Really standard transitions

[JerryvonKramer]

Watching Mid-South yesterday I saw about four tag matches in a row featuring different workers where the transition from face shine to the heel heat segment was identical: heel who is getting beaten up manages to Irish whip the face towards his partner who gets in a cheap knee to the back from the apron, and there's your transition.

 

Another one I noticed was during the face comeback proper (as opposed to hope spot), the heel has a punch blocked, then a second, then goes for a roundhouse which misses and twirls them round ready to take an atomic drop. Both DiBiase and Flair did this. It's a really typical spot.

 

Another standard transition is the "reverse, charge" in the turnbuckle, which is a famous loudly called spot between DiBiase and Bret at the survivor series, but you see that one a ton. One guy whips the other guy into the corner and then charges them only to run into their knees.

 

Pete has mentioned sternum bumps as a standard transition for the Hart Foundation.

 

What are some others you've noticed?

[thebrainfollower]

Quick question about what you saw Parv, was that 4 matches in a row on the same TV show or just a viewing project. If it's the former that must have been one strange experience for the viewing audience.

 

Undertaker missed an elbow drop for approximately the first 5 years of his gimmick just to do his first zombie sit up. Lex had no better luck with the same move.

 

Bret as a heel would miss the flying elbow from the 2nd rope. He'd leap so he flew backward and landed on his back. If he flew straight at the guy, it meant the move was hitting. As a face I think I've only seen him miss it a few times.

 

Certain moves you do as a face suddenly fail when you turn heel. Even something rather hard to believe like Trish Stratus' matrix dodge, suddenly fails miserably when you turn heel. This SORT of makes sense as now you are cockier, and presumably just a hair slower as a result.

 

I don't think I've EVER seen Hulk Hogan as a face successfully hit a back bodydrop. That was a pretty standard heel comeback move for him.

 

Shawn Michaels crotched that top rope so much as a heel you think he'd be kayfabe impotent. Which would explain a lot of DX' antics actually.

 

If Dibiase went up for a SECOND double axehandle in the WWF you knew he was doing his flip over a gut punch transition. A first one might hit though but never a second.

 

Randy Savage as a heel going for the legdrop on the back of your neck while you lay like a dog on the bottom ropes almost never worked.

 

Undertaker as a face pre 2000's would almost always make a first mini comeback with the knocked out of the ring then clothesline the guy over the top rope spot.

 

 

It should be noted all this stuff worked in squash matches, so you can sort of see what's logically happening in kayfabe terms. Also this is why I adore Johnny Polo commentary, because his character would ALMOST point out this stuff and break kayfabe.

[dawho5]

Modern WWE has quite a few.

 

The variant on the reversal, charge that Parv mentioned where the guy charging eats the post.

 

The other variant on this where the charging heel (the above works for both heels and faces it seems, this one is more the heel or a much bigger face) gets the top rope pulled down and tumbles over to the floor.

 

Anyone who is a high flier does an odd-looking jump off the top that could only lead to them getting hit.

 

When somebody is on the apron and the opponent gets "too aggressive" and ends up getting draped over the top rope. Or the variant where the intended victim is on the floor and pulls their legs out from under them.

 

95% of the time a vertical suplex is attempted that is meant to be filmed. An interesting thing since the last two NXT main events I watched feature a vertical suplex into a resthold when the match returns from commercial. Those seemed like more mistimed commercial breaks on either the TV people or the wrestlers part.

 

For a long time a short-arm clothesline was bound to miss.

[PeteF3]

A classic from old All-Japan: wrestler A picks up wrestler B for a backdrop suplex, and wrestler B kicks off either the top rope or turnbuckle, sending both men hurtling backwards and hurting wrestler A. I think 99% of occurrences of this spot in history have been in AJPW.

 

Basically every ref bump in the history of Memphis came from a wrestler grabbing a side headlock and getting shot off straight ahead into the referee.

[Danish Dynamite]

Both Bret Hart as well as "Parv's secret crush" Hawk really loved shouldering the ring post when charging an opponent in the corner. ... And it's always a good idea to raise your knees, when The Ultimate Warrior is about to do a big splash (unless he's already gorilla pressed you, because that totally devastating move will put you right out...). For a ripped guy he had a surprisingly soft gut... You could also wait for The Warrior to turn his back on you when either shaking ropes/grabbing valet or manager/hearing voices and then smack him hard.

 

Also, in movies we have a concept called "The Pope in the pool scene", where if you have a stupid piece of exposition to feed the audience, wrap it up in something totally distracting. Like a scene where the Pope is swimming in his pool as a cardinal relays some weird plot point. Chances are you'll ignore the stupidity of the info, and in stead remember the Pope with his little hat swimming in a pool... In wrestling I guess that's "Hulking up"...

[Loss]

Belly to back suplex attempt with the victim rolling out and landing behind the other guy on his feet. It was a common Flair-Steamboat transition to lead into a reverse rollup nearfall, and it's something I've seen Daniel Bryan build on by running at what seems like the exact millisecond that his feet hit the ground.

[dawho5]

In 1990-93 All Japan the most common transition is a guy "telegraphing the back body drop." The truly great part of this is that once in a great while somebody hits a back body drop and it still manages to mean nothing despite being almost impossible to get it to connect.

[SomethingSavage]

I don't know a thing about Popes in pools, but I do know that I HATE that "shoulder to the ring post" spot. I mean, it CAN be pulled off in a way that looks convincing or even sounds sick - like it snaps a collar bone or something. But that's rare.

 

Normally, it just exposes things and looks like the guy's shoulder never comes within a foot of the post. It's just one of those things in wrestling that's hard to pull off. And, unless you've got a REALLY high success rate with it, I don't know why you'd even bother working it into your match. There's a lot of other ways to shift momentum in the corner like that.

[pol]

Sheamus always makes that spot look great.

[Danish Dynamite]

I don't know a thing about Popes in pools, but I do know that I HATE that "shoulder to the ring post" spot. I mean, it CAN be pulled off in a way that looks convincing or even sounds sick - like it snaps a collar bone or something. But that's rare.

 

Normally, it just exposes things and looks like the guy's shoulder never comes within a foot of the post. It's just one of those things in wrestling that's hard to pull off. And, unless you've got a REALLY high success rate with it, I don't know why you'd even bother working it into your match. There's a lot of other ways to shift momentum in the corner like that.

😄 yup! I absolutely didn't intend it to be a compliment. Bret did it well a couple of times, but generally I actively dislike all the transition examples I mentioned.