It is not a smart idea to accuse a pro wrester of being a fake. A few years back, John Stossel, consumer reporter for ABC's 20/20, did just that to wrestler Dr. D (David Schultz). The good doctor clapped him over the ears so hard that Stossel believed that his hearing had been permanently damaged. Comedian Richard Belzer challenged Hulk Hogan to put a headlock on him. Hogan did just that, with such force that it cut off the blood supply to the comedian's brain. When Hogan released the hold, Belzer dropped to the floor unconscious. Goldberg doesn't appreciate being called a fake. He has challenged anyone to stand up to his spear, in which the 285-pound mountain of muscles charges headfirst from about 10 feet away. If anyone can stand up after the charge, "they can call it a fake," says Goldberg - but not before. Wisely, there have been no takers for that challenge.
Back in the 1950's there was serious discussion about whether wrestling was "real" or not. Fans, particularly young fans, thought it was "real-real". Certainly most people had moments of doubt, but that didn't arise while we were watching a match, and doubts didn't interfere with the enjoyment. Those who didn't appreciate wrestling generally dismissed it as completely fake. Wrestlers them selves don't like to seriously discuss the reality of wrestling. You're likely to get an answer like the one Hulk Hogan gave, "For those who believe, you don't need an explanation; for those who don't believe, no amount of explaining will do." But wrestling isn't just a matter of faith. Something is really going on in that ring. Looked at coldly, it should be clear that if everything that appeared to be happening in a match was actually happening, the police would be called because somebody would be seriously injured or killed.
When a 280-pound man jumps from the top ring rope onto his opponent, who is lying flat on the canvas, the results is going to be, at the very least, a lot of broken ribs. Unless, of course, the jumper makes a very serious and successful attempt not to injure his opponent by not quite landing on him, or by landing in a way in which knees, elbows or other bony parts don't make the impact. The results of the jump can still be painful, but not deadly or dangerous. If a wrestler is repeatedly punched, or kicked viciously, he is not going to be able to get up from the canvas and do the same to his opponent a minute later, unless the punches and kicks are "pulled" so that they have very little power in them. Nobody is going to get up after being hit viciously in the back of the head with a steel folding chair, unless he hasn't really been hit in the head, but across the back instead, and the chair has not been swung as viciously as it appears. The blow is going to sting, but it won't be lethal. Moves like the clothesline and forearm smash are popular, because they can be made to look good, but don't do any real damage to the opponent. A toehold applied by a strong and skillful wrestler, can easily break a man's leg. But if that skillful wrestler doesn't apply full pressure, the hold is going to look a lot worse than it is. And how about a wrestler picking up a then body slamming who weights a lot more than he does? The big fellow has to give the little guy a bit of help by jumping into his arms and grabbing his trunks to steady the hold. If the bug gut was really struggling to get away, the little guy wouldn't be able to handle him, and hit the move correctly. But in the match it doesn't look like the guy is cooperating.
What goes on in the ring is no action adventure film. The leaps and falls are not accomplished by trick photography. The wrestler can't call in a stunt man to take the blows for him. There is both pain and danger in every match. Sometimes injuries are faked in order to give a wrestler time off or build up anticipation about the rematch. But of course, there are plenty of real injuries as well (Sid breaking his leg in a WCW PPV), and there have been a few deaths in the ring (Ted DiBiase's father died of a heart attack while wrestling). A really good wrestler is one who can make the blows and the holds look more devastating than they really are, but not put his/her opponent out of business. It takes years of training, talent, and a lot of courage to make it big in the world of pro wrestling. If you see some of the more inexperienced or less talented wrestlers on the minor circuits, their matches really do look fake. In the big time, however, it's very hard to tell what's real and what is a "work" (not real). That's why professional wrestlers tend to bristle when they are told wrestling is "fake". It may not be "real-real", but for the fan, it's a great show, and it's quite real enough. These individuals are real athletes, and real professionals.
