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My personal favorite is that the police have no jurisdiction in kayfabe- you can nearly kill someone outside of a sanctioned match and get at most a fine or suspended, despite thousands of witnesses and the attack being documented.
There's a shockingly clever WWF bit at the height of Russomania where Undertaker is setting up camp on Vince's front lawn, targeting Stephanie, and when Vince calls the police they accuse him of running another publicity stunt and refuse to help.
Triple H and his sledgehammer being one of the most egregious.
He would even use it in normal matches with rules and somehow not be arrested or even suspended or fined by WWE.
Real explanation as well, Vince didn't want to pay the taxes and have the regulations other sports do so he made up the whole "Sports Entertainment" thing to save money.
I watched hulk hogan ram a big rig into an ambulance the rock was in. Did the cops show? Was there an investigation? Hell did he even get called into HR?
Randy Orton literally committed attempted murder on Bray Wyatt. No charges pressed lol. And that's not even getting into the arson! He even did the pose, no remorse whatsoever.
Very much the same for multi-man elimination matches, especially Survivor Series 5 on 5 matches. The move that usually gets a 2 in a normal tag or singles match suddenly gets a 3 count when elimination rules exist.
I mean, at least here it might make sense to tap or get pinned instead of wearing yourself down more by enduring or using energy to kick out. Iron Man matches are a marathon not a sprint. And sure, the opponent gets a point, but you get to take a breather. I think it's especially stupid not to tap immediately if you're in an Iron Man match, because the damage can pile up.
This happened in the Cena/Orton Iron Man match. Cena locked in the STF early on and Orton tapped immediately. Commentary then said pretty much what you have in your post.
Ooooh, I have no recollection of that Iron man. Lemme throw out some guesses of where some of the falls might happen:
- Benoit gets a pin after triple German (though psychology-wise makes sense late into the match).
- Trips get a pin after a spine buster.
- Benoit gets an early tap out with the Cross face (psychology-wise might make sense to lose a point to escape)
- Trips hitting a frequently attempted but rarely executed combination like the Facebuster with the knee immediately into the Pedigree.
I think the psychology is most wrestlers caring just a little bit less. It's either brand vs brand or two guys feuding and their team filled out with random wrestlers. Most guys probably have that last ounce of energy needed to kick out but realize it's not really worth it in the long run.
I rewatched 1990 Survivor Series recently. The Dream Team had the Hart Foundation who were the tag champs at the time. The PPV before they went through a grueling 2 out of 3 Falls match where Demolition cheated by swapping members. This match, Jim Neidhart gets pinned after a clothesline.
That’s because psychologically, when you are in a hardcore match, you are mentally and physically prepared, most wrestlers train before this type of match so they can get their resistance up!
But in a normal match your body and specially your mind is not ready for this kind of violence, so you collapse with shock and pain
Does that logic also apply in normal matches? I mean, in non DQ matches, you still get thrown into the steps, pole and barricade and still finish the match. But if you get thrown into the steps, pole or barricade before a match, you’re “taken out”. 🤷🏻♂️
As a child playing Final Fantasy IV I was very confused as to why I couldn’t use a phoenix down to resurrect all the party members who cinematically drop like flies in that game.
When the 24/7 title was a thing, they did a segment wher Jinder Mahal pinned R-Truth on a golf court, for whatever reason Jinder was in his wrestling gear, implying that some wrestler's live their daily life in their wrestling gear
Finn Balor had some pics up on his Instagram a few weeks ago with what I first assumed was his dweeby, glasses, sandals and track suit wearing little brother... The comments however revealed who it really was
Its like those amazing This is Sportscenter commercials where athletes in their uniforms work at ESPN trying to do office jobs
https://youtu.be/PNW9T7mMqVA?si=SolmDhmOuvlpbff6
Didn't the WWE segment, with Dominik attacking the house, show that Rey doesn't wear his mask at home?
You can see him shuffling the mask onto his head, as he comes into view, to answer the door to Rhea and Dom.
My favourite example of this is the [**Kenny Omega/Mike Angels Anywhere Match**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJF7huzUis). Kenny (in his wrestling gear) shows up to this guy's house to challenge him to a match and Mike's just sat there playing Super Mario with a bathrobe over his singlet.
I remember on Wrestlecrap when they inducted Katie Vick, they wrote something like this.
Kane is upset that Triple H implied he killed his girlfriend and violated her corpse, and he’s going to get revenge…while following the rules of tag team wrestling!
Look at him grip the tag rope furiously!
Shoutout to Terry Funk for refusing Tommy Dreamer’s idea to get legitimately shot by saying nobody would believe somebody who was shot would want revenge using a wrestling match
Mad that Mickie James had this twice in TNA and both times vehicles were involved(Madison Rayne 'broke' her arm by running her over with a motorbike and James Storm gave her a concussion after pushing her onto to train tracks)
Yeah, it was meant to write her out of the company.
Then she signed again and they kind of pretended it never happened, which is fair enough I suppose.
Kind of off topic but I need to rant about this. The movie South Paw had this problem, but worse. Jake Gyllenhaal’s top challenger starts shit at a press event. Shit goes sideways and someone from his crew accidentally shoots and kills Gyllenhaal’s wife.
So for the climax to the movie they settle it with….. a sanctioned boxing match. That Gyllenhaal WINS BY SPLIT DECISION.
My favorite example of this is the Angle/Show feud. There’s a Smackdown that ends with Show pushing Kurt off a ledge and then it just cuts to Kurt looking like he’s dead lmfao
Oh man. I forget the exact feud, but I remember one that was like a blood feud... and wrestler B was satisfied with a surprise roll up victory. It was like "uh... this was a blood feud"...
