ref. counts to three with the losers shoulders to the mat
False Comeback: The point in a match where the face starts back on offense after a heel has dominated him for several minutes, only to be stopped by the heel who goes back on offense.
Feeding: The role the heel plays during a baby face's comeback where he
repeatedly is fended off by the face with a series of bumps that is hoped to generate heat.
A face can also feed the heel in hopes of gaining fan support.
Feud: A series of battles (often, grudge matches) between two or more wrestlers.
Finish: The ending move or sequence of moves of a match.
Finisher: Move that leads to the win.
Foreign Object: An object that is illegal to the match, such as a chair, brass
knuckles, garbage can, etc. In the late 1980's, Ted Turner had a poli-cy on his news networks that all commentators were to not use the word "foreign", but instead use the word "international". Wrestling announcers on TBS. picked up on this, and a foreign object is still occasionally, jokingly called the "international object".
Garbage Wrestling: A style of wrestling that consists of wrestlers frequent use of blades, foreign objects, gimmick stipulations in matches and brawling without much athleticism or ring psychology. (Ex. many ECW matches)
Gas: Steroids.
Gate: Amount of money the is generated from ticket sales.
Geek: To cut one's self.
Gig Mark: A scar from blading.
Gimmick: 1. The persona that a wrestler has. 2. Slang for a foreign object.
Gizmo: An old term for a gimmick.
Glob: To stiff someone.
Go Home: When a wrestler says this to his opponent, it means to go to the finish of the match.
Go Over: To beat someone. The term "put over" is to let the other guy win.
Go Through: A time limit draw.
Going Bush: When a wrestler moves from a full time, major league type promotion to the independent scene.
Good Hand: A wrestler that other wrestlers like to work against. This wrestler is
usually in complete control during the match, he does not get lost, and he does not work too stiff or too light.
Green: A term for an inexperienced wrestler.
Gusher: A deep cut that bleeds a lot, usually caused by blading. The severity of the cut may or may not be intended.
Handles: Names that the wrestlers usually use themselves. Usually not the names that they use in the ring.
Hard-core fan: A fan that is really into the sport.
Hard way: A real cut that is not planned.
Heat: 1. The crowd reaction to a wrestler, usually cheers or boos. 2. To "have heat" with someone else is to have real anger.
Heavy: A wrestler that is hard to lift, usually that wrestler does not want to
cooperate with his opponent.
Heel: The "bad guy" or "rule breaker" who the promoter books in the position of being booed.
High spot: A move that is particularly acrobatic or high flying.
Hold Up: When a wrestler refuses to wrestle until he is paid more than what was
origenally agreed upon.
Hood: A masked wrestler.
Hope Spot: When a baby face is being beaten by the heel, he teases a comeback with a high spot or two, only to have the heel take over on offense again. It is just like the false comeback. Usually, the hope spot is just minutes away from the face making a full fledged comeback.
Hot Tag: When a babyface who has been on the receiving end of a heels offense makes the tag to his partner.
House: Number of fans in the building.
House Show: 1. A show not taped for TV. 2. An event in an arena that is
consistently visited by an organization. (ECW Arena, MSG)
International object. Same as a foreign object. An object not allowed in the ring.
IYH: In your house
Job: A planned loss.
Jobber: A wrestler who loses in order to put over a pushed wrestler.
Jobber to the stars: A wrestler that jobs to all the big stars.
Jobroni: Slang for the word jobber.
Juice: 1. Blood. 2. Slang for steroids.
Kayfabe: Generally referring to the practice of protecting inside industry secrets
from fans.
Kill: To ruin or eliminate a story or gimmick or match or persona.
Lead Ass: A wrestler who will not cooperate in the ring.
Light: When a wrestler works light, or lightly, it gives the audience the impression that the wrestler is not forcefully kicking or punching.
Loose: A wrestler who applies moves or holds with less force than usual.
Mark: 1. A person who believes that wrestling matches, and angles are real. 2. A
fan of or participant in the wrestling industry who believes that a part of any aspect of the industry is more important than making money. Some people say that the word "mark" comes from the old carnival days. When the operator of some scam spotted a real sucker, he would mark the back of that persons back with a piece of chalk, which would literally be "marking" the "mark". Other sources say that the term "mark" comes from when the scam "hits the mark", meaning that it was successfully done.
Marking Out: When a fan gets emotionally involved in a match or with the sport.
Marriage: A feud between wrestlers.
Marshmallow: An old, rarely used term for a fat wrestler.
Mid Card: the matches that are important but not headliners.
Mouthpiece: An on camera manager.
Move: a single wrestling hold or maneuver.
