Match Stipulations

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I can't help but wonder, what is the meaning of 4 specific stipulations:
1) No Holds Barred
2) No Disqualifications
3) Street Fight
4) Extreme Rules

In modern wrestling these four matches are basically the same thing. Anything goes, weapons are allowed. However how come there are for different names for the same match?

Is it for advertising purposes? Was there a real difference between those four in the early days?
I think I read somewhere that, originally, in a No Holds Barred match you couldn't use weapons, but instead you could use "forbidden" moves, like a piledriver, but I don't know how true is that.

So, is/was there any difference?

 

[ABMorales787]

I can't help but wonder, what is the meaning of 4 specific stipulations:
1) No Holds Barred
2) No Disqualifications
3) Street Fight
4) Extreme Rules

In modern wrestling these four matches are basically the same thing. Anything goes, weapons are allowed. However how come there are for different names for the same match?

Is it for advertising purposes? Was there a real difference between those four in the early days?
I think I read somewhere that, originally, in a No Holds Barred match you couldn't use weapons, but instead you could use "forbidden" moves, like a piledriver, but I don't know how true is that.

So, is/was there any difference?

No Holds Barred Matches means refs will not stop matches due to excessive violence or use of illegal weaponry.

No DQ just means you can't be disqualified in a match. Though WWE and TNA believe countouts are also DQ's.

Street Fights tend to be in different places and the wrestlers compete in street clothes more often than not. In some companies, primarily Mexico, titles can't be competed for under these rules so they're used as build up to a title match instead of a blow off.

The Extreme Rules match was the name WWE used when matches in the ECW brand were contested under the same rules of the old ECW but eventually spilled into the entire company.

 

[Just Do It]

Let's not over complicate things. It's all the same bloody match marketed in such a way for whatever is needed. Promoting four street fights a year isn't ideal. Promoting and marketing a street fight, no holds barred, no DQ etc is logical to appear fresh.

 

[Navi]

I thought they were all pretty much the same as well. You can use weapons, outside interference is allowed, fighting takes place in the ring, around it and sometimes into the crowd. Yea it's all the same really.

The only thing I'm wondering about is pinfalls. I know in a Fall's Count anywhere match it's as the title describes. But in a Street Fight, No DQ, Extreme Rules and No Holds Barred, do you still have to pin your opponent in the ring? I would be thinking in a Street Fight, falls would/could be anywhere as you might not be near a ring. I just can't remember.

 

[Just Do It]

I thought they were all pretty much the same as well. You can use weapons, outside interference is allowed, fighting takes place in the ring, around it and sometimes into the crowd. Yea it's all the same really.

The only thing I'm wondering about is pinfalls. I know in a Fall's Count anywhere match it's as the title describes. But in a Street Fight, No DQ, Extreme Rules and No Holds Barred, do you still have to pin your opponent in the ring? I would be thinking in a Street Fight, falls would/could be anywhere as you might not be near a ring. I just can't remember.

Depends whatever show fits. There are countless street fights where pins are out of the ring. Sometimes they are in the ring. There's been 5 counts on rope breaks. Wrestlers going for pins (and ref's counting) in submission matches... it's pro wrestling, logistics fit wherever they are needed to fit. We've had a pinfall on top of the Hell in the Cell before!

 

[FlairFan2003]

Originally Street Fight meant the battle was not confined to the ring....No DQ and No Hold Barred Rules applied here.

No Hold Barred & No DQ basically mean the same thing....there is an inference that in No DQ outside interference is more likely but basically having a third party hold your opponent down while you beat would be legal in No Hold Barred. These matches are typically contested only in the ring/ringside area.

ECW or Extreme Rules is a take on the ECW style....excessive use of weapons, almost to the point of outrageousness. This is basically the same as No DQ but with the expectation that you will see more weapons. Typically this type of match is only contested in the ring/ringside area. This is very similar to the old Texas Death or Bunkhouse Stampede style matches, although in a Texas Death Match you continue going through falls until one man can no longer compete. I attended a house show in PGH in 1989 where Terry Funk pinned Ric Flair three times in a Texas Death Match but Flair refused to quit so the match continued until Flair injured Funk's leg so bad with The Figure Four Funk had to quit after he lost the last fall (the only fall he lost).

Bullrope & Chain Matches are basically the same, except the difference between the a bullrope & chain.

And yes....pro wrestling will "adjust" logic to fit certain circumstances.