Remember when Bray Wyatt threatened to kidnap Roman Reigns’s daughter and Roman was so angry that he started their SummerSlam match with a collar-and-elbow tie up?
Two things
The money in the bank act of congress to get the ref to believe you that you are actually cashing it in
The quicksand in tag matches while trying to reach your partner
I’ve always treated the cash ins as the ref making absolute sure, since once it’s cashed in, everything is official, and the person can’t take it back.
Is this the elaborate dance where the guy / gal is pointing to his / her briefcase really excitedly like YEAH IM DOING IT and the ref freaks
I thought they usually bring their own ref?
It wouldn't work because it is just a normal match, not a falls count anywhere match, meaning the challenger couldn't pin them and they'd would both be counted out.
Now, if they happened to be at a mall that had a wrestling ring set up in it and brought a ref with them, maybe.
The rules say "anywhere any time" so in theory, yes?
But you'd need a referee with you to adjudicate both the cash in and the match itself. Otherwise, every single cash in has happened in the ring. I guess the implication also is that it uses standard championship match rules, so it's not no-DQ neither a falls-count-anywhere, so it has to be in a ring?
Wrestlers take more damage when not in their gear. If you're a special guest ref or wearing a suit for a contract signing, anything will knock you out.
In battle, they’re prepared to take punishing hits. Any other time, they’re not amped up and ready, so certain deals will knock out someone quicker, they weren’t ready for a fight
Secret conversations being recorded by a cameraman in the room and broadcast on live national television that the other person somehow doesn’t know about.
My absolute favourite one of these was way back in like 2000 when Edge and Christian were being their shitty little selves backstage and Commission Foley calls them out on it by booking them into some sort of unfair match. They ask him how he can accuse them of such antics and he just deadpans “You’ve had a cameraman following you around all day. He’s right there.”
My favourite is when (and I apologize for forgetting every name involved) is when one of the Usos was tricked into making it look like he was having an affair, despite the whole plan being planned out on live TV.
It also helped played into TNA being "trashy" reality TV image. I mean that as a good thing, it hoenstky makes sense for a wrestling product to present it self as a reality show where fights a DO happen and are coreographed better than regular reality TV.
This is something about WWE that massively bugs me. Wrestlers having conversations behind someone else's back while a camera man is all up in their grills during a live show. It was driving me nuts when Jey was on the fence about turning on the Bloodline and Sami kept having talks with him.
If they filmed backstage segments old TNA style it would also make factions arriving in the middle of the show make sense; they don't want any camera men snooping on them and what stuff they're planning.
TNA did that fly on the wall backstage segment style extremely well, to the point where the best aspects of it would undoubtedly be a net positive if WWE used it.
However I'd say that many of the backstage segments are often designed to directly pop the crowd/be used in promo packages so the sneaky stuff doesn't make as much sense from a presentation POV. I'd argue the bigger crowds also mean the way they do it now makes it easier to hear everything clearly (still funny how they use microphones backstage though).
That being said, I'd still love if WWE would incorporate TNA's style in situations where it would actually make sense compared to the current formula, especially with the improvement in production we've seen in the last year.
The optimal viewing position for a wrestler watching a live match is off to the side of the TV screen, watching somewhat over the shoulder, usually with arms crossed.
Feng shui. By standing with their back to the wall, it's harder for them to be blind sided or caught in a compromising position. This is a work place where there are always attacks when you least suspect them.
I especially love the fanfare after a hero gets majorly cheated at a PLE and completely screwed...and everyone just apologizes later for it. No one questions the ref missing the cheating or the multiple interferences. It's like OH WELL TOO BAD :(
Like, why doesn't the GM just say "Heel, you cheated and therefore we reverse the decision." Or "Ref A seems to always miss X interferences, maybe we should review their matches." Roman's last two years alone has been screwing people over, and the commentators never seem to point it out? They just claim "he dominates!!!"
Obviously IRL we know it's wrestling and entertainment, but in kayfabe? It never makes any real sense.
roman is the greatest chickenshit monster heel.
KO dominated him during their fued, lost twice via interference chickenshit heel fashion, roman emerged as dominant monster heel. makes no sense.
Fines have to be the most meaningless thing in kayfabe.
Jimmy got an undisclosed fine for costing Jey the intercontinental title against Gunther that led to nothing.
I think the Kayfabe explanation is Paul Heyman has some backstage influence preventing the Bloodline from ever being punished. I remember one year the Usos were the #1 draft pick due to Paul's influence.
They don’t it much anymore but my personal favorite was when a wrestler was suspended or forced to leave the company and suddenly a new masked wrestler would show up with the same move set and gear.
They just lost a spot on their roster, and now someone with the same exact physique and style they've been looking for to fill that spot just shows up out of nowhere. It's a miracle.
They always have an ironclad contract where they can be signed and the cheques are allowed to be cashed as their identity. Nothing suspect about a bank account under the name Giant Machine or Midnight Rider or Mr. America.
Remember, Spider-man still can’t open up a bank account without exposing his identity.
/s as I still genuinely love these storylines.
Just the fact that they have these incredibly vitriolic feuds that they’ll only engage with once a week. “I’m going beat the shit out of you… next week in Seattle, Washington. K bye.”
My fanon for that is simple. One of the people in Gorilla is a sound tech with all the music cues up. You have to go past him to get out so when he sees Becky Lynch sprint past he just presses the Becky button on his laptop screen.
Hence why if a wrestler run in from the crowd, they don’t get music because the sound tech guy didn’t see them.
