Wrestling Dictionary

[Rocker]

Welcome to our Wrestling Dictionary terms page. In this section, we include over 50 insider-terms that wrestlers/managers/bookers use. You’ve heard these words being used hundreds of times by ring-announcers, and now you finally get to know what they actually mean.


angle- 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.

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- 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.

booker- The individual responsible for angles, finishes, hiring and firing in a promotion.

bump- 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.

card- The series of matches in one location at one time.

draw- To attract marks. n. the popularity of a wrestler, the ability to bring in marks.

DUD- A particularly bad and totally uninteresting match.

face- A good guy.

fall- A referee’s count of three with the loser’s shoulders on the mat.

feud- 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- The event or sequence of events which leads to the ultimate outcome of a match.

green- Not good due to inexperience.

hardway juice- Real blood produced by means other than blading, i.e. the hard way. One of the possible outcomes of a shoot.

heat- Enthusiasm, a positive response. The WWE uses a heat machine for its televised shows which make them somewhat of a work.

heel- A bad guy, rule-breaker.

house- The wrestling audience in the building said to be composed of marks.

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- A clean job is a staged loss by legal pinfall or submission without resort to illegalities. v.i. To do a job. Sometimes combined with a descriptive adjective (stretcher job, rope job, tights job.)

jobber- 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- To bleed, usually as a result of blading.

kayfabe- Related to inside information about the business, especially by fans. Origin is carny jargon talk for “fake.”

kill- 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.

mark- A member of the audience, presumed gullible.

paper- To give lots of complimentary tickets to make a house look good, particularly for a television taping.

pop- Sudden heat from a house as a response to a wrestler’s entry or hot move.

post- To run or be run into the ringpost.

potato- To injure a wrestler by hitting him on the head or causing him to hit his head on something.

run-in- Interference by a non-participant in a match.

save- A run-in to protect a wrestler from being beat up after a match is over.

screw-job- A match or ending which is not clean (definite) due to factors outside the “rules” of wrestling.

shoot- A match where one participant is really attempting to hurt another. The opposite of work or fake.

spot- An event or sequence of events which makes a particular match distinctive, a high-point of a match.

squash- A totally passive job where one wrestler completely dominates another. v.t. to win a squash match.

stiff- Chops, hits or moves which cause real injury (though perhaps not more than a welting up of the opponent.) Vader has a reputation as a stiff worker. Not a shoot, but almost.

stretch- A form of shoot where one wrestler dominates rather than injures the other as a proof of personal superiority.

turn- Change in orientation from heel to face or vice-versa.

work- A deception or sham, the opposite of a shoot.

workrate- The approximate ratio of good wrestling to rest holds in a match or in a wrestler’s performance

Credit: Cramthis.com