Pet Peeves in Wrestling

[Enforcer]

Does Earl Hebner’s obvious this is only a two count and not the finish arm motion count? If so...yeah this. I am watching old TNA ppv right now and it’s driving me insane. 

[El-P]

Marty Asami in NJPW is much worse at it. He's ruining *every* nearfall if you notice him.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Nothing much bothers me anymore, but as already mentioned, guys rolling opponents out of pinfalls to try more splashy pinfalls stinks.

[sek69]

WWE three ways annoy me because 99% of time it's the "one guy hits their finish, the other guy steals the pin" that was creative the first time but not after the billionth time. 

Everyone in WWE having to hit a pose on the stage like a video game character. It's even worse when most of the women seemingly have to do some sort of sexy pose which seems shoehorned in just to pop the old man. Dana Brooke's cartwheel thing she does in hers is pretty cool, I will give them that. 

[Dale Wolfe]

Audience chants about workrate

[MoS]

"This is awesome!!"

The only time I have loved that chant is when Shield and the Wyatts faced off at the beginning of their first match at, I want to say Elimination Chamber 2014

[strobogo]

On 5/27/2021 at 7:26 PM, El-P said:

Marty Asami in NJPW is much worse at it. He's ruining *every* nearfall if you notice him.

 

It's not just him, it's EVERY ref in EVERY puro company. Absolutely baffling. And it's been going on for quite some time. 

[NintendoLogic]

The only "This is awesome" chant I've ever liked was when fans did it while Brock was beating the shit out of Roman at WM31.

[strobogo]

When was the first this is awesome chant? The first time I remember it was 2002-2003 ROH, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was popping up on near death ECW shows or ECWA/JAPW stuff before ROH kicked off.

[sek69]

"This is awesome" is normally okay by me as long as something awesome is actually going on, what I can't stand is the "fight for ever" and ESPECIALLY the "both these guys" chants. 

[Loss]

Putting someone on the top rope and then both wrestlers being up there for what seems like an eternity trying to get in position for something.

[delacroix]

On 5/29/2021 at 11:13 PM, sek69 said:

Everyone in WWE having to hit a pose on the stage like a video game character. It's even worse when most of the women seemingly have to do some sort of sexy pose which seems shoehorned in just to pop the old man. Dana Brooke's cartwheel thing she does in hers is pretty cool, I will give them that. 

Related to this, the nearly identical cadence used in the majority of promos makes me tune right out. It’s not just in WWE, but they’re certainly the most conspicuous with the unnatural, self-consciously dramatic style that everyone seems to use now. It’s that thing where there’s constant pauses for drama and emphasis. No one sounds like a real person talking, ever. When I first saw Matt Riddle, I wondered why people were so into him, and the first thing that occurred to me was that at least he doesn’t talk exactly like everyone else and maybe that was being mistaken for charisma. 

[sek69]

12 minutes ago, delacroix said:

It’s that thing where there’s constant pauses for drama and emphasis.

Once you realize all the "serious" promos in WWE sound like someone doing a bad WIlliam Shatner impression, you won't be able to unhear it. 

[Boss Rock]

Excessive stalling. I don't mind when a heel tries to stall for the first minute or so, but anything beyond that I feel like screaming "DO SOMETHING!"

The shocked face following a kick-out of a move that has never won a match is also ridiculous.

Not so much of an in-ring thing, but the use of insider terms on commentary or in promos.

 

[Kadaveri]

10 hours ago, strobogo said:

When was the first this is awesome chant? The first time I remember it was 2002-2003 ROH, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was popping up on near death ECW shows or ECWA/JAPW stuff before ROH kicked off.

Dave Meltzer on the first "this is awesome" chant:

So this is the story of the birth of the “This is Awesome” chant. It was actually done for the first time during a bad match with Abyss vs. Money Brown vs. Raven at the TNA Victory Road PPV in Orlando. When it was done, it was a mocking chant, started by MLW podcast host and wrestler Mister Saint Laurent (MSL), done sarcastically. The chant as a positive started soon after, at FIP shows in Central Florida, and that was by people who had been at the TNA show. It garnered popularity when it spread to ROH, particularly the October 1, 2005 match in New York between Kenta Kobashi and Samoa Joe

[strobogo]

That's can't be right, I remember it popping up in early Paul London matches in ROH

[JRH]

It's practically tradition at this point, but the whole "heel holds/distracts babyface so another heel can attack, only for the face to move out of the way, allowing heel miscommunication" is one of the laziest spots ever, I got sick of it a few years after I started watching.