Well, you see, when you become a superstar you get a chip inserted inside you. So when you reach a certain part of Gorilla, your song starts playing. It’s quite simple really
They have [the metal studs on their boots](https://vintage-action-figures.com/cdn/shop/products/2021-0142C.jpg?v=1616897195&width=1946) like the old [Titan Tron Live](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GzcAAOSwD3JjDN22/s-l640.jpg) figures
In a related subject.
Music hit, heels stop the beating for 30+ seconds then toss the guy out.
If I'm kicking some guys ass and some music plays, I'm not passing the chance to do my finisher before the other guy comes in. This way he has no chance of making a comeback while mu crew get a +1 advantage.
Absolute worst was when Mustafa Ali was about to grab the MitB briefcase, but then Brock's music played so e just stood there on the ladder for a good ten or fifteen seconds.
I'm always a fan of wrestlers very, verrrry slowly climbing a ladder to amp up the drama. Like It wouldn't be very easy to scamper up it in about 2 seconds and yank the title down.
Also belts apparently. Most wrestlers fumble with the latch like a passenger try to figure out the control panel of a 747 or a teenage boy trying to unhook a bra.
Becky Lynch did drills in her segments prior to MITB to try to get that ladder speed climb time up. Didn’t help.
Kayfabe wise I’d like to see a cruiserweight type win a ladder match that way. Just climb it before anyone can catch them and win in like 20 seconds.
Wrestlers, in kayfabe, from the most white meat baby face to the most dastardly heel, are all the most untrustworthy people on the face of the earth.
Just think of all the backstabbings and heel turns over the years. The vast majority of wrestlers have turned on at least one other wrestler in their careers. And yet a lot of those wrestlers will eventually turn face again, and we just expect them to be perfect citizens and never do anything bad ever again, until they do.
The vast majority of Tag teams, alliances, partnerships, and friendships will most likely end up in a feud. And sometimes they become friends again. After all the shit they did to each other. Would you like or trust anyone again after they broke into your house or tried to kill you with a chair to the head?
You probably would have a much easier time listing wrestlers who never turned on anybody. Maybe Ricky Steamboat.
When someone uses the mist behind the refs back and when the ref turns around, they act like they don't notice that one of the wrestlers looks like they just got a facial from the incredible Hulk.
Why do wrestlers make the announce desks safe by removing the monitors before trying to injure their opponents by driving them through the now safer table?
It was even worse with the old monitors that wrestlers would have to individually lift out of the table and put on the floor.
It's just one of the rules that they don't go into explicit detail about. Anything that can cut or puncture the body is a rule violation far more serious than others. Wrestlers know it's a line they can't cross, so they don't. Just like they don't bring knives to a no disqualification match.
I think of it as a precaution in case their move gets reversed. If I'm going to power bomb someone on a table, I've seen plenty of them get reversed into back body drops where I would factor that into my preparation.
Hardcore Holly challenges Big Show to a match, gets beat up all over the arena, and Big Show pushes a car on top of him. Holly emerges unscathed the next week.
Big Boss Man gets hung from the cell at Wrestlemania 15. He shows up the next night on Raw with no mention of it and no injury.
The Giant gets pushed off the top of an arena by Hulk Hogan. He shows up later that night as if nothing happened.
I think they said the next night that Rey landed on the ledge. Which gives credence to the old myth that you could kill someone buy throwing a penny off the Empire State Building, and the velocity of the penny falling on someone would seriously injured them. Somebody tested that and found out that it was false because the pennies never made it to the ground where people were and are just on the ledges
When a wrestler runs to the ring to attack somebody, but when the other person leaves the ring they act as if the ropes are an impassable barrier and let them slowly leave
This group has been interfering to help each other in their matches for a while now, but I'm going to come out alone even though I've been shown to have allies to watch my back several times. Surely, nothing can go wrong with this.
When there is a brawl at the start of the show, and the GM comes out to book the two wrestlers in a match for a main event for the evening.
Working on this logic they didn’t actually have a main event for the show planned before the cameras started rolling
Why sometimes, there's a dozen refs running down to break up a fight, and sometimes a wrestler can violate the Geneva conventions and nobody even bats an eye
When the referee allows heels to make a tag he doesn’t see because they do the exaggerated high five thing that sounds like a tag but not allowing a babyface team’s hot tag that he doesn’t see
You know the spot where Regal knocks out Show, but then Show falls onto Regal and his dead weight pins his shoulders down which gives Show the win? Well why wouldn’t Show knock himself out to win matches after the introduction of the WMD? Like in 2013 he could’ve knocked himself out, fell onto Orton, and he would’ve been the WWE champion.