In the late 1980's, Vince McMahon finally settled the reality question in wrestling, when he began describing WWF wrestling as "sports entertainment" rather than pure sports. It wasn't that McMahon had a sudden attack of truthfulness, what he wanted to do, was to get his business out from under the control of state and local athletic commissions. For their part, most athletic commissions were quite happy to relinquish control over pro wrestling. It had always been something of an embarrassment, and they never quite knew what to do with it. There was some fear that McMahon's admission would alienate fans. In fact, it seems to have had the opposite effect, because the popularity of wrestling has jumped, both on television and in the arenas. A lot of people seemed genuinely relived to know that the guys in the ring aren't going to get killed or maimed. That allows them to relax and enjoy the show. Still, wrestlers don't like to spend a lot of time talking about the tricks of their trade. It's important to maintain the illusion and to allow the fans, to engage in what writes of fiction call "the willing suspension of disbelief". Watching wrestling is a lot like watching stage magic. You know it isn't real, that the lady really isn't being sawed in half. But it looks so darn real that you can't figure out exactly how it's done, and you marvel at the skill of the performer
The wrestlers go through so much and they risk their careers and even their lives every time they perform inside that ring. Wrestling is not a cake-walk. Wrestling should be enjoyed just as we enjoy movies. Wrestlers are just like stunt persons in movies. Almost all the wrestling moves hurt when they are properly applied. Just sitting and bragging about wrestling is easier than to go through the difficulties involved in becoming a wrestler.
Here are a few wrestling terms:
Angle - (n.) A wrestling "plot" which may involve only one match or may continue over several matches for some time; the reason behind a feud or a turn.
Apter Mags - (n.) 1. Word used to describe the magazines in which Bill Apter is part of the staff (PWI, The Wrestler, etc). 2. Used to describe magazines that contain fictional tales about wrestling that pertain to the storylines.
Around the Horn - (n.) The trip to each town or series offf towns that the promotion runs events in.
Blade - (v.i & v.t.) [razor blade] The practice of cutting oneself or being cut with a part of a razor blade hidden in tights, hair or wrappings in order to produce juice.
Blow Up - (v.i.) To become fatigued or exhausted. The Ultimate Warrior was said to be one of a number of wrestlers who blows up on the entry ramp.
Book - (v.i.) To schedule a wrestler for a show.
Booker - (n.) The individual responsible for angles, finishes, hiring and firing in a promotion.
Brass - (n.) Management.
Bump - (n.) A fall or hit done as a spot (see spot) which takes the wrestler (or other participant, i.e. referee, manager) out of the ring or out of action.
Call a Match - (v.i.) To inform opponent of upcoming moves or spots throughout the match.
Canned Heat - (n.) Crowd cheering that is piped into the sound system or into a pretaped TV show during post production. Ex: The Goldberg chants.
Card - (n.) The series of matches in one location at one time.
Carry - (v.i.) 1. To call a match. 2. To make a green opponent look good in the fans eyes.
Dark Match - (n.) A match at a TV taping that is not taped for broadcast.
Draw - (v.t.) To attract marks. (n.) the popularity of a wrestler, the ability to bring in marks.
Dusty Finish - (n.) After a second referee comes into the match and makes the 3 count leading to a pin-fall after the original referee has been knocked down, the original ref overrules that decision. This finish was not exactly invented by Dusty Rhodes, but Dusty used this finish so often during his term as a booker, the finish took on his name.
DUD - (n.) A particularly bad and totally uninteresting match.
Face - (n. & adj.) [babyface] A good guy.
Fall - (n.) [pin-fall] A referee's count of three with the loser's shoulders on the mat.
Feud - (n.) A series of matches between two wrestlers or two tag teams, usually face vs. heel though face feuds and heel feuds are not unknown.
Finish - (n.) The event or sequence of events which leads to the ultimate outcome of a match.
Garbage Wrestling - (n.) A style of wrestling that consists of wrestlers frequent use of blading, foreign objects, gimmick stipulations in matches and brawling without much athleticism or ring psychology. (Ex. FMW, many ECW matches) .
Gimmick - (n.) 1. The persona that a wrestler has. 2. Slang for a foreign object.
Green - (adj.) Not good due to inexperience.
Hardway Juice - (n.) Real blood produced by means other than blading, i.e. the hard way. One of the possible outcomes of a shoot.
Heat - (n.) Enthusiasm, a positive response. The WWE uses a heat machine for its televised shows which make them somewhat of a work
Heel - (n. & adj.) A bad guy, rule-breaker.
Highspot - (n.) A move that is perceived to be, or is, high risked.
House - (n.) The wrestling audience in the building said to be composed of marks.
A-Show - (n.) A show featuring the biggest stars of a promotion, while at the same time the promotion is running a show in another town with lesser perceived wrestlers by the fans.
B-Show - (n.) A wrestling event featuring wrestlers that are perceived by the fans as being not as big as the wrestlers who appear on A-Shows.
