OO REFERENCE DESK
GLOSSARY OF INSIDER TERMINOLOGY

Compiled by Aaron Solomon...  please send all updates and corrections to [email protected]!

Here is the glossary of terms. Note that this has been collected inferentially, though use, and is in a constant state of revision. This is not intended to be a list of technical wrestling terms but is, rather, intended to shed light on some of the more arcane terms used in the business. Contributions, suggestions and corrections are always welcome. This may be freely distributed as long as original content is intact.

A-Show: 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 percieved wrestlers by the fans.

A-Team: Group of wrestlers on an A-Show.

Abortion: A failed angle or match.

Angle: 1. An event or series of events that is usualy a confrontaion between two or more wrestlers that intensifies a fued. 2. 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: 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.

Arm Color: An arm that is bleeding.

Around the Horn: The trip to each town or series of towns that the promotion runs events in.

B-Show: A wrestling event featuring wrestlers that are percieved by the fans as being not as big as the wrestlers who appear on A-Shows.

B-Team: Group of wrestlers on a B-Show.

Baby: Short word for "babyface".

Babyface: The "fan favorite" or "good guy". The person who is in a position to be cheered.

Blade: The process in which a wrestler takes a razor blade and runs it along his skin to produce a cut that bleeds.

Blow Off: To end a feud.

Blow Up: To become cardiovascularly exhausted in a match.

Book: To schedule a wrestler for a show.

Booker: Person in an organization who books and hires wreslters, plans the long term direction of the company, plans angles, decides who wins and loses. Example: Eric Bischoff, Kevin Sullivan, Terry Taylor, Vince McMahon.

Bootleg: An item that is illegaly sold or traded, such as video tapes, T-Shirts, etc.

Bounce: The move that leads to the pin. This term is old and rarely used.

Boys: The wrestlers.

Bozark: A female wrestler. Old, rarely used term.

Brass: Management.

Bull: Promoter. Old and rarely used term.

Bump: When a wrestler falls to the mat after recieving a blow to the body or a wrestling maneuver by his opponent.

Bury: 1. To attempt to defame someone or to criticize him. 2. To lower someone in the eyes of the fans or promoter.

Broadway: A draw.

Business, The: A term used to describe the wrestling industry.

Call a Match: To inform opponent of upcoming moves or spots throughout the match.

Canned Heat: Crowd cheering that is piped into the sound system or into a pretaped TV show during post production. Ex: The Goldberg chants.

Card: The line up of the matches.

Carney: Short for "carnival terminology". It is the root for many of the terms found on this page from when wrestling had its roots in the early 1900's.

Carry: 1. To call a match. 2. To make a green opponent look good in the fans eyes.

Cheap Heat: Usualy refered to as heel heat, when the heel swears, insults, or makes obscene gestures to the fans in order to get himself over as a heel.

Color: Blood.

Comeback: The point in the match where the babyface takes over offense after the heel has been dominating him.

Cut a Promo: 1. To do an interview. 2. To demean someone skillfully.

Dagger: A razor blade with more of the razor exposed than necessary.

Dark Match: A match at a TV taping that is not taped for broadcast.

Deal, The: Sometimes a title belt is refered to as The Deal.

Do Business: To do the job.

Doing Business on the Way Out: To do jobs when one wrestler who is on his way out of a promotion in order to get other talent that are staying over.

Double Juice: When both wrestlers blade in the match.

Draw: 1. A time limit draw with no clear winner of the match. 2. Cash payment on the night of the show as an advance on the earned paycheck that will be paid later.

DUD: A particularly bad and totally uninteresting match.

Dusty Finish: After a second referee comes into the match and makes the 3 count leading to a pinfall 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.

Enhancement Talent: A 1990's term for the word jobber.

Face: 1. Short word for babyface. 2. A Good Guy.

Fall: A referee's count of three with the loser's shoulders on the mat. (Pinfall)

False Comeback: The point in a match where the face starts back on offense after a heel has dominated him for several minutes, only to be stopped by the heel who goes back on offense.

Feeding: The role the heel plays during a babyface's comback where he repeatedly is fended off by the face with a series of bumps that is hoped to generate heat. A face can also feed the heel in hopes of gaining fan support.

Fued: A series of battles between two or more wreslters.