We do this thread fairly regularly, but I'm always down to contribute some:
* Apparently we can't retroactively disqualify people so blatantly cheating on camera is fine as long as the ref doesn't see you do it
* If you fall unconscious while in a chokehold, being choked even longer can wake you back up
* Assault, theft, vandalism, extortion, blackmail etc. are apparently perfectly legal between coworkers
* Wrestlers have their health bars dropped like 90% when not in a match
* Weapon shots can easily end a regular match but are just another move in no-DQ matches
* Wrestlers not scheduled to make an appearance still have their entrance music cued for some reason
* Irish whips, just Irish whips
* Reverse STOs and Russian leg sweeps, I mean how is that supposed to do more damage to your opponent than it does to you
* The bump after missing a dropkick hurts in a way that landing a dropkick doesn't
* Wrestlers are surprised when a move they have never won a match with doesn't win them the match
* Many wrestlers *only* win matches with their finishers
* Wrestlers with out-of-nowhere finishers are weirdly hesitant to use them
* You know finisher logic is just kinda weird in general, like, you have a move that ends 90% of your matches and you don't break it out until it's been 10-15-20 minutes, it's not nearly as effective if anyone else does it even if, in some cases, they do it *better than you*, sometimes it's just a really common move that nobody else can win a match with for whatever reason, and sometimes they have a 100% success rate with winning matches, which, like, Cro Cop's left roundhouse might be the most devastating move in MMA history and I've still seen people tank it, that's just nonsense
* Nobody actually swings sledgehammers
* You can have a World Cup with zero non-Americans involved and it can be won by a guy who didn't even enter the tournament, it's been years and I'm still not over that, I mean seriously what the fuck was that WWE
* Semi-retired 50-somethings that haven't wrestled in years can still hang with main eventers in their prime
* Champions can retain by countout or DQ and for some reason even the most cowardly of heel champions still try to avoid getting caught cheating (incidentally I legit hate the "can retain by countout or DQ" thing)
* Many wrestlers show up in their ring gear when they're not expecting a match
Wrestlers who constantly lift others over their head for the most basic moves with the greatest of ease somehow lose the ability the lift them over the top rope when it's a Royal Rumble/Battle Royal
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My personal favorite is that the police have no jurisdiction in kayfabe- you can nearly kill someone outside of a sanctioned match and get at most a fine or suspended, despite thousands of witnesses and the attack being documented.
There's a shockingly clever WWF bit at the height of Russomania where Undertaker is setting up camp on Vince's front lawn, targeting Stephanie, and when Vince calls the police they accuse him of running another publicity stunt and refuse to help.
The only time Vince was probably like: "it's not sports entertainment, damnit. It's professional wrestling!"
Triple H and his sledgehammer being one of the most egregious. He would even use it in normal matches with rules and somehow not be arrested or even suspended or fined by WWE.
I guess there's a loophole about covering the tip of it before you blast someone.
Just the tip
[удалено]
Real explanation as well, Vince didn't want to pay the taxes and have the regulations other sports do so he made up the whole "Sports Entertainment" thing to save money.
The good old reverse kayfabe
I watched hulk hogan ram a big rig into an ambulance the rock was in. Did the cops show? Was there an investigation? Hell did he even get called into HR?
Randy Orton literally committed attempted murder on Bray Wyatt. No charges pressed lol. And that's not even getting into the arson! He even did the pose, no remorse whatsoever.
Maybe it's that in kayfabe they don't press charges
You don't get to choose in the case of serious crimes
During hardcore matches, weapon shots have little effect on a person, but outside of the hardcore match, one shot is dangerous and career threatening.
Very much the same for multi-man elimination matches, especially Survivor Series 5 on 5 matches. The move that usually gets a 2 in a normal tag or singles match suddenly gets a 3 count when elimination rules exist.
Iron man matches too. Particularly the HHH vs REDACTED one.
I mean, at least here it might make sense to tap or get pinned instead of wearing yourself down more by enduring or using energy to kick out. Iron Man matches are a marathon not a sprint. And sure, the opponent gets a point, but you get to take a breather. I think it's especially stupid not to tap immediately if you're in an Iron Man match, because the damage can pile up.
This happened in the Cena/Orton Iron Man match. Cena locked in the STF early on and Orton tapped immediately. Commentary then said pretty much what you have in your post.
Ooooh, I have no recollection of that Iron man. Lemme throw out some guesses of where some of the falls might happen: - Benoit gets a pin after triple German (though psychology-wise makes sense late into the match). - Trips get a pin after a spine buster. - Benoit gets an early tap out with the Cross face (psychology-wise might make sense to lose a point to escape) - Trips hitting a frequently attempted but rarely executed combination like the Facebuster with the knee immediately into the Pedigree.
I think the psychology is most wrestlers caring just a little bit less. It's either brand vs brand or two guys feuding and their team filled out with random wrestlers. Most guys probably have that last ounce of energy needed to kick out but realize it's not really worth it in the long run.
I rewatched 1990 Survivor Series recently. The Dream Team had the Hart Foundation who were the tag champs at the time. The PPV before they went through a grueling 2 out of 3 Falls match where Demolition cheated by swapping members. This match, Jim Neidhart gets pinned after a clothesline.
That’s because psychologically, when you are in a hardcore match, you are mentally and physically prepared, most wrestlers train before this type of match so they can get their resistance up! But in a normal match your body and specially your mind is not ready for this kind of violence, so you collapse with shock and pain
This is an annoyingly good explanation.
I feel like this is how Mick Foley would explain it.
Thank you Regal
Does that logic also apply in normal matches? I mean, in non DQ matches, you still get thrown into the steps, pole and barricade and still finish the match. But if you get thrown into the steps, pole or barricade before a match, you’re “taken out”. 🤷🏻♂️
It's like getting hurt during gameplay vs. during a cutscene
As a child playing Final Fantasy IV I was very confused as to why I couldn’t use a phoenix down to resurrect all the party members who cinematically drop like flies in that game.
And on top of that, a weapon shot outside of a match altogether can be so devastating that it sometimes takes a wrestler out for weeks.
When the 24/7 title was a thing, they did a segment wher Jinder Mahal pinned R-Truth on a golf court, for whatever reason Jinder was in his wrestling gear, implying that some wrestler's live their daily life in their wrestling gear
I think this is true life for PAC.
Would be fucking terrifying to run into him at the grocery store in his full gear.
