WWE quirks, linguistic and otherwise

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

It just means that they have aired more episodes than Gunsmoke, Bonanza, M*A*S*H, Cheers or any other long running comedy/drama, with which Raw is ostensibly in the same category. At least it's better than that "Action/Adventure" crap from early '99.

[Jingus]

"Weekly" is the key word there. There are plenty of soap operas which ran for decades and knock Raw's dick in the dirt when it comes to longevity and productivity.

[Coffey]

It just seems like another way for Vince & Co. to scream "we're not a wrestling show, we're an entertainment show!" to me.

[Ronnie]

It's uncanny how many of Vince's verbal mannerisms have transferred to his talent without his having to direct it.

 

Wrestlers seem to throw in an unusual number of mentions of "quite frankly" compared to the rest of the populace, and just about everybody a few years ago would speak about "this very ring".

 

One of the examples that really jumped out to me of subliminal adoption was actually one of JR's terms. Lita was on Off The Record and described something as "hellacious". I know that etymologically it was college slang from the 30s, but I'd never heard anyone other than JR use the word. (Which really ground my gears anyway: What's wrong with "hellish"?)

 

Black wrestlers are always the best "pure athletes" it seems.

Well, if you choose to ignore that the first two to be given that label by JR were Shawn Michaels and Billy Gunn, I suppose so.

[Hollinger.]

It's "natural athletes", not pure. Pure refers to something else.

[Bix]

Just remembered one while watching Raw:

 

Overly verbose references to standard gimmick matches, like "5 on 5 tag team elimination match" or "2 on 1 handicap match," when the less detailed versions used to be the norm.

[Loss]

I haven't noticed it in years, but they used to always say "kisser" instead of "mouth", and also use the word "official" instead of "referee".

[Indikator]

I always thought "kisser" was a southern thing. But I'm from Europe so what do I know

[Loss]

You would think that, but Vince McMahon, who hates Southern things, and Gorilla Monsoon would say it all the time.

[Coffey]

Now it's skull. No one is hit in the head, they're hit in the skull. Randy Orton punts people in the skull.

[Log]

In some ladder match a few years ago, someone got hit with the ladder and JR said, "That ladder's not made out of chocolate." I swear I heard him make that call a couple of other times.

 

Also, it's always the STEEL steps outside the ring. They're always STEEL!

[sek69]

Not to mention that the weight of the ring steps increases more than Andre's weight in a Hogan retelling of WM3.

 

Bonus points when they mention how heavy the STEEEEEL ring steps are right after they're shown bouncing like nothing.

[El-P]

I love this thread.

[S.L.L.]

Now it's skull. No one is hit in the head, they're hit in the skull. Randy Orton punts people in the skull.

Unless they get hit in the back. Excuse me...the spine.

 

On one hand this may seem silly, but on the other...remember how Gordon Solie used to say the figure-four leglock affected 13 points in both legs? Imagine having to break that down because you have to reference the individual bones within each leg instead of just the legs themselves? You could do an awesome Discovery Channel special on shit like that.

 

On the other other hand, we could be inflicted with a barrage of "there is nothing humerus about [insert arm-based submission here]" puns, but I can't think of too many holds that target the upper arm specifically, so we might be spared.

[Guest Cobra Commander]

Did a History of WWE search and found Cousin Junior lasted from August 1985 to February 1986, no idea if he's the longest lasting guy to be billed as Junior in the WWF in the VKM era. Although I guess there's a damn good shot that Cousin Junior was gone in December 1985, as Cousin Luke debuted around that time and any HistoryofWWE results for Junior after Luke's debut were really Cousin Luke matches.

 

The whole "no two guys with the same first name" thing has been covered, right? Because i'm pretty damned sure that the WWF would have never had Nature Boy Ric Flair and Nature Boy Buddy Landel at the same time (like the NWA did in 1990).

[El-P]

The whole "no two guys with the same first name" thing has been covered, right? Because i'm pretty damned sure that the WWF would have never had Nature Boy Ric Flair and Nature Boy Buddy Landel at the same time (like the NWA did in 1990).

WWE did have two Chris at the same time, and apparently it was complex enough to fuck the mind of the "greatest announcer ever" JR to the point he wouldn't know who was Benoit and who was Jericho. Funny how Schiavone never seemed that troubled about that fact.

[Matt D]

I was watching the 2008 Smackdown NWO Elimination Chamber the other day and Cole kept calling the "steel" area outside the ring but inside the chamber "The unforgiving concrete!" he caught himself once and turned it into "Concrete-like....ground," but then did it again at least two times after that. It was funny.

[sek69]

The whole "no two guys with the same first name" thing has been covered, right? Because i'm pretty damned sure that the WWF would have never had Nature Boy Ric Flair and Nature Boy Buddy Landel at the same time (like the NWA did in 1990).

WWE did have two Chris at the same time, and apparently it was complex enough to fuck the mind of the "greatest announcer ever" JR to the point he wouldn't know who was Benoit and who was Jericho. Funny how Schiavone never seemed that troubled about that fact.

 

 

Well JR did have trouble keeping the Dudleys straight too...

 

 

Also I don't know if this is necessarily a quirk or just lazy writers, but WWE sure does love having heels do the over-the-top-fake-laughing spot. Most recently CM Punk when they played Austin's music and did the whole "tease someone making an appearance" gag.

[rzombie1988]

The whole "no two guys with the same first name" thing has been covered, right? Because i'm pretty damned sure that the WWF would have never had Nature Boy Ric Flair and Nature Boy Buddy Landel at the same time (like the NWA did in 1990).

You have to admit that having two Nature Boys was kind of strange.

[sek69]

They seemed to be trying to do a Nature Boy feud in 1986 but Budro messed that up.

[rzombie1988]

They seemed to be trying to do a Nature Boy feud in 1986 but Budro messed that up.

Oh I know, but it's still odd. It's better that it didn't happen anyway as Landell would have looked 3rd rate by the end of it.

[Log]

The whole "no two guys with the same first name" thing has been covered, right? Because i'm pretty damned sure that the WWF would have never had Nature Boy Ric Flair and Nature Boy Buddy Landel at the same time (like the NWA did in 1990).

I think this comes from their attempt to not be a wrestling show anymore, but more "episodic television" as they like to call it. How many shows have two characters with the same first name?

 

Oh, besides Pete and Pete.

[sek69]

They don't do this anymore, but up until the late 80s (maybe even early 90s) if a match ended any way but via pinfall the announcers would not know what the result was until we got the "official word" from the ring announcer.

[rovert]

They don't do this anymore, but up until the late 80s (maybe even early 90s) if a match ended any way but via pinfall the announcers would not know what the result was until we got the "official word" from the ring announcer.

Neither would the wrestlers. Most heels would seem to think that a title would change hands on a count out or dq.

[Guest Slickster]

Someone else on another board pointed out how the fans were totally supportive of Joey Styles' 'shoot' on Raw in 2006 until he addressed them as 'you fans.' He pointed out how the phrase 'you people' is automatically going to draw heel heat.