Finish: The ending of a match.

Finisher: Move that leads to the win.

Foreign Object: An object that is illegal to the match, such as a chair, brass knuckles, garbage can, etc.

In the late 1980's, Ted Turner had a policy on his news networks that all commentators were to not use the word "foreign", but instead use the word "international". Wrestling announcers on TBS picked up on this, and a foreign object is still occasionaly, jokingly called the "international object".

Garbage Wrestling: A style of wrestling that consists of wrestlers frequent use of blading, foreigh objects, gimmick stipulations in matches and brawling without much athleticism or ring psychology. (Ex. FMW, many ECW matches)

Gas: Steroids.

Gate: Ammount of money the is generated from ticket sales.

Geek: To cut one's self.

Gig Mark: A scar from blading.

Gimmick: 1. The persona that a wrestler has. 2. Slang for a foreign object.

Gizzmo: An old term for a gimmick.

Glob: To stiff someone.

Go Home: When a wrestler says this to his opponent, it means to go to the finish of the match.

Go Over: To beat someone. Another term is to "put over".

Go Through: A time limit draw.

Going Bush: When a wrestler moves from a full time, major league type promotion to the independant scene.

Good Hand: A wrestler that other wrestlers like to work against. This wrestler is usualy in complete control during the match, he does not get lost, and he does not work too stiff or too light.

Green: A term for an inexperienced wrestler.

Gusher: A deep cut that bleeds alot, usualy caused by blading. The severity of the cut may or may not be intended.

Handles: Names that the wrestlers usualy use themselves. Usualy not the names that they use in the ring.

Hardway: A cut that is usualy unintentional, with out the use of the razor.

Heat: 1. The crowd reaction to a wrestler, usualy cheers or boos. 2. To "have heat" with someone else in the promotion is not good.

Heavy: A wrestler that is hard to lift, usualy that wrestler does not want to cooperate with his opponent.

Heel: The "bad guy" or "rulebreaker" who the promoter books in the position of being booed.

Highspot: A move that is percieved to be, or is, high risked.

Hold Up: When a wrestler refuses to wrestler untill he is paid more than what was originally agreed upon.

Hood: A masked wrestler.

Hope Spot: When a baby face is being beaten by the heel, he teases a comeback with a highspot or two, only to have the heel take over on offense again. It is just like the false comback. Usually, the hope spot is just minutes away from the face making a full fledged comeback.

Hot Tag: When a babyface who has been on the reciving end of a heels offense makes the tag to his partner.

House: Number of fans in the building.

House Show: 1. A show not taped for TV. 2. An event in an arena that is consistanly visited by an organization. (ECW Arena, MSG)

International Object: 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 planned loss.

Jobber: A wrestler who loses in order to put over a pushed wrestler.

Jobroni: Slang for the word jobber.

Juice: 1. another word for blading. 2. Slang for steroids.

Kayfabe: 1. Generaly referring to the protecting of industy secrets. 2. Of or 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.

Lead Ass: A wrestler who will not cooperate in the ring.

Light: When a wrestler works light, or lightly, it gives the audience the impression that the wrestler is not laying in his kicks or punches.

Loose: A wrestler who applies moves or holds with less force than usual.

Mark: 1. A person who belives that wrestling matches, and angles and everything to do with wrestling, is real. 2. A fan of or participant in the wrestling industry who belives that a part of any aspect of the industry is more important than making money.

Some people say that the word "mark" comes from the old carnival days. When the operator of some scam spotted a real sucker, he would mark the back of that persons back with a piece of chalk, which would literaly be "marking" the "mark". Other sources say that the term "mark" come from when the scam "hits the mark", meaning that it was successfully done.

Mark Out: When a smart fan gets into an angle or a match and enjoy it as if you were a mark.

Marriage: A feud between wrestlers.

Marshmallow: An old, rarely used term for a fat wrestler.

Mouthpiece: An on camera manager.

No Sell: When a wrestler stops selling moves for a moment to give the fans the impression that he is invincible. (Ex. Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior)

No Show: When a wrestler does not show up for a scheduled appearance.

Office: The headquarters of a wrestling organization (CNN Center, Titan Towers).

Over: To be popular with the audience.

Paper: To give away tickets to an event, often done for TV tapings.