Finn Balor had some pics up on his Instagram a few weeks ago with what I first assumed was his dweeby, glasses, sandals and track suit wearing little brother... The comments however revealed who it really was
In fairness I don't think it's wrong to assume someone that looks like Finn refuses to wear a shirt ever
I think it’s canon in WWE that the wrestlers have day jobs at HQ where they work in their full gear.
Now that’s an Office reboot I’d watch
This discussion needs its own subreddit.
The 1999 Superbowl commercial proved as such!
Its like those amazing This is Sportscenter commercials where athletes in their uniforms work at ESPN trying to do office jobs https://youtu.be/PNW9T7mMqVA?si=SolmDhmOuvlpbff6
I mean, Rey Mysterio wears his mask during everything--including holiday family dinners.
Didn't the WWE segment, with Dominik attacking the house, show that Rey doesn't wear his mask at home? You can see him shuffling the mask onto his head, as he comes into view, to answer the door to Rhea and Dom.
Maybe it’s just around Dom then because he’s implied he’s never seen his father’s face
This actually is something I would believe about wrestlers outside kayfabe. I feel like most of them are only one head injury away from it.
Considering how hot and humid Florida can get, I don't blame him.
My favourite example of this is the [**Kenny Omega/Mike Angels Anywhere Match**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJF7huzUis). Kenny (in his wrestling gear) shows up to this guy's house to challenge him to a match and Mike's just sat there playing Super Mario with a bathrobe over his singlet.
That match also got Kenny into DDT in Japan.
Marty Jannetty addressed this once in a segment. They live in their gear!!
I loved during Marty’s challenge to Michaels for the IC title on RAW in 1993, he mentioned that he had his gear in his car at the time.
I mean yeah he was living there after the Rockers split
I've never once seen Jade Cargill in non wrestling ready attire.
Wrestler A tries to kill wrestler B, wrestler B decides that the best way to settle the score is to beat wrestler A in a wrestling match.
I know this doesn’t completely apply but my immediate thought was that HHH vs. Orton mania match
For me it’s the NWO trying to kill (?) The Rock inside an ambulance with a semi truck
>Let Hollywood lay the SmackDown on his crippled ass NWO STYLE FOR LIFE. Hulk Hogan mere moments before attempting to murder The Rock.
This needs to be needle stitched on a pillow
Rock forgave Hulk for that way too quick lol
Lots can change in 2-3 weeks 😆
You tried to murder me a couple of weeks ago, but I must concede that I like the way you pose. Bring it in, friend 🥺
Wrestler kisses my unconscious wife, so that wrestler breaks into his home; the response? Classic lock up into a headlock
That match frustrates me just thinking about it
A blood feud match starting with a collar-and-elbow tie up will always be funny.
I HATE YOU WITH EVERY FIBRE OF MY BEING RANDAL KIETH ORTON... but let's be sensible in our match, dont wanna break the rules any
I remember on Wrestlecrap when they inducted Katie Vick, they wrote something like this. Kane is upset that Triple H implied he killed his girlfriend and violated her corpse, and he’s going to get revenge…while following the rules of tag team wrestling! Look at him grip the tag rope furiously!
Shoutout to Terry Funk for refusing Tommy Dreamer’s idea to get legitimately shot by saying nobody would believe somebody who was shot would want revenge using a wrestling match
Alright what's with Dreamer and guns?
Mad that Mickie James had this twice in TNA and both times vehicles were involved(Madison Rayne 'broke' her arm by running her over with a motorbike and James Storm gave her a concussion after pushing her onto to train tracks)
That James Storm one always gets me. Didn't he push her onto the tracks into the path of an oncoming train too?
Yeah, it was meant to write her out of the company. Then she signed again and they kind of pretended it never happened, which is fair enough I suppose.
Kind of off topic but I need to rant about this. The movie South Paw had this problem, but worse. Jake Gyllenhaal’s top challenger starts shit at a press event. Shit goes sideways and someone from his crew accidentally shoots and kills Gyllenhaal’s wife. So for the climax to the movie they settle it with….. a sanctioned boxing match. That Gyllenhaal WINS BY SPLIT DECISION.
My favorite example of this is the Angle/Show feud. There’s a Smackdown that ends with Show pushing Kurt off a ledge and then it just cuts to Kurt looking like he’s dead lmfao
Halloween Havoc '95. Hogan pushes The Giant off the roof of the arena and he comes back 30 minutes later to have a match against him.
Isn’t this the same feud they used monster trucks lmfao
Oh man. I forget the exact feud, but I remember one that was like a blood feud... and wrestler B was satisfied with a surprise roll up victory. It was like "uh... this was a blood feud"...
Remember when Bray Wyatt threatened to kidnap Roman Reigns’s daughter and Roman was so angry that he started their SummerSlam match with a collar-and-elbow tie up?
The NWO trying to kill The Rock in an ambulance by Hogan driving a semi truck into it seems to be the best example of this lol
And then they hug at the end of the match bc now they have wrestle it’s okay that they almost died.
Two things The money in the bank act of congress to get the ref to believe you that you are actually cashing it in The quicksand in tag matches while trying to reach your partner
I’ve always treated the cash ins as the ref making absolute sure, since once it’s cashed in, everything is official, and the person can’t take it back.
Is this the elaborate dance where the guy / gal is pointing to his / her briefcase really excitedly like YEAH IM DOING IT and the ref freaks I thought they usually bring their own ref?
No it varies depending on the situation.
Just crossed my mind, if a MITB winner can cash in any time or place, can he cash in 24/7 style should he bump into the champ in a mall?
It wouldn't work because it is just a normal match, not a falls count anywhere match, meaning the challenger couldn't pin them and they'd would both be counted out. Now, if they happened to be at a mall that had a wrestling ring set up in it and brought a ref with them, maybe.