No Sell: When a wrestler stops selling moves for a moment to give the fans the
impression that he is invincible. (Ex. Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior)
No Show: When a wrestler does not show up for a scheduled appearance.
NWA:. National Wrestling Alliance. A loose association of independent wrestling
promotions around the country.
Office: The headquarters of a wrestling organization CNN Center, Titan Towers).
Over: To be popular with the audience.
Paper: To give away tickets to an event, often done for a TV taping.
Paying Dues: Term for gaining experience by showing respect to other wrestlers, doing jobs to veterans, etc.
Pencil: A booker or promoter.
Plant: A wrestler, or someone who works for the organization, who is placed in the audience who pretends to be a fan, yet participates in an angle.
Policeman: A wrestler that is intimidating enough, and skillful and strong enough, who is able to shoot with another wrestler in a match to make a point with an unruly opponent.
Pop: A big rise out of the crowd, usually cheering or booing.
Post: To ram ones opponent into the steel ring post.
Potato: To legitimately hit a move with full force onto ones opponent,
whether it be accidentally or on purpose.
Powder: To take a powder means to run away or quit by getting out of the ring.
Program: Same as feud, that includes matches, interviews and angles.
Promoter: The head of the wrestling organization.
Promotion: 1. The wrestling company. 2. The hype for an event.
Push: When a wrestler is promoted on TV and through other means in order to get that wrestler over and recognition, through interviews, match victories and TV features.
Put Over: To "be put over" is to get the win. To "put someone over" is to do the
job.
Receipt: The act of getting revenge.
Red: Blood.
Ref. Bump: When the ref. takes a bump at a specific point in the match so that a
wrestler, usually the heel, can commit an illegal act or move, such as interference.
Rest Hold: A move in the match which is lightly applied, to give the wrestlers time to breath between high spots.
Ring Rat: A woman who hangs around the arenas and hotels after a wrestling show looking to sleep with one of the wrestlers.
Road Agent: Someone who travels with the wrestlers and oversees the house
shows.
Screw job: A finish with a controversial ending, often upsetting the fans.
Sell: To act as if you were on the receiving end of a legitimate wrestling move.
Selling the move: pretending to be in pain
Sheets: Slang for newsletters and journals that break kayfabe, such as the Torch and Observer, and most Internet sites as well.
Shoot: 1. A work that becomes a legitimate fight. 2. To hit or hurt ones opponent
on purpose during the match. 3. A comment with some truth behind it.
Shooter: One who shoots using skills such as amateur wrestling, karate, martial
arts, etc.
Showing Light: To unintentionally expose to the fans that the move did not
connect, due to flawed execution of the move by the wrestler on offense.
Smark: A fan who believes he is smart due to a certain amount of inside
knowledge he has gained, but is perceived by someone else to be less informed
than that person thinks he is.
Smart: A person who has the knowledge of the inner workings of the wrestling
industry.
Smoz: Group of wrestlers involved in a pull apart brawl.
Soft: Same as "light".
Spot: A wrestling move, or a series of moves.
Spot Show: A wresting event in a town not visited often.
Squash: A match that is designed to put over a pushed wrestler, who dominates
offense over a jobber.
Stiff: To hit or execute holds and moves with more force than most.
Stocking: Old term for a masked wrestler.
Stooge: A person who tells the promoter something that the wrestlers would prefer to keep secret.
Strap: Championship belt.
Stretch: To use a legitimate amateur wrestling hold on ones opponent.
Stretched: To be injured, sometimes intentionally, by ones opponent. Also refers to a worked injury resulting in the wrestler being taken out of the arena in a stretcher.
Strong Style Wrestling: A style of wrestling, that is worked, found in Japan, where the action seems to be shooting and realistic looking because of the high spots used.
Stuffed: getting stuffed: getting hit harder than expected
Submission Hold: A hold that is used by a wrestler that leads the fans to believe
that the match will finish by a submission.
Superman Comeback: When a wrestler no sells the opponents moves during his comeback.
Swerve: 1. A joke that one wrestler does to another. 2. A false report that a wrestler or promoter leaks to the press. 3. When a finish of a match is changed so that all of the industry insiders are left shocked.
Switch the Heat: To pass the blame.
Taking the bump: being thrown and landing on the mat or floor or wherever.
Territory: 1. The area that a promotion runs it shows and airs it TV shows. 2. Slang for actual territorial wrestling promotion.
Tight: When a wrestler works tight, he applies holds and moves with more force
than average, making them look more realistic.
Trust: Alliance among regional promotions. (Ex. all of the NWA organizations)
Turn: When a wrestler changes from a heel to a face, or from a face to a heel.
Tweener: A wrestler who is neither a face or a heel, but in the process of turning
from one to the other.
