Wrestling Dictionary
Angle: A wrestling plot which may
involve only one match or may continue over several matches for some time; the
reason behind a feud or a turn.
Blade: The practice of cutting oneself or being cut with a part of a
razor blade. Also known as juicing.
Blow up: To become fatigued or exhausted. The Ultimate Warrior was said
to be one of a number of wrestlers who blows up on the entry ramp.
Booker: The individual responsible for angles, finishes, hiring and
firing in a promotion.
Bump: A fall or hit done as a spot (see spot) which takes the wrestler
(or other participant, i.e. referee, manager) out of the ring or out of
action.
Card: The series of matches in a wrestling event.
Draw: To attract marks. n. the popularity of a wrestler, the ability to
bring in marks.
DUD: A particularly bad and totally uninteresting match.
Face: A fan favorite. A wrestler who plays the good guy.
Fall: A referee's count of three with the loser's shoulders on the mat.
Feud: A series of matches between two wrestlers or two tag teams,
usually face vs. heel though face feuds and heel feuds are not unknown.
Green: Not good due to inexperience.
Hard way: Real blood produced by means other than blading, i.e. the
hard way. One of the possible outcomes of a shoot.
Heat: Enthusiasm, a positive/negative response.
Heel: A bad guy in a federation. A heel often breaks the rules and
receives a bad poor/hated response from the fans.
House: The wrestling audience in the building said to be composed of
marks.
International Object: Foreign object, something now allowed in the
ring. Derived from an order not to use the world foreign by the Turner
Broadcasting Company.
Job: A staged loss. A clean job is a staged loss by legal pin fall or
submission
Resort to Illegalities: To do a job. Sometimes combined with a
descriptive adjective (stretcher job, rope job, tights job.)
Jobber: An un-pushed wrestler who does jobs for pushed wrestlers. Barry
Horowitz is probably the best known of these. Sometimes known as fish, red
shirts PLs (professional losers,) or' ham-and-eggers.' Steve Lombardi
(Brooklyn Brawler) is also a well known jobber.
Kayfabe: Of or related to inside information about the business,
especially by fans. Origin is carny jargon talk for fake.
Kill: Diminish or eliminate heat or drawing power. There are a variety
of ways to do this, but mostly it is done by having a wrestler do too many
jobs. A house can be killed by too many screw-job endings.
Mark: A member of the audience, presumed gullible.
Paper: Complimentary tickets. To give lots of complimentary tickets to
make a house look good, particularly for a television taping.
Pop: Sudden heat from a house as a response to a wrestler's entry or
hot move.
Post: To run or be run into the ring post.
Potato: To injure a wrestler by hitting him on the head or causing him
to hit his head on something.
Run-In: Interference by a non-participant in a match. save n. a run-in
to protect a wrestler from being beat up after a match is over.
Screw Job: A match or ending which is not clean (definite) due to
factors outside the rules of wrestling.
Shoot: The real thing, i.e. a match where one participant is really
attempting to hurt another. The opposite of work or fake.
Spot: An event or sequence of events which makes a particular match
distinctive, a high-point of a match.
Squash: A totally passive job where one wrestler completely dominates
another. v.t. to win a squash match.
Stick: The Microphone
Stiff Chops: Hits or moves which cause real injury (though perhaps not
more than a welting up of the opponent.) Big Van Vader has a reputation as a
stiff worker. Not a shoot, but almost.
Stretch: A form of shoot where one wrestler dominates rather than
injures the other as a proof of personal superiority.
Turn: Change in orientation from heel to face or vice-versa.
Work: A deception or sham, the opposite of a shoot.
Workrate: the approximate ratio of good wrestling to rest holds in a
match or in a wrestler's performance.
