What are your favorite silly pro wrestling match staples?

[HeenanGorilla]

I have been a wrestling fan for over 25 years; so, I don't want this to come across as me insulting the product or the intelligence of its viewers. But, certain things are staples that either don't make sense or seemingly still get crowd reactions, despite being done forever. I am not talking about illusions or other "that's not realistic" things like a piledriver not breaking someone's neck or shaking off chair shots like they didn't happen. I mean common sense things.

For example: the hot tag. Two wrestlers down...both trying to crawl to their corner. Heel team always tags first, Face team always tags at the last second and the crowd goes wild. I legitimately get a kick out of how something so old and used still has the same effect.

Another thing is how a missed dropkick hurts the "kicker", but a connected dropkick does no damage to them. They usually fall the same way regardless.

I can think of others; but, I thought I would open it up. What classic/timeless pro wrestling match staples are out there that never get changed?

 

[BaconBits]

Predictable run-ins. A face or heel is getting thier ass beat and one (or more) of their allies comes to the rescue. Been going on for years and and I almost always mark the fuck out for it.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Good thread.

There are so many but here's one that immediately comes to mind.

Champ is in the ring cutting a promo, then he's interrupted by the #1 contender, they go back and forth then #1 contender beats up Champ, picks up belt, and stands over champ holding up the belt. Happens to nearly every champ at least once during his reign.

 

[ironsheik84]

The multiple finishers at Wrestlemania.

For example, the Wrestlemania 25 and 26 Undertaker vs. Shawn Micheals matches. You can't tell me that people weren't marking the f out after each competitor kept kicking out of the chokeslam, tombstone, last ride and sweet chin music.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Predictable tactics after a ref bump.

Nearly every time the ref goes down the face usually gets both a pin and a submission but instead of holding the sub they go over to try to wake the ref, usually for the heel to hit their finisher or a signature move, just as the ref wakes up, for a near fall

 

[cm ben]

Great thread subject! I wish I could contribute something better than I'm about to, but I was honestly thinking about this last night waiting for the bus:

That goofy move where Competitor A is standing up, holding the legs of Competitor B, as if he were about to twist the legs into a Sharpshooter. Instead, Competitor A falls backwards and catapults Competitor B into the turnbuckle. I've been watching wrestling on and off since about, heck, 1994, and never once has this move looked realistic or effective. They keep using it, though, and it usually gets a minor "ooooh..." from the crowd (I'm pretty sure myself included at live events!). Why!

The hot tag is really funny example. The heel ALWAYS gets clotheslined like four times in a row. Just stay down, dude, you have to have seen this coming!

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

Back and forth punches to get the crowd hot. This happens in nearly every single big title match, especially with Cena.

Wrestler 1 punches wrestler 2 *cheer*

Wrestler 2 punches wrestler 1 *boo*

Pretty funny.

 

[Klown_Karnage]

I'll admit that I don't see this one much anymore, but back in the Golden Age of Wrestling (just pre-Attitude Era) several heels would spend a certain amount of time during matches on their knees in a sort of pleading position to try to get the (usually larger) face to either back off or have mercy. This, of course, would usually be to draw them into a big "surprise" move. Even among wrestlers with long standing rivalries, it always worked. You'd think that after a while, the face would get with the program and know better than to be fooled by such an obvious trick (and it was indeed very obvious.) Even then it got a big crowd reaction when it paid off.

The other one is similar to the drop-kick mention. It's when a wrestler pulls off a top-rope maneuver. When it hits, the one who dropped from the top rope is either perfectly fine or in minimal pain. When it doesn't, the person who dropped with "nobody home" completely sells the "pain and agony" of it. This one is so common an issue of MAD magazine made a certain amount of mention over it. You'd think that landing on a human being with bones and limbs etc. would hurt a great deal more than landing on a padded springy wrestling ring, yet reactions would say that the opposite is true. Yet most of the time the crowd eats it up without question. It makes me chuckle every time it happens.

 

[Ryberg]

The predictability that a top face won't be pinned cleanly for example Hulk Hogan and John Cena. You know if they lose it will never be a clean loss.

 

[Ors]

Cena does the Five Knuckle Shuffle.
The opponent gets up right after for the AA.

 

[PlayTheGameHHH]

Oh, I've got another one! In a tag match the ref will always talk to the face on the apron for a moment, allowing the two heels to beat up the legal man.