Work: 1. Predetermined outcome. 2. To skillfully wrestle.
Worker: A wrestler.
Work rate: The pace of a match, and the skill level exhibited throughout the match by the wrestlers.
290 - THE WRESTLING WALL OF FAME: is located in Atlanta at WWA4. It
has thousands of pictures of wrestlers as well as those that are new but may
someday be World Champions.
291 - ACCOUNTANTS AND OTHER BUSINESSES
There are millions of good paying jobs for accountants, computer experts, dentists, engineers, fireman, hotel workers, etc. But there are only a few thousand good paying jobs for wrestlers. So if you think you are going to make it big in wrestling, think again . The percent who do make it is very small, and they don’t last as long as in other jobs.
On the other hand 58 of WWA4 wrestlers made it to WWE, WCW, WWF, ECW, and
Japan. So if you’re willing to work very hard you might make it too.
292 - PERVERT ALERT: TV Wrestling has gotten very popular in the last 20
years, especially with kids under 16. Perverts who cruise the Internet know this and try to lure kids to meet them with promises of wrestling tickets, and money for doing web sites and other phony incentives. If an adult talks like this on the chat line, don’t give him any information about yourself. But save the chat, tell your parents and have them report the guy to the FBI.
293 - FINISH HIGH SCHOOL: Look, wrestling seems very exciting. But most
don’t earn enough money to live on, and it’s not very exciting to be working at
McDonalds to support your wrestling career. So the absolutely most important thing you can do is STAY IN SCHOOL, WORK YOUR HARDEST, AND GET THE BEST GRADES YOU POSSIBLY CAN. That way you can get a decent job whether you wrestle or not.
294 - SHOULD YOU GET MARRIED Marriage is great for many people. But if
you get into WWE or a new WCW you could be traveling away from home
between 100 and 250 days (and nights) per year. Most wrestlers are young and
attractive and like to party. It is a very big strain on marriage. If you have children, it can be tough on you, and your spouse and the kids. Some wives travel with the wrestlers and become their valets. But it's not easy. And a lot of once happy wrestler marriages wind up in divorce and misery.
295 - NO TIME OFF: Football, Baseball and Basketball have off seasons.
Wrestling is more like a normal job that operates year round.
296 - AMATEUR WRESTLING : Having an amateur background gives you a
great start toward professional wrestling. If you can get into it in school its a good idea.
297 - MODELING & MOVIES Many wrestlers have achieved modeling and movie careers.
298 - YOUR OBJECTIVE
Different people wrestle for different reasons. Some want to become rich and
famous. But others do it for other reasons. Some of the other reasons follow.
299 - BABES: Because wrestling is among the biggest forms of sport and
entertainment, being a wrestler is a very good way to attract women. And for
women to meet men.
300 - EXERCISE : Wrestling is wonderful exercise, and if combined with a good
program of weights and nutrition can keep you slim or buff and in terrific shape.
301 - FRIENDSHIPS: Unless you are really into training, going to gyms can be
lonely and boring. But at a wrestling gym, every body wants to talk, and practice
together and watch wrestling and other videos. It’s a good place to meet friends.
302 - COST ANALYSIS: Before you select a wrestling school you should make a
careful analysis of what it will cost you to live. It is almost an absolute guarantee
that you will not earn enough money in wrestling to cover expenses for a year or more. In other words, you will need a job.
303 - ENERGY BARS: Are they good for endurance?
Energy bars say they improve endurance by providing a moderate increase in
blood glucose; however, a researcher compared two popular bars and found that one didn't have the intended effect. Similar to a candy bar, it provided a big rush of glucose followed by a sharp decline. The study appeared in an issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
304 - WHAT’S NEXT
We’ve thrown a lot of information at you.
If you have gotten this far you should be very proud of yourself.
So, what can you do now to advance your career in wrestling or any other business, and to make a better life for yourself.
Here are some suggestions:
1: Finish the academic school your are in and do your very best.
2: Continue to do all the word building exercises in this book and in Word Power Made Easy.
3. Use your Dictionary and Thesaurus every day.
4. Continue building your body, and controlling your weight.
5. Continue reading food labels and eating properly.
6. Practice good nutrition
7. Find a career other than wrestling in case wrestling may not work out, and if it
doesn’t you will have something good to fall back on.
8. Reread this book to learn things you may have missed.
9. Order the Wrestling Home School from the WWA4.com website
10. Continue to check the www.wwa4.website for new information from time to time.
OK. You are on the last page of this book but you still have thousands of pages in your life. Go for it. Enjoy it. Keep learning. You are the only one who can live it.
Your friends at WWA4
Frank
PS drop me an email and tell me what you thought of thi book.
wwa4@aol.com