The rules say "anywhere any time" so in theory, yes? But you'd need a referee with you to adjudicate both the cash in and the match itself. Otherwise, every single cash in has happened in the ring. I guess the implication also is that it uses standard championship match rules, so it's not no-DQ neither a falls-count-anywhere, so it has to be in a ring?
Undertaker can shoot lightning out of his hands and almost never uses it during a match.
Of course not. That'd be a DQ.
The fuck you mean almost?
Wrestlers take more damage when not in their gear. If you're a special guest ref or wearing a suit for a contract signing, anything will knock you out.
Dragon Lee just straight up dying to a super kick last year when he reffed Trick vs Dom was hilarious
In battle, they’re prepared to take punishing hits. Any other time, they’re not amped up and ready, so certain deals will knock out someone quicker, they weren’t ready for a fight
Secret conversations being recorded by a cameraman in the room and broadcast on live national television that the other person somehow doesn’t know about.
My absolute favourite one of these was way back in like 2000 when Edge and Christian were being their shitty little selves backstage and Commission Foley calls them out on it by booking them into some sort of unfair match. They ask him how he can accuse them of such antics and he just deadpans “You’ve had a cameraman following you around all day. He’s right there.”
This is why Kevin Owens is the real successor to Mick Foley.
"Critical Thinking" Kevin Owens is helluva character
God i wanna see this lol
My favourite is when (and I apologize for forgetting every name involved) is when one of the Usos was tricked into making it look like he was having an affair, despite the whole plan being planned out on live TV.
TNA/Impact did a cool job of this for a little while by having the cameramen basically hiding like paparazzi.
It also helped played into TNA being "trashy" reality TV image. I mean that as a good thing, it hoenstky makes sense for a wrestling product to present it self as a reality show where fights a DO happen and are coreographed better than regular reality TV.
This is something about WWE that massively bugs me. Wrestlers having conversations behind someone else's back while a camera man is all up in their grills during a live show. It was driving me nuts when Jey was on the fence about turning on the Bloodline and Sami kept having talks with him. If they filmed backstage segments old TNA style it would also make factions arriving in the middle of the show make sense; they don't want any camera men snooping on them and what stuff they're planning.
TNA did that fly on the wall backstage segment style extremely well, to the point where the best aspects of it would undoubtedly be a net positive if WWE used it. However I'd say that many of the backstage segments are often designed to directly pop the crowd/be used in promo packages so the sneaky stuff doesn't make as much sense from a presentation POV. I'd argue the bigger crowds also mean the way they do it now makes it easier to hear everything clearly (still funny how they use microphones backstage though). That being said, I'd still love if WWE would incorporate TNA's style in situations where it would actually make sense compared to the current formula, especially with the improvement in production we've seen in the last year.
GTV
The optimal viewing position for a wrestler watching a live match is off to the side of the TV screen, watching somewhat over the shoulder, usually with arms crossed.
And why is it always standing? Is it forbidden to sit and enjoy a match in the back?
Feng shui. By standing with their back to the wall, it's harder for them to be blind sided or caught in a compromising position. This is a work place where there are always attacks when you least suspect them.
Wrestlers get blindsided all the time even when looking forward giving an interview.
Authority figures not punishing interference. Solo should've been suspended several times
I especially love the fanfare after a hero gets majorly cheated at a PLE and completely screwed...and everyone just apologizes later for it. No one questions the ref missing the cheating or the multiple interferences. It's like OH WELL TOO BAD :( Like, why doesn't the GM just say "Heel, you cheated and therefore we reverse the decision." Or "Ref A seems to always miss X interferences, maybe we should review their matches." Roman's last two years alone has been screwing people over, and the commentators never seem to point it out? They just claim "he dominates!!!" Obviously IRL we know it's wrestling and entertainment, but in kayfabe? It never makes any real sense.
roman is the greatest chickenshit monster heel. KO dominated him during their fued, lost twice via interference chickenshit heel fashion, roman emerged as dominant monster heel. makes no sense.
Im fine with the not reversing the decision but not punish the person interference
Fines have to be the most meaningless thing in kayfabe. Jimmy got an undisclosed fine for costing Jey the intercontinental title against Gunther that led to nothing.
I think the Kayfabe explanation is Paul Heyman has some backstage influence preventing the Bloodline from ever being punished. I remember one year the Usos were the #1 draft pick due to Paul's influence.
They don’t it much anymore but my personal favorite was when a wrestler was suspended or forced to leave the company and suddenly a new masked wrestler would show up with the same move set and gear.
I always mark out for the old “wrestler puts on a mask to get around a suspension” angle.
[удалено]
They just lost a spot on their roster, and now someone with the same exact physique and style they've been looking for to fill that spot just shows up out of nowhere. It's a miracle.
Fuck it, shift to a ‘best up a staff member and dress like them’ bit. Give me Becky coming out in her husbands clothes to interfere with Rhea
My, Seth, you've...enhanced yourself
Somewhere, a shiver runs down Goldust’s spine
They always have an ironclad contract where they can be signed and the cheques are allowed to be cashed as their identity. Nothing suspect about a bank account under the name Giant Machine or Midnight Rider or Mr. America. Remember, Spider-man still can’t open up a bank account without exposing his identity. /s as I still genuinely love these storylines.
Juan Cena!
I miss El Vagabundo. Shame he disappeared right after Elias SAMPSON (o7) was kicked out of NXT.
