Professional wrestling slang - Definition and Overview

Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of slang, in-references and jargon. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnivals, and the slang itself is often referred to as 'carny talk'. Often wrestlers would use this lingo in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the preplanned nature of the business. In recent years, widespread wrestling discussion on the Internet has both popularized and corrupted some of these terms.

A

• Agent or Road Agent, management employee, often a former veteran wrestler, that helps wrestlers set up matches and relays instructions from the bookers. Often acts as a liason between wrestlers and higher-level mangement
• Angle, a fictional storyline

B

• Babyface, a good guy (compare "tweener" and "heel")
• Blade, a sharpened object used for "blading"
• Blading, the act of cutting oneself open in order to bleed, usually on the forehead (compare "juicing")
• Blow Up, when a wrestler completely exhausts all of his energy, either because he has low stamina, or by performing too many exhilarating moves early in the match making him extremely fatigued
• Blown Spot, a spot that does not go as planned, also botch
• Booker, the person in charge of setting up matches and writing angles; referred to as the "Creative Team" by WWE
• Booking, what a "booker" does
• Botch, a scripted move that failed
• Brock, to blow the biggest move in the biggest match, also to double-clutch on the top rope. Refers to Brock Lesnar after such an incident occurred at WrestleMania XIX.
• Bump, when a wrestler hits the mat or ground (as in "take a bump" or "sick bump")
• Bury, when a wrestler loses popularity by forced losses, especially by being squashed (compare "push")

C

• Canned Heat, when cheers or boos are pumped into an arena via the sound system or added to a television show in post-production
• Card, the lineup of matches
• Cheap Heat, when a wrestler (often a heel) incites a negative crowd reaction by insulting the crowd (for example, by insulting the city, or a local sports team) (compare "cheap pop")
• Cheap Pop, when a wrestler (often a face) incites a positive crowd reaction by "kissing up" to the crowd (for example, mentioning the name of the city, or complimenting a local sports team) (compare "cheap heat")
• Clean Finish, when a match ends without cheating or outside interference (compare "screwjob")
• Curtain Jerker, the first match on the card, or a wrestler who wrestles in the first match of the card, especially on a regular basis

D

• Dark match, a non-televised match at a televised show (compare "house show")
• Dirtsheet, a newsletter, magazine, or website that portrays wrestling as scripted entertainment, rather than portraying it as a sport.
• Diva, a woman involved in wrestling, either as eye candy or as a wrestler
• Double-Clutch, to hesitate and bounce before jumping off the top rope, resulting in limited airtime and height
• Dusty Finish, a finish in which a substitute referee's decision in a match, usually in favor of the face, is overturned by the original referee. Refers to Dusty Rhodes, who booked many such finishes in WCW.

F

• Face, short for "babyface"
• Feud, a battle between two or more wrestlers or stables
• Filler, a match or segment that has no form of importance or backstory to it. Used mainly to occupy extra time on the event card
• Finish, the planned end of a match (see also "Dusty Finish," "Clean Finish")
• Finisher, a wrestler's trademark move

G

• Garbage Wrestling matches that involve using nothing but weaponry and have no obvious elements of traditional in-ring competition e.g. XPW (Xtreme Pro Wrestling), CZW (Combat Zone Wrestling)
• Gimmick, a unique trait that defines a wrestler's identity, or an implement used to cheat i.e., William Regal's gimmick was to knock out opponents with his brass knuckles (brass knucks were a "gimmick").
• Get the Tights, grabbing the opponent's upper part of the trousers or shorts, or the lower part of the shirt or tank top in order to get the pin.
• Go Home, a saying that a wrestler is told by a ringside commentator or the referee. It indicates that the wrestlers should finish the match.
• Gorilla position, the staging area just backstage of the entrance curtain. Named in honor of WWF mainstay Gorilla Monsoon, since applied to this area in most U.S. promotions

H

• Hard-Way Juicing, bleeding that is not self-inflicted (compare "blading" and "juicing")
• Heat, a wrestler getting a crowd reaction (also "cheap heat", "canned heat")
• Heel, a bad guy (as in "monster heel"; compare "tweener" and "babyface")
• House show, a non-televised show (compare "dark match")

I

• Indy, short for "independent promotion", refers to a wrestling group that is too small to compete on a national level.

