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Understanding wrestling terms


DR Ackermann

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Transitioning from one plot point to the next. Sometimes a great transition happens in the middle of a heat segment where a face gives you a hope spot but injures his knee on the turnbuckle so the heel starts attacking the knee. Sometimes, there is no transition or spot that logically allows a babyface or heel to take over. They just decide to switch who is in control.

 

I think plot point is a really good way to look at transitions. "act break" is another. Or Momentum shift. Plot point is probably because because theoretically you could transition without changing who's in control. It could be a change in strategy as well. To me, good transitions is up there with consistent selling and throughline continuity in a match for what really makes matches great.

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That's so basic a thing, I'm not sure how I'd refer to it. Chaining moves together is a specific thing. Varying offense and "keeping things interesting" is again, another specific thing.

 

Actually, I refer to that as "negative space" a lot, especially when talking about Mark Henry, since it's something that stands out with him.

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Not to pick on Angle, but I remember when he was especially green that he would throw a suplex, then he would just stand there until his opponent got up, then just throw another one. The Austin match in early '01 on RAW really stands out for that. He didn't seem natural. By that definition, that would be an example of bad (or absent) transitions.

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One question on this topic: is it possible to distinguish between the terms that originated within the business (among the wrestlers and promoters, etc.) and those that were coined by outsiders who have analysed the matches?

It might be now, but it won't be for long given how many people starting out as wrestlers these days grew up as Internet fans.

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A simple vertical suplex could be considered a high spot, correct?

 

And workrate is basically a measure of downtime, right? Like certain guys would be criticized for not being a workrate wrestler because they are always putting on chin locks and the like just to kill time? Whereas someone like Angle would be considered a workrate wrestler because the match keeps going, for better or worse?

 

Also, in lucha, what exactly is a lightning match, and is that a kayfabe term that they use in Mexico, or is it insider terminology, like a sprint?

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A simple vertical suplex could be considered a high spot, correct?

 

And workrate is basically a measure of downtime, right? Like certain guys would be criticized for not being a workrate wrestler because they are always putting on chin locks and the like just to kill time? Whereas someone like Angle would be considered a workrate wrestler because the match keeps going, for better or worse?

Yes and yes.
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  • 3 weeks later...

This isn't a question of terminology, but how is AAA's name perceived in Mexico? Asistencia Asesoría y Administración means "Advice and management assistance" according to babelfish and "Assistance, Consulting, and Administration" according to wikipedia. In Mexico how does that relate to pro wrestling and how/why is that the name of the promotion?

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A highspot is simply a part of the match where the action has picked up. A highspot can just as easily be a headlock spot.

 

Most of these definitions only exist outside of the business. But of course like every generation they will become intergrated with the younger generation.

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I think really we, as viewers with our specific (insane) level of trying to follow and understand this stuff, have more of a need to classify things than people inside the business do. Most of the terms used in literary criticism probably aren't frequently used by authors.

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I'd agree. As a training martial artist in a traditional art, I understand completely. The Chinese words we use for different things are pronounced completely different by different people, to the point where you wouldn't even recognize the word sometimes. As long as the people involved understand the what of it, what it is called is pretty meaningless.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think the easiest way to understand the term feeding is "running into the babyface's fist."

 

There's more to it than that, but think of a hot tag where guys just charge into the fresh man's offense and make him look great and get the crowd going. I really do think there's an element of going up well in slams and over for arm drags here, usually in rapid fire sequences.

 

I saw this the other day (and yeah, WWE probably owns it but it's old and handheld and I'm posting it).

 

 

Check out the 55 second mark when Jones tags in. Paul Jones is pretty lame, but he doesn't look lame for a twenty second span there, and that's really just a few punches.

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Feeding is as simple as putting your body in a position to receive offense. If you are crawling up the ropes you "give" them your back to hit.

 

In the original question the word "base" was used.

 

A good base is simply someone who is great at taking a spot. Think Psicosis when he worked Rey Misterio Jr, it's actually a term used mostly for lucha style spots.

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Southern Tag: What exactly makes a tag match a southern-style tag? Is it the basic face gets worked over, is in peril and finally makes the hot tag? Is that it?

 

 

 

In regards to Southern Tag, why is that term used, were tag matches elsewhere laid out in a different way and if so were there a lot of differences?

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