Pet Peeves in Wrestling

[AA484]

Oh, man, I forgot about "This is Awesome" chant.  Number 1 pet peeve with 1,000 bullets.

[MoS]

4 hours 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. 

Bucks v. Mox/King was like the main event of the night for the fans. The issue was them being booked second match on the card. 

Which leads me to another pet peeve....

Bad card structure of big shows. I don't know when exactly this started, maybe one of last decade's WrestleMania, where basically the second half of entire big shows became a chore to sit through. There will be excellent opening matches, and then the show grinds to a halt.

One reason this happens obviously is because shows' running times have increased tremendously, which is partly due to so many matches going long. Another issue is the mentality in the modern era to open hot and then give fans time in the middle to recover so they can get hot for the main event again, but in practice, it has just led to fans losing their enthusiasm midway and the card getting all its heat sucked out. Like what happened with Double or Nothing this Sunday - a tremendously hot first hour, a middling 2nd, and YMMV 3rd and 4th. Does anyone honestly think that fans wouldn't have gone apeshit for Mox and King if they made their entrance a couple of hours later?

[SteveJRogers]

On 6/1/2021 at 3:46 PM, 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.

What’s lazier, and this is often with face interactions as well, is when the one getting hit acts like it was done on purpose.

Does any one go back to the locker room, watch the replay, and realize what happened!?

[Chess Knight]

Standard back bumps on offensive moves that don't look like they warrant standard back bumps, e.g. headbutts, Great Khali's big chop, etc. Just never looks to me like a wrestler should be thrown down from it the same way they are a clothesline.

[sek69]

22 hours ago, Chess Knight said:

Standard back bumps on offensive moves that don't look like they warrant standard back bumps, e.g. headbutts, Great Khali's big chop, etc. Just never looks to me like a wrestler should be thrown down from it the same way they are a clothesline.

That's situational to me. If a big guy/giant is doing the move, a back bump could work to put the move over. If it's an average sized guy it looks silly indeed. 

[joeg]

On 6/3/2021 at 8:27 PM, Chess Knight said:

Standard back bumps on offensive moves that don't look like they warrant standard back bumps, e.g. headbutts, Great Khali's big chop, etc. Just never looks to me like a wrestler should be thrown down from it the same way they are a clothesline.

This. 100% agree. How often does somebody in any other sport fall perfectly flat on their back after getting knocked down? Very, very rarely. I much prefer when a wrestler sells by crumpling up in a heap or falling on their hip. It looks more natural. 

[Johnny Sorrow]

3 hours ago, joeg said:

This. 100% agree. How often does somebody in any other sport fall perfectly flat on their back after getting knocked down? Very, very rarely. I much prefer when a wrestler sells by crumpling up in a heap or falling on their hip. It looks more natural. 

I prefer the back bump based solely on the sound it makes when you're live. It's part of the suspension of disbelief that's required to enjoy wrestling live. 

[strobogo]

Having just tuned in late to AEW to see an avalanche tombstone get a 2 count and the match go on another 10+ minutes (lol), what actually really bugs me is the half a second sell after delivering a big move to sell and injury and it therefore not getting the win. 

 

1. It's never a long enough sell to make a difference in a pin

2. It always telegraphs the kick out and any drama in the fall

3. It's been so over done in so many matches for so many years that at this point the actual surprise would be hitting the move with a sell by the performer of the move right before the pin and still getting the win. The only guy I can even think of doing this is RVD where he'd sell the frog splash as much as his opponent 

[sek69]

I loved how RVD would sell how hard he hit his opponent with the frog splash by bouncing several feet in the air. Made it look devastating so that if it took him a couple seconds to make the pin it was still believable. 

[Al]

It helped that Van Dam did that sell fairly consistently.

[MoS]

RVD was someone who, from his interviews, actually gave a great deal of thought to selling, psychology, etc. I remember being stunned years and years back when I read an interview he did where he said that for him, a great ladder match is not one where ladders are used just for stunts and pops, but where it is just a means to an end in winning the match. 

Your mileage may vary on how successful he was in actually practicing what he preached, but some of his interview quotes make me feel he'd be right at home here at PWO discussing wrestling and psychology with us 

[strobogo]

It's just such an overused thing that long ago became a thing that has to be on the checklist of EPIC GREAT MATCH bullshit to make smarks think you're in intelligent worker and know how to sell 

[NintendoLogic]

Rewatching HBK/Mankind reminded me of how much I hate it when wrestlers apply the figure four to the wrong leg. The idea behind the hold is that you're putting pressure on the straight leg with the bent one, but people treat it like the bent leg is the one being impacted. That battle was lost ages ago, though.

[Kadaveri]

On 7/1/2021 at 3:00 AM, strobogo said:

3. It's been so over done in so many matches for so many years that at this point the actual surprise would be hitting the move with a sell by the performer of the move right before the pin and still getting the win. The only guy I can even think of doing this is RVD where he'd sell the frog splash as much as his opponent 

The best is when HHH hit a pedigree, sold for 21 seconds, then pinned Booker T and won.