Paying Dues: Term for gaining experience by showing respect to other wrestlers, doing jobs to veterans, etc.

Pencil: A booker or promoter.

Plant: A wrestler, or someone who works for the organization, who is placed in the audience who preteneds to be a fan, yet participates in an angle.

Policeman: A wrestler that is intimidating enough, and skillfull and strong enough, who is able to shoot with another wrestler in a match to make a point with an unruly opponent.

Pop: A big rise out of the crowd, usualy cheering or booing.

Post: To ram the head of ones opponent into the steel ring post.

Potato: To legitimately hit an object or move with full force onto ones opponent, whether it be accidentaly or on purporse.

Program: Same as fued, that includes matches, interviews and angles.

Promoter: The head of the wrestling organization.

Promotion: 1. The wrestling company. 2. The hype for an event.

Push: 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.

Put Over: To "be put over" is to get the win. To "put someone over" is to do the job.

Receipt: The act of getting revenge.

Red: Blood.

Ref Bump: When the ref takes a bump at a specific point in the match so that a wrestler, usualy the heel, can commit an illegal act or move, such as interference.

Rest Hold: A move in the match which is lightly applied, to give the wrestlers time to breath between highspots.

Ring Rat: A woman who hangs around the arenas and hotels after a wrestling show looking to sleep with one of the wrestlers.

Road Agent: Someone who travels with the wrestlers and oversees the house shows.

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.

Screwjob: A finish with a contraversial ending, often upsetting the fans.

Sell: To act as if you were on the recieving end of a legitimate wrestling move.

Sheets: Slang for newsletters and journals that break kayfabe, such as the Torch and Observer, and most internet sites as well.

Shoot: 1. A work that becomes a legitimate fight. 2. To hit or hurt ones opponent on purpose during the course of the match. 3. A comment with some truth behind it.

Shooter: One who shoots using skills such as amateur wrestling, karate, martial arts, etc.

Showing Light: To unintentionaly expose to the fans that the move did not connect, due to flawed execution of the move by the wrestler on offense.

Smark: A fan who belives he is smart due to a certain ammount of inside knowledge he has gained, but is percieved by someone else to be less informed than that person thinks he is.

Smart: A person who has the knowledge of the inner workings of the wrestling industry.

Smoz: Group of wrestlers involved in a pullapart brawl.

Soft: Same as "light".

Spot: A wrestling move, or a series of moves.

Spot Show: A wresting event in a town not visited often.

Squash: A match that is designed to put over a pushed wrestler, who dominates offense over a jobber.

Stiff: To hit or execute holds and moves with more force than most.

Stocking: Old term for a masked wrestler.

Stooge: A person who tells the promoter something that the wrestlers would prefer to keep secret.

Strap: Championship belt.

Stretch: 1. To use a legitimate amateur wrestling hold on ones opponent. 2. a form of shoot where one wrestler dominates rather than injures the other as a proof of personal superiority.

Stretched: To be injured, sometimes intentionaly, by ones opponent. Also refers to a worked injury resulting in the wrestler being taked out of the arena in a stretcher.

Strong Style Wrestling: A style of wrestling, that is worked, found in Japan, where the action seems to be shooting and realistic looking because of the highspots used.

Submission Hold: A hold that is used by a wrestler that leads the fans to believe that the match will finish by a submission.

Superman Comeback: When a wrestler no sells the opponents moves during his comeback.

Swerve: 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.

Switch the Heat: To pass the blame.

Territory: 1. The area that a promotion runs it shows and airs it TV shows. 2. Slang for actuall teritorial wrestling promotion.

Tight: When a wrestler works tight, he applies holds and moves with more force than average, making them look more realistic.

Trust: Alliance among regional promotions. (Ex. all of the NWA organizations)

Turn: When a wrestler changes from a heel to a face, or from a face to a heel.

Tweener: A wrestler who is neither a face or a heel, but in the process from turning from one to the other.

Wookie: A mentally handicapped Mark. Derived from the way a Wookie pronounced Rocky Dela Sera's first name.

Work: 1. Predetermined outcome. 2. To skillfully wrestle.

Worker: A wrestler.

Workrate: The pace of a match, and the skill level exhibited throughout the match by the wrestlers.

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