International Object - (n.) Foreign object, something now allowed in the ring. Derived from an order not to use the world "foreign" by the Turner Broadcasting Company.
Job - (n.) A staged loss. A clean job is a staged loss by legal pin-fall or submission without resort to illegalities. Sometimes combined with a descriptive adjective (stretcher job, rope job, tights job). Any match having a result by either pin-fall or submission is a job.
Jobber - (n.) An unpushed wrestler who does jobs for pushed wrestlers. Barry Horowitz is probably the best known of these. Sometimes known as fish, redshirts PLs (professional losers,) or 'ham-and-eggers.' Steve Lombardi (Brooklyn Brawler) is also a well known jobber.
Juice - (n.) Blood. (v.i) To bleed, usually as a result of blading.
Kayfabe - (n. adj.) Of or related to inside information about the business, especially by fans. Origin is carny jargon talk for "fake."
Kill - (v.t.) Diminish or eliminate heat or drawing power. There are a variety of ways to do this, but mostly it is done by having a wrestler do too many jobs. A house can be killed by too many screw-job endings.
Lamer - (n.) Person who rags on about a wrestler and doesn't know the concept of storylines. Presumably, marks (n.) that like to argue.
Mark - (n.) A member of the audience, presumed gullible.
No Sell - (v.) When a wrestler stops selling moves for a moment to give the fans the impression that he is invincible. (E.g. Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior)
No Show - (v.) When a wrestler does not show up for a scheduled appearance.
Office - (n.) The headquarters of a wrestling organization (CNN Center, Titan Towers).
Paper - (n.) Complimentary tickets (v.t.) To give lots of complimentary tickets to make a house look good, particularly for a television taping.
Pencil - (n. adj.) A booker or promoter.
Plant - (n. adj.) A wrestler, or someone who works for the organization, who is placed in the audience who pretends to be a fan, yet participates in an angle
Pop - (n, v.i.) Sudden heat from a house as a response to a wrestler's entry or hot move.
Post - (v.t.) To run or be run into the ringpost.
Potato - (v.t.) To injure a wrestler by hitting him on the head or causing him to hit his head on something.
Promotion - (n.) 1. The wrestling company. 2. The hype for an event.
Push - (n.) When a wrestler is promoted on TV and through other means in order to get that wrestler over and recognition, through interviews, match victories and TV features.
Run-In - (n.) Interference by a non-participant in a match.
Save - (n.) A run-in to protect a wrestler from being beat up after a match is over.
Sell - (v.) To act as if you were on the receiving end of a legitimate wrestling move.
Screw-Job - (n. adj.) A match or ending which is not clean (definite) due to factors outside the "rules" of wrestling.
Sheets - (n.) Slang for newsletters and journals that break kayfabe, such as the Torch and Observer, and most internet sites as well
Shoot - (n.) The real thing, i.e. a match where one participant is really attempting to hurt another. The opposite of work or fake.
Smark - (n.
adj.) A fan who believes he is smart due to a certain amount of inside knowledge
he
has gained, but is perceived by someone else to be less informed than that
person thinks he is.
Smart - (n.) Person who knows what's actually going on in wrestling.
Spot - (n.) An event or sequence of events which makes a particular match distinctive, a high-point of a match.
Squash - (n.) A totally passive job where one wrestler completely dominates another. v.t. to win a squash match.
Stiff - (adj.) Chops, hits or moves which cause real injury (though perhaps not more than a welting up of the opponent.) Big Van Vader has a reputation as a stiff worker. Not a shoot, but almost.
Stretch - (n.) A form of shoot where one wrestler dominates rather than injures the other as a proof of personal superiority.
Stretched - (v.) To be injured, sometimes intentionally, by ones opponent. Also refers to a worked injury resulting in the wrestler being taken out of the arena in a stretcher.
Superman Comeback - (n.) When a wrestler no sells the opponnnents moves during his comeback.
Swerve - (n.) 1. A joke that one wrestler does to another. 2. A false report that a wrestler or promoter leaks to the press. 3. When a finish of a match is changed so that all of the industry insiders are left shocked.
Turn - (n., v.i.) Change in orientation from heel to face or vice-versa. Examples: Lex Luger and Barry Windham.
Tweener - (n.) A wrestler who is neither a face or a heel, but in the process from turning from one to the other.
Work - (n.) A deception or sham, the opposite of a shoot.
Worker - (n.) A wrestler.
Workrate - (n.) The approximate ratio of good wrestling to rest holds in a match or in a wrestler's performance.