J

• Job, a scheduled loss (also "jobbing", "jobber", "jabroni", and "job cleanly"; compare "screwjob")
• Jobber, a wrestler whose primary function is losing to better known wrestlers.
• Juicing, bleeding (frequently, but not always, self-inflicted) (compare "blading" and "hard-way juicing")

K

• Kayfabe, the illusion that professional wrestling is not staged (i.e. that it is authentic athletic competition); often used to refer to storyline and setting elements.

L

• Legit, a wrestler with a background in shoot fighting or reputed to be a real-life brawler is often considered as "legit", i.e. a fighter, not just a talented performer.
• Legit Heat, a real-life conflict between wrestlers. (as in "There is legit heat between Ric Flair and Mick Foley.")
• Lucha Libre or Lucha, Mexican professional wrestling
• Luchador, a Mexican wrestler
• Lucha Rat, a fan that prefers Mexican-style pro wrestling over American-style

M

• Mark, a fan who believes wrestling is real (compare "smark")
• Marking Out, a moment of enjoying professional wrestling 'for what it is' rather than analyzing its staged nature
• Mascara, a masked Mexican wrestler
• Money Mark, someone who invests money into a promotion only in order to rub shoulders with pro wrestlers. A "Money Mark" is usually ridiculed by wrestlers when he/she is not within their presence

N

• No-sell, giving no reaction to another wrestler's offense
• No-show, when a wrestler doesn't show up for a match

O

• Over, popular, accepted by the fans
• Over-book, to book a finish to a match that involves interference from a large number of wrestlers who are not involved in the actual match.
• Over-sell, showing too much of a reaction to another wrestler's offense e.g. The Rock's reaction to the Stone Cold Stunner.

P

• Plant, a trained wrestler who poses as a fan in the audience that a wrestler can physically attack to score some "heat"
• Promo, a promotional interview (as in "cutting a promo")
• Pop, a sudden crowd reaction (as in "name pop", "cheap pop")
• Potato, when a wrestler is injured after being hit too hard by another wrestler
• Puroresu, also Puro, Japanese professional wrestling
• Push, when a wrestler gains popularity by forced wins, especially squashes (compare "bury")

R

• Rib, a practical joke played on a wrestler
• Ribber, someone involved in the pro wrestling buisness that is well-known for playing practical jokes
• Ring Boy, a homosexual ring rat
• Ring Rat or Rat, a female fan with amourous feelings for wrestlers; a woman who frequents wrestling events to flirt or pursue sexual liasions with wrestlers
• Rudo, a Mexican heel wrestler
• Run-in, when wrestlers not participating in a match interfere with it

S

• Screwjob, a match with a controversial or unsatisfying finish, often involving cheating or outside interference
• Sell, making the action seem unstaged (as in "over-sell" and "no-sell")
• Shoot, an unplanned event in the show, something "real" (as in "shoot interview")
• Shoot Fighting, competitive full-contact mixed martial arts tournaments, used in comparison to the staged peformances os professional wrestling.
• Showing Light, when a wrestler visually shows making absolutely no contact to his opponent when performing an attack (also "loose")
• Smark, a fan who knows wrestling is staged but enjoys it anyway (compare "mark")
• Smart, someone who has inside information on the wrestling business
• Spot, a planned move, as in "high spot" (i.e. a move off the top rope) or "blown spot"
• Squared circle, the wrestling ring
• Squash, an extremely one-sided match which is usually over quickly
• Stable, a group of allied wrestlers
• Stiff, when a wrestler puts too much force into his attacks or maneuvers on his opponent
• Stunt Granny, an obvious plant
• Swerve, a surprise (and often unexplained) plot twist

T

• Tag-team, a pair of wrestlers working together in a tag-team match (a match which pits two or more teams of wrestlers against one another)
• Tecnico, a Mexican face wrestler
• Turn, when a wrestler develops a new "gimmick", often by switching from face to heel or vice versa
• Tweener, a morally ambiguous wrestler (compare "babyface" and "heel")

U

• Undercard, matches prior to the main event

W

• Work, a staged event
• Worked shoot, a scripted segment that takes place in a show with elements of reality being exposed. Also a segment that fans are meant to believe is a shoot, but isn't (some believe that the Montreal Screwjob was a worked shoot).
• Workrate, a wrestler's talent level

External links

• http://www.wrestlenotes.com/wrestlingterms.html
• http://www.total-wrestling.co.uk/information/terms.shtml