Angle - Storyline of a feud.
Battle Royale - An awesome match where many wrestlers or tag teams are in the ring all at once. Anyone thrown over the top rope is eliminated. The last wrestler (or tag team) in the ring wins the match.
Big Two - The nickname given to WCW and the WWF, the two main promotions in North America.
Blade - When a wrestler cuts himself during a match to shed blood with a razor blade, which is usually hidden in the tape wrapped around their wrists.
Blow Up - To become weary or depleated of energy.
Booker - Person who comes with angles, picks the winners of matches, comes up with ideas for gimmicks, and hires & fires wrestlers.
Bump - When a wrestler takes a hard fall.
Cage Match - A match in which the ring is surrounded by a metal cage to keep competitors in and interference out. The cage can be climbed or rigged to keep the wrestlers off.
Call - Wrestlers letting their opponents know of their next move by whistering or muttering something into their opponent's ear. From this, the opponent will know what move he is to perform or be ready to receive.
Card - A list of wrestling matches occuring at a specific place and time.
Chair Shot - When a wrestler gets hit with a steel folding chair.
Countout - If a wrestler is knocked out of the ring, he has to the count of 10 to get back in without help. If the opponent interferes, the count starts over. This practics is worked into matches to allow werstlers some breathing time. If both wrestlers are out of the ring for a 10 count, the match is over. This is called "double disqualification via countout."
Dark Match - A match that is not aired on television.
Disqualification (or DQ) - Losing a match for breaking the rules or leaving the ring, rather than by being pinned or forced into submission.
Dud - A match that is especially poor.
Face - The good guy, the fan favorite.
Fall - The referee's three-count as a wrestler's shoulders are pinned to the mat.
Feud - When two wrestlers or teag teams fight with each other over the course of several weeks.
Finish - The final moves that signal who will win or lose as the match draws to a close.
First Blood Match - A match in which the first man to juice is the loser.
Gimmick - A persona that a wrestler is given to make him interesting.
Green - An unseasoned wrestler who makes mistakes early in his career.
Hair vs. Hair Match - A match where the loser gets his head shaved. A variation is the Mask vs. Mask match, where the loser must reveal his face.
Handicap Match - A match that is booked two-on-one or three-on-one.
Hardway Juice - Blood drawn during a match without the use of blading.
Heat - When a wrestler gets a large response (usually negative) from the fans.
Heel - The bad guy, the rule breaker.
Hook - Illegal tricks, moves, or gimmicks used to win a match underhandedly.
Hot - Usually used to describe the overall manner of the audience at a live event. If the crowd is vocal, excited, and into the action, it is said to be a "hot" crowd.
Hot Tag - A tag-team strategy often used in matches between heels and faces. The heels pulverize the smallest face, angering his partner, who is unable to get iinto the ring until he is tagged. The ref is distracted from the action. Then, the lesser face leaps across the ring to tag his partner. The partner proceeds to clean house.
House Show - Wrestling show that is not shown on TV.
Indy - Refers to an independent league. In the US, all promotions other than the WWF and WCW are indies. Indies have smaller rosters, lesser known talent, significantly lower income, and they usually promote in only a few citeis.
Job - To lose the match.
Jobber - Wrestler who constantly loses his matches.
Juice - Blood drawn during a match.
Kayfabe - To stay in character.
Kill - When the fans lose enthusiasm for a wrestler.
Ladder Match - A specialty match in which the championship belt is placed at the top of a ladder and the wrestlers have to compete to climb up and grab it in order to win.
Lemming - A narrow-minded, biased fan for any wrestling promotion.
Lumberjack Match - A match designed to finalize a feud that fails to come to a conclusion due to frequent double disqualifications via countout. The ring is surrounded by neutral wrestlers who are instructed to throw anyone who comes out of the ring back in again.
Main Eventer - A wrestler who usually wrestles in the main event or somewhere else near the top of the card.
Mark - Fans who think all the angles in wrestling are real.
Mid-Carder - All wrestlers who are not jobbers or main-eventers.
Monster Heel - A term reserved for a select few wrestlers who epitomize all the qualities of a true heel. Monster heels must appear unbeatable, unstoppable, and generate extreme fan hatred as well as attendance.
No Disqualification Match - A match in which the winner must pin his opponent or make him submit by any means possible in order to win.
Nontitle Match - A match in which a champion wrestler can lose without losing his title.
Over - When a wrestler's gimmick is accepted by the fans or when a wrestler receives legitamate heat.
Pin - Forcing an opponent's shoulders to the mat and holding them there for a 3-count.
Pop - The act of a crowd suddenly bursting into cheers for a move, entrance, interview, etc.
Post - Slamming into the ringpost.
Potato - A head injury caused either by a direct hit or a crash. Usually results in a black eye.
Potato Shot - A blow that causes a potato.
Program - Somewhat similar to an angle or a storyline. When two or more wrestlers are involved in a feud with each other, it can be said that they are doing a program together.
Promo - An interview.
Pumped Up - Refers to a wrestler who is massive in size due to the use of anabolic steroids.
Push - When a wrestler goes on a winning streak.
Ref Bump - A planned strategy that eliminates the ref by knocking him out when he accidentally gets in the way.
Rest hold - A move such as a chin lock or an arm bar that when applied allows the wrestlers involved to, as the name implies, rest.
Ringpost - Another word for turnbuckle.
Run-in - What happens when wrestlers, managers, or others who are not part of a match jump in to join the fight.
Scientific Wrestler - Implies a wrestler who is well schooled in the art of wrestling.
Screw Job - A finish that isn't clean or when another wrestler or group or wrestlers runs in and causes a disqualification.
Sell - To convince the crowd of the superiority of an opponent.
Sheet - A publication that looks at wrestling from an inside, behind the scenes perspective and doesn't buy into the idea that wrestling is real.
Shoot - When some bumps in a match are real or something real that happens when it is not supposed to happen.
Shoot Interview - Interview where the wrestler breaks kayfabe.
Smart - A fan who views wrestling as much if not more from an inside perspective than from a regular fan's perspective.
Smart Mark (Smark) - A new term that is used mostly by those in the business to describe smarts. It is the belief of many that even though a fan may be "smart" to the inner working othe business, he still watches the TV shows and buys the tickets, therefore he's still a mark.
Spot - A move or series of maneuvers.
Squash - a short, one sided match usually involving a jobber who gets, well, squashed.
Stiff - Hitting hard even when the match is worked.
Strap - A championship belt.
Strap Match - A match in which the opponents are strapped, chained, or roped together.
Stretch - A type of shoot in which one wrestler dominates rather than injures another wrestler.
Swerve - Something incorporated into an angle or storyline that is designed to throw off the "smart" fans.
Territory - The area in which a promotion promotes.
Turn - To change from a bag guy into a good guy or vice versa.
Turnbuckle - The padded posts that are set at the four corners of a wrestling ring, to which the ropes are attached.
Tweener - A wrestler that isn't a heel or face.
Valet - A woman who adds charisma to a wrestler's persona and creates interest by male fans.
Work - Something that is planned out ahead of time.
Worker - Wrestlers are said to "work" a match and are thus called "workers". The more talented they are, the better a "worker" they are considered.
Worked shoot - An angle that is made to look so incredibly realistic that people think that it is actually a shoot.
Workrate - The ratio of action to inaction. A wrestler whose matches have lots of action and a minimum of resting has a good workrate.