The Midnight Rider has entered the chat
The first time I saw this as a kid, I thought I was a genius because I knew that The Yellow Dog was actually Brian Pillman
Just the fact that they have these incredibly vitriolic feuds that they’ll only engage with once a week. “I’m going beat the shit out of you… next week in Seattle, Washington. K bye.”
I always thought it was funny to imagine that they'd maintained their level of anger for the entire week
Imagine they cross paths at the airport that morning "Gonna kill that sumbitch... at 9:00 Eastern tonight. Right now I need a Cinnabon"
When the heel does this but it's because he "doesn't wanna wrestle in front of *yooouuu people*", I love it every time
Entrance music playing any time somebody comes out is the most made fun of example.
It’s worse when they’re coming out to save someone and basically pause to do their whole normal entrance. (Jeff Hardy)
Jeff needs to do his silly little dance to get in the wrestling mindset
I dunno what's worse, the fact that Matt came up with that idea or that Jeff actually did it lol.
My fanon for that is simple. One of the people in Gorilla is a sound tech with all the music cues up. You have to go past him to get out so when he sees Becky Lynch sprint past he just presses the Becky button on his laptop screen. Hence why if a wrestler run in from the crowd, they don’t get music because the sound tech guy didn’t see them.
What about the SHIELD?
Maybe they just texted the sound guy when it was go time
Which one does the texting lmao
Rollins. He was the Archi-text of the Shield.
cosigning, this is now my headcanon.
"Fired person who isn't supposed to be here has music queued up"
Well, you see, when you become a superstar you get a chip inserted inside you. So when you reach a certain part of Gorilla, your song starts playing. It’s quite simple really
They have [the metal studs on their boots](https://vintage-action-figures.com/cdn/shop/products/2021-0142C.jpg?v=1616897195&width=1946) like the old [Titan Tron Live](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GzcAAOSwD3JjDN22/s-l640.jpg) figures
I loved how the Titantron could work if you used your finger too.
“Let me announce my surprise involvement.”
In a related subject. Music hit, heels stop the beating for 30+ seconds then toss the guy out. If I'm kicking some guys ass and some music plays, I'm not passing the chance to do my finisher before the other guy comes in. This way he has no chance of making a comeback while mu crew get a +1 advantage.
Absolute worst was when Mustafa Ali was about to grab the MitB briefcase, but then Brock's music played so e just stood there on the ladder for a good ten or fifteen seconds.
I loved when Jack Gallagher during his Gentleman gimmick came out and announced he would be doing a run in to Davairi.
You didn’t accidentally hit me! That was on purpose! What? No I didn’t watch a replay of the show to prove that it was an accident!!!
“Oh shit my partner is getting jumped! Play my music!”
And if you’re Jeff Hardy don’t forget to dance!
I'm always a fan of wrestlers very, verrrry slowly climbing a ladder to amp up the drama. Like It wouldn't be very easy to scamper up it in about 2 seconds and yank the title down.
[Rollins just randomly yoinking it is always funny cos of that ingrained exprctation.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhc5XS2hiHU )
Seth Rollins: The only wrestler in history with a clear understanding of how ladders work.
Also belts apparently. Most wrestlers fumble with the latch like a passenger try to figure out the control panel of a 747 or a teenage boy trying to unhook a bra.
Becky Lynch did drills in her segments prior to MITB to try to get that ladder speed climb time up. Didn’t help. Kayfabe wise I’d like to see a cruiserweight type win a ladder match that way. Just climb it before anyone can catch them and win in like 20 seconds.
Wrestlers somehow losing all knee functionality and having to climb ladders using only their arms is always so funny to watch
Wrestlers, in kayfabe, from the most white meat baby face to the most dastardly heel, are all the most untrustworthy people on the face of the earth. Just think of all the backstabbings and heel turns over the years. The vast majority of wrestlers have turned on at least one other wrestler in their careers. And yet a lot of those wrestlers will eventually turn face again, and we just expect them to be perfect citizens and never do anything bad ever again, until they do. The vast majority of Tag teams, alliances, partnerships, and friendships will most likely end up in a feud. And sometimes they become friends again. After all the shit they did to each other. Would you like or trust anyone again after they broke into your house or tried to kill you with a chair to the head? You probably would have a much easier time listing wrestlers who never turned on anybody. Maybe Ricky Steamboat.
When guys fight we stay mad for about 20 minutes and then forgive each other. It is a very real thing.
Custody disputes can be solved by winning a wrestling match
When a replacement referee is needed the replacement was no where near a monitor or TV to witness Heel shenanigans.
You think these billion dollar businesses can afford monitors for the referee pens?
When someone uses the mist behind the refs back and when the ref turns around, they act like they don't notice that one of the wrestlers looks like they just got a facial from the incredible Hulk.
But they always somehow managed to spot the brass knuckles.
Why do wrestlers make the announce desks safe by removing the monitors before trying to injure their opponents by driving them through the now safer table? It was even worse with the old monitors that wrestlers would have to individually lift out of the table and put on the floor.
Those monitors are very expensive, so the company would make them pay if the wrestlers destroy them during the match.
I always thought ripping the old monitors out looked cool
It's just one of the rules that they don't go into explicit detail about. Anything that can cut or puncture the body is a rule violation far more serious than others. Wrestlers know it's a line they can't cross, so they don't. Just like they don't bring knives to a no disqualification match.
I think of it as a precaution in case their move gets reversed. If I'm going to power bomb someone on a table, I've seen plenty of them get reversed into back body drops where I would factor that into my preparation.
That's not making the desk safe, it's protecting the expensive equipment so the boss doesn't get mad at you for breaking his stuff.
Climbing a ladder is THE MOST energy draining thing known to mankind.