[Kadaveri]

On 7/1/2021 at 11:38 PM, MoS said:

RVD was someone who, from his interviews, actually gave a great deal of thought to selling, psychology, etc. I remember being stunned years and years back when I read an interview he did where he said that for him, a great ladder match is not one where ladders are used just for stunts and pops, but where it is just a means to an end in winning the match. 

Your mileage may vary on how successful he was in actually practicing what he preached, but some of his interview quotes make me feel he'd be right at home here at PWO discussing wrestling and psychology with us 

PWO has been way too harsh on RVD. His matches look like paragons of psychology and logic compared to recent WWE ladder matches.

[SteveJRogers]

52 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Rewatching HBK/Mankind reminded me of how much I hate it when wrestlers apply the figure four to the wrong leg. The idea behind the hold is that you're putting pressure on the straight leg with the bent one, but people treat it like the bent leg is the one being impacted. That battle was lost ages ago, though.

The one time “the wrong leg” worked when it comes to that kind of leg lock hold was the finish in Montreal  

[Laz]

51 minutes ago, Kadaveri said:

PWO has been way too harsh on RVD. His matches look like paragons of psychology and logic compared to recent WWE ladder matches.

I think the IWC, in general, has been too harsh on RVD's "lack of psychology" because it was never the basic "work the leg to set up the finish" kind of stuff.

[Matt D]

The Benoit matches were the killer, because he’d spend the entire head working a limb and RVD would drop it the second he started a comeback. It was just a huge waste of time. It’s one thing to switch off of some incidental or transitory or control limb work but when it’s the meat of the match, it’s problematic. That said, I’ve come to almost hold it against Benoit more than RVD. On a national stage, if your opponent isn’t interested in paying off that story or simply isn’t able to do so, it’s up to you as the heel calling the match to do something that will pay off in a worthwhile manner. 

[PhilTLL]

6 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Rewatching HBK/Mankind reminded me of how much I hate it when wrestlers apply the figure four to the wrong leg. The idea behind the hold is that you're putting pressure on the straight leg with the bent one, but people treat it like the bent leg is the one being impacted. That battle was lost ages ago, though.

It was lost around the time that the spinning toehold fell from popularity and became the setup to the figure 4.

[strobogo]

To be fair, the spinning toehold is a pretty stupid move, especially when done for multiple reps around 

[Dav'oh]

Wrestlers who wear sneakers/joggers/runners/trainers (whatever they're called in your neck of the woods) in the ring. Just saw Kofi wrestling in his Nike basketball shoes and it reminded me a) how prevalent it is and 2) that I find it somehow.....disrespectful. You should always wear proper gear and you should wipe your boots before you step in the ring  

[rainmakerrtv]

On 7/5/2021 at 10:56 PM, Dav'oh said:

Wrestlers who wear sneakers/joggers/runners/trainers (whatever they're called in your neck of the woods) in the ring. Just saw Kofi wrestling in his Nike basketball shoes and it reminded me a) how prevalent it is and 2) that I find it somehow.....disrespectful. You should always wear proper gear and you should wipe your boots before you step in the ring  

I remember a shoot interview with Barry Windham where he told the tale of Big John Studd gently reading him the riot act for wearing his cowboy boots from the street in the ring.

[strobogo]

Saw some of KOR/Cole last night on NXT and the amount of times both of them got themselves into position for the next move or spot was real egregious. Peak egreg, perhaps. Especially as they were all such simple things where it would only take 2 seconds tops for one of them to just nudge the guy into position. But instead you'd see Cole take a bump and then scoot 1/3rd of the ring away, or KOR would roll through a move so he could get into position for the reverse shining wizard deal but not only would he stop the roll through to properly get into position, but he'd also turn for the camera angle. I'm not all "ARRRG IT'S GOTTA LOOK REAL" but that kind of shit is just lazy. There's no reason KOR couldn't have just grabbed Cole by the wrist and dragged him for ONE second to get a better position for the spot. There's no reason that Cole couldn't sit KOR up instead of KOR having to roll through and then twist around to get into the right spot to get the right camera angle on the spot.  

[sek69]

Nothing is funnier (and more enraging to the Corny types I assume) than when someone takes a bump and then does the booty scooty move to get in position for a top rope move. 

 

Also the "always face the hard cam" is low key the most business exposing concept ever. Like, yes, you should *try* to make sure you're facing the hard cam so the folks can see what is going on, but if we're supposed to be pretending what is going in is real it doesn't always work that way. Plus that's what the dudes with hand cams are supposed to be for instead of headbanging when someone is doing punches and stomps to give everyone vertigo. 

[strobogo]

How about just take the bump closer to the corner and then you don't have to have everyone notice you scooting half way across the ring for no reason after you just took a death bump. Seems easier.