This is a great thread!

 

[Xander Cage27]

When Wrestler A has a leg submission (Wall of Jericho, etc.) hold on Wrestler B in the middle of the ring, and you can see Wrestler A move Wrestler B closer to the ropes. Why not just stay in the middle of the ring a get the submission win?

 

[Ryberg]

Or how about when the heel is tossed out of the ring and instead of allowing the count out the face goes out to toss him back in the ring only to 99% of the time get thrown into the wall or stairs.

 

[jtolliver23]

Oh, definitely Hulk Hogan. He starts "Hulking up," and his opponent hits him...hits him...tries to hit and Hogan blocks it...punches him three times, whips into the ropes, big boot, leg drop. Every time, and yet nobody seems to be able to break this predictable code.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

It's amazing that were all still fans regardless of the head-shaking things that we catch.

This one is kind of outdated but I love the test of strength where two guys lock hands and try to shove the other guy down. This was a Hogan staple.

When are they going to bring back the abdominal stretch? That hold looked like it didn't hurt and could be easily escaped every time.

 

[Ryberg]

Oh, definitely Hulk Hogan. He starts "Hulking up," and his opponent hits him...hits him...tries to hit and Hogan blocks it...punches him three times, whips into the ropes, big boot, leg drop. Every time, and yet nobody seems to be able to break this predictable code.

HAHAHA Hogan and Cena are the SAME just different moves. Cena has to be the MOST PREDICTABLE wrestler around.

 

[closet_fan]

It doesn't happen very often anymore, but where the face is either pummeling the heel into the turnbuckle and the crowd counts or the face is punching the heel while the crowd counts and he winds up for the last one that knocks the heel down.

 

[Ryberg]

It's amazing that were all still fans regardless of the head-shaking things that we catch.

This one is kind of outdated but I love the test of strength where two guys lock hands and try to shove the other guy down. This was a Hogan staple.

When are they going to bring back the abdominal stretch? That hold looked like it didn't hurt and could be easily escaped every time.

Hey the brought back the sleeper hold for Ziggler. That worked great as a finisher in the 80s. Now a days you look at is as WOW just fall down and give the guy a bloody lip. Thats one of the worst finisher, especially when they do the arm raise count! You know it will get to 2 1/2 then the person's hand will JUST ABOUT hit the mat and it gets raised, a fist get balled, and the arm shake.

 

[Xander Cage27]

Heel Ric Flair going to the top turnbuckle only to miss every time, I marked out so much when he finally got to hit the move

 

[Ryberg]

Heel Flair going to the top rope only to miss every time, I marked out so much when he finally got to hit the move

Or when he'd go over the top rope lands on his feet and get cloth-lined on the outside!

 

[Ryberg]

HAHAHA Every Cena match:

Cena gets beat up 85% of the match, takes his Hulk Hogan vitamins, becomes Super Cena, 5 knuckle shuffle, followed by AA, pin!

 

[TheBWO]

I would have to say when the ref is distracted, and the heels suddenly hold their hands up in the air, to "tag" (which actually is them making one big CLAP)--and the other one comes in....of course the ref turns around, and the first guy pleads and shows him and the crowd what he just did. Naturally the sound of the crowd is deafening, no way he could hear.

OR...at house shows....when the heel wins with his foot on the rope, and you have the first three rows or so getting the refs attention telling him that he didn't win---and the ref darts to the back as if to change his decision and then you never see him again (Tommy Young from the old WCW days was a master at that).

 

[LoudClearVoice]

When another manager or wrestler "distracts" the ref and of course, the face happens to hit his finisher and the pin right when that happens, then the ref turns around right when the heel somehow pins the face.

You had the whole match to hit your finisher but you just so happen to hit it right when the ref is "distracted." Of course, the ref is distracted for a ridiculous amount of team "talking" to the person interfering.

 

[Ryberg]

Any Bella Twins match or masked wrestlers who look similar always switching out to get the fresh wrestler in the ring without tagging.

 

[Beastmode 24]

"HAHAHA Every Cena match:

Cena gets beat up 85% of the match, takes his Hulk Hogan vitamins, becomes Super Cena, 5 knuckle shuffle, followed by AA, pin!"


ACTUALLY if you wanna get technical its shoulder block x2 spinning out powerbomb 5 knuckle shuffle AA...sometimes throw in a couple punches and maybe the STF lol