Last Man Standing: Typically a NO DQ, No Pin situation where combatants fight all over the arena, using weapons at will. Great way to add drama to a match featuring two good performers or a way to hide the limitations of lesser talented workers. Direct relation to Falls Count Anywhere
Ladder Match/TLC: Usually a typical wrestling match with a glitch - you have to climb a ladder and retrieve something from the ceiling before your opponent to win. TLC adds a "Last Man Standing" aspect to the proceedings. Usually involves high falls from atop the ladder for both combatants, as well as table spots. Ladder matches were actually staged in Canada in the late 70s but virtually unheard of in the US. The first one on a major show was Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes at the 1987 Great American Bash (with barbed wire around the ring and $100,000 as the winner's prize suspended above the ladder). Although the classic WrestleMania bout between Shawn Michaels & Scott Hall was considered the first WWE such bout Brett Hart actually introduced the Ladder Match concept in house shows (vs Michaels) during his first WWE Title run. Edge might be the most experienced and successful TLC Match participant in WWE history and in fact participated in the very first World Title Match contested under TLC Rules (Jan 2006 vs Ric Flair on RAW). Tag Team TLC from WrestleMania 2000 and the Money In The Bank Ladder Matches of more recent vintage helped make this one of the most modified and copied concepts of all time.
Cage Match: The Best was the old school, till you drop blood fests in the old NWA when everyone but the opponents were locked outside and no one could get or in until one man submitted or was pinned. The cage typicaly played a huge role as a weapon for everyone involved along with high spots off the top rope and sometimes the top of the cage. Much more intense than the standard "Exit The Cage" style matches WWE put on in the 80s & 90s and the forerunner to...
Hell In A Cell: Combine Last Man Standing with Old School Cage and this is what you get. Beat one guy till he can no longer fight, using anything you can bring in the cage with you but once locked in no one gets in or out till someone loses.
Elimination Chamber/War Games: Elimination style match where opponents enter the ring in intervals, not at the same time. Someone gets pinned or submitts they exit and the match goes on. Elimination Chamber is more a singles type competition where as the match it is based on, War Games, was a team vs team concept. Both essentially fought with no time limit and No DQ inside a Cage.
Texas Death: Take Last Man Standing and have the match re start after every pinfall, submission until someone just cant go anymore. Usually the combatants wore street clothes (sometimes for Last Man Standing also), weapons allowed, No DQ, No Count-Out, a brief rest period followimg the conclusion of a fall after which the loser is asked if they can continue, if they answer yes the match continues.
Indian Strap/Leather Strap/Chain/Russian Chain Match: Bind two opponents together at the wrist in a No DQ environment and add the stipulation that in order to win you must tag all four ring corners before pinning (or forcing submission) from your opponent. Of course the strap/chain is used through out as a weapon. Unlike the unpredictability of Last Man Standing this match usually doesnt stray far from the ring because you have to carry your opponent around. Can be equally violent however, especially when chains are used in place of straps.
Another variation is the Dog Collar Chain Match (See Piper vs Valentine from Starrcade)
Taped Fist Boxing: Tape their hands and allow a more boxing like match style to proceed. Not seen today but was used sporadically in the 80s.
Scaffold Match: Same concept as Ladder Match only everyone starts on top of The Scaffold and fights everyone but the winner is knocked off. More dangerous than Ladder Matches because the entire bout takes place 15-20 feet above the ring (where most of the action in a Ladder Match except for individual spots takes place on the ground as normal). Due to the dangerous nature and difficulty in execution this concept died in the late 80s. Jim Cornette famously broke his leg taking a dive off one in a post match confrontation with The Road Warriors in 1986.
Coffin Match/Casket Match: Beat your opponent, often under No DQ rules, until you can lock him in a Casket. Often associated with Undertaker's gimmick.
Inferno Match: Pretty hard to set someone on fire in a wrestling match, sometimes done in conjunction with Casket Match setting, not seen much now.
Iron Man Match: Usual rules apply except that the match continues after each fall until the time limit (usually 30 or 60 minutes) has expired. Only top quality performers can sustain a match and maintain interest that long without too much repitition so this one isnt seen as much. Undertaker, Kurt Angle, & Triple H have wrestled in them. HBK vs Hart at WrestleMania is probably the most famous but like the Ladder Match it wasnt the first time such match was held in WWE. Hart wrestled Iron Man Matches vs Ric Flair during his 1st WWE Title run, again on the house show circuit, in late 92/early 93 before Flair left the company. The NWA didnt do Iron Man matches per se but they did rely heavily on...
Best Of 3 Falls: Sometimes without a time limit, first combatant to 3 falls (typical rules) wins. While Brett Hart was helping to introduce ladder matches & Iron Man bouts into 1990s WWE Ric Flair specialized in these marathon encounters during the 80s. Again, typically a longer match that favors more skilled in ring performers.
3 Stages: take the Best Of Three Falls Concept and add a twist... each fall is contested under different rules/gimmick. Maybe Submission Match for fall one, Ladder Match for Fall 2, cage match for fall 3 or something similar. Again, there is flexibility on the combination of gimmicks but more skilled performers are needed.
Hard Core Rules: Basically Last Man Standing but with a greater emphasis on the weapons angle, an ode to ECW.
Elimination Tag Team: Teams face off, usually under normal rules but with a twist. When a member of one team is eliminated via pinfall, count-out, or submission they leave but the match re starts with the remaining participants, lasting until one team has been completely eliminated.
Battle Royal/Royal Rumble/Bunkhouse Stampede: Put a large number of combatants, sometimes over twenty, in the ring together with elimination via over the top rope throws only and continue until only one man is left. Typically all the combatants are in the ring together at the start of the match. In a Bunkhouse style battle royal they wear street clothes and use weapons in a more NO DQ/Last Man Standing style. In a Royal Rumble the wrestlers enter the ring individually at intervals, usually every one or two minutes, based on drawing numbers. This style favors those who draw later numbers as they essentially miss much of the match (Like Cena this year) although stars like Ric Flair, HBK, HHH, and Rey Misterio, Jr have entered early in the match (among the first three participants) and held on to win in different years.
My personal favorite though...
Submission/I Quit:Take two competitors in an extremely fierce, personal feud and place them in a match where there is No DQ, No Pins, No Count-Outs, and no end until one combatant says "I Quit". Back in the day this match was incredibly intense because of the rarity of top level performers beating other stars with submission moves. That concept died in the 90s and in fact it is not uncommon to see Random Star A beat Random Star B on TV, PPV, or the house show circuit via a submission move if in fact that is their general finisher. Still, given the right set up story wise this match can still be an intensely brutal and entertaining affair. Brett Hart vs Steve Austin and Tully Blanchard vs Magnum TA are easily the most famous (and among the most entertaining).This match, due to the violent nature, is usually contested under NO DQ style rules and often with no time limit.