[delacroix]

18 hours ago, sek69 said:

Once you realize all the "serious" promos in WWE sound like someone doing a bad WIlliam Shatner impression, you won't be able to unhear it. 

I don’t think that’s entirely fair— some of them do a fine Shatner impression. 

[sek69]

4 hours ago, JRH said:

It's practically tradition at this point, but the whole "heel holds/distracts babyface so another heel can attack, only for the face to move out of the way, allowing heel miscommunication" is one of the laziest spots ever, I got sick of it a few years after I started watching.

I'm OK with it if it's a manager or a bumbling second doing it, but yeah wrestlers doing it  makes them all look like goofs and not in the "dastardly heel gets their comeuppance" way. 

[joeg]

9 hours ago, strobogo said:

That's can't be right, I remember it popping up in early Paul London matches in ROH

"Please Don't Die" was the Paul London chant at Murphy Rec in 2002ish. It always happened when he was about to do something crazy like dive off a ladder to the floor or dive off the top of the basketball backboard. "This is awesome can around a little bit later in ROH like 2004 ish. 

[Laz]

22 hours ago, sek69 said:

"This is awesome" is normally okay by me as long as something awesome is actually going on, what I can't stand is the "fight for ever" and ESPECIALLY the "both these guys" chants. 

In a better timeline, Sami Zayn becomes one of the only talents in mainstream US wrestling who takes a massive beating and keeps coming back (because he's always been so amazing at selling it), and "fight forever" becomes his trademark like Bryan's "yes."

OT, undercard matches going over 15 minutes just because. I was in a discussion elsewhere about TNA Bound For Glory 2006 the other day and how good of a show it was, and part of why is because only two matches broke the 15 minute mark (one a battle royal, one the World title main event). Even with the average match being around 14 minutes long, there were still four incredibly good matches on display, one of which was an instant classic (LAX vs. Styles/Daniels), and the stupid stuff was kept to a brief minimum while also serving a purpose overall. 

This idea that every match needs to take up 20-30 minutes at least is counterintuitive. 

[sek69]

Main events/ title matches warrant 20+ minute time limits, there really isn't much else that would warrant that much time. Dave was talking about how everyone in AEW is out to have the best match on every show, which on paper is good, but sometimes it leads to over-long matches because both parties are trying to get all their AJPW 90s homage spots in. 

[Makai Club #1]

11 hours ago, sek69 said:

Main events/ title matches warrant 20+ minute time limits, there really isn't much else that would warrant that much time. Dave was talking about how everyone in AEW is out to have the best match on every show, which on paper is good, but sometimes it leads to over-long matches because both parties are trying to get all their AJPW 90s homage spots in. 

It's exhausting. The Young Bucks vs Kingston/Moxley match at Double Or Nothing had a main event structured tag team match with a double heat section and a long closing stretch and that was the second match of the main show. 

[strobogo]

11 minutes ago, Makai Club #1 said:

It's exhausting. The Young Bucks vs Kingston/Moxley match at Double Or Nothing had a main event structured tag team match with a double heat section and a long closing stretch and that was the second match of the main show. 

I thought the Shida/Baker match was actually the biggest offender. They had 10 minutes of just awkward nothingness and then went into I think literally 10 false finishes directly in a row. 

[Makai Club #1]

25 minutes ago, strobogo said:

I thought the Shida/Baker match was actually the biggest offender. They had 10 minutes of just awkward nothingness and then went into I think literally 10 false finishes directly in a row. 

Yep. At least the match I mentioned was a hit, this was two people overreaching and failing hard. And that hurts the PPV overall. AEW (and other promotions too) definitely need to start editing these matches before they happen.