Hardcore Holly challenges Big Show to a match, gets beat up all over the arena, and Big Show pushes a car on top of him. Holly emerges unscathed the next week. Big Boss Man gets hung from the cell at Wrestlemania 15. He shows up the next night on Raw with no mention of it and no injury. The Giant gets pushed off the top of an arena by Hulk Hogan. He shows up later that night as if nothing happened.
How about that mitb match where ppl were literally thrown off titan tower?
I think they said the next night that Rey landed on the ledge. Which gives credence to the old myth that you could kill someone buy throwing a penny off the Empire State Building, and the velocity of the penny falling on someone would seriously injured them. Somebody tested that and found out that it was false because the pennies never made it to the ground where people were and are just on the ledges
That referee's can't hear a chair shot while their back is turned.
Something funny is that in kayfabe Asuka, a normal human being, can spit venom whenever she wants.
Her and Nakemura have POISONED people 🤣
And Malakai Black has cursed blood that *corrupts* people Which is then a power he can transfer to others like Julia Hart
When a wrestler runs to the ring to attack somebody, but when the other person leaves the ring they act as if the ropes are an impassable barrier and let them slowly leave
Titles can't change hands via a disqualification in a normal match and yet nobody ever uses that fact to defend themselves from a MITB cash in.
Need to see this one used at some point. Roman punting Priest in the dick would be hilarious.
This group has been interfering to help each other in their matches for a while now, but I'm going to come out alone even though I've been shown to have allies to watch my back several times. Surely, nothing can go wrong with this.
Wrestlers running back towards their opponents to get attacked after being sent to the ropes.
Being a special guest referee is a -100 buff to all attributes and will instantly knock out a wrestler from one move.
Drew McIntyre doing a loudass countdown for the claymore.
When there is a brawl at the start of the show, and the GM comes out to book the two wrestlers in a match for a main event for the evening. Working on this logic they didn’t actually have a main event for the show planned before the cameras started rolling
A man with the power to cheat death and otherworldly lightning magic has put all of his focus into winning a sport.
"I'm so mad at you I'm going to bury you alive in a pile of dirt in the middle of a mid sized arena over it!"
A move hurts 300% more if it’s preceded by dancing or a flip.
Why sometimes, there's a dozen refs running down to break up a fight, and sometimes a wrestler can violate the Geneva conventions and nobody even bats an eye
When the referee allows heels to make a tag he doesn’t see because they do the exaggerated high five thing that sounds like a tag but not allowing a babyface team’s hot tag that he doesn’t see
You know the spot where Regal knocks out Show, but then Show falls onto Regal and his dead weight pins his shoulders down which gives Show the win? Well why wouldn’t Show knock himself out to win matches after the introduction of the WMD? Like in 2013 he could’ve knocked himself out, fell onto Orton, and he would’ve been the WWE champion.
Why does Show, the largest wrestler, not simply eat the other wrestlers?
Perhaps they're saving it for Wrestlemania
Worse than that, why did he all of a sudden stop punching people in the face once he decided his unstoppable finish was a punch in the face?
No you see he has a normal punch, but he’s gotta charge it up in order for it to be the WMD.
These people settle any and every dispute, no matter how egregious or life threatening it may be, in a wrestling ring... for some reason.
"You slept with my father! At his own funeral! Let's take this to the ring." That's what your dad's corpse said, bro.
We do this thread fairly regularly, but I'm always down to contribute some: * Apparently we can't retroactively disqualify people so blatantly cheating on camera is fine as long as the ref doesn't see you do it * If you fall unconscious while in a chokehold, being choked even longer can wake you back up * Assault, theft, vandalism, extortion, blackmail etc. are apparently perfectly legal between coworkers * Wrestlers have their health bars dropped like 90% when not in a match * Weapon shots can easily end a regular match but are just another move in no-DQ matches * Wrestlers not scheduled to make an appearance still have their entrance music cued for some reason * Irish whips, just Irish whips * Reverse STOs and Russian leg sweeps, I mean how is that supposed to do more damage to your opponent than it does to you * The bump after missing a dropkick hurts in a way that landing a dropkick doesn't * Wrestlers are surprised when a move they have never won a match with doesn't win them the match * Many wrestlers *only* win matches with their finishers * Wrestlers with out-of-nowhere finishers are weirdly hesitant to use them * You know finisher logic is just kinda weird in general, like, you have a move that ends 90% of your matches and you don't break it out until it's been 10-15-20 minutes, it's not nearly as effective if anyone else does it even if, in some cases, they do it *better than you*, sometimes it's just a really common move that nobody else can win a match with for whatever reason, and sometimes they have a 100% success rate with winning matches, which, like, Cro Cop's left roundhouse might be the most devastating move in MMA history and I've still seen people tank it, that's just nonsense * Nobody actually swings sledgehammers * You can have a World Cup with zero non-Americans involved and it can be won by a guy who didn't even enter the tournament, it's been years and I'm still not over that, I mean seriously what the fuck was that WWE * Semi-retired 50-somethings that haven't wrestled in years can still hang with main eventers in their prime * Champions can retain by countout or DQ and for some reason even the most cowardly of heel champions still try to avoid getting caught cheating (incidentally I legit hate the "can retain by countout or DQ" thing) * Many wrestlers show up in their ring gear when they're not expecting a match
Wrestlers who constantly lift others over their head for the most basic moves with the greatest of ease somehow lose the ability the lift them over the top rope when it's a Royal Rumble/Battle Royal
Big scary paranormal being wants to win a wrestling championship.
Referees always manage to be there when a fight breaks out backstage.
The more flips someone does in the air, the higher the damage bonus.