Kayfabe
The sacred illusion — heels, faces, turns, and the code that holds the show together
Taking a fall.
The opposite of a push.
Short for babyface.
A wrestler's character or persona.
Negative crowd reaction.
The bad guy.
When a good guy becomes a bad guy.
The unwritten code of treating wrestling's scripted storylines as real.
Originally carnival slang for the sucker who believes the game is real.
When a wrestler takes a move and acts like it didn't affect them at all.
When the crowd genuinely cares about you — cheering, booing, chanting your name, reacting to everything you do.
The explosive crowd reaction when something exciting happens.
A scripted (or semi-scripted) speech delivered on camera.
The art of telling a story through a match.
When management decides to make a wrestler more prominent.
Making your opponent's moves look like they actually hurt.
Something real.
Smart mark.
A wrestler who isn't clearly heel or face — they operate in the gray area.
Anything planned or scripted.
A planned segment designed to look unscripted.
When the crowd isn't booing because you're a good heel — they're booing because they genuinely don't want to watch you.
In-Ring
Moves, selling, spots, and the language of what happens between the ropes
When a move goes wrong.
Leaping through the air and hitting your opponent with your full body horizontally.
A nearfall or sequence designed to make the audience believe the match is over when it isn't.
A wrestler's signature match-ending move.
The classic rear waistlock suplex with a bridge.
A dramatic, high-impact spot designed to blow the crowd's mind.
The explosive moment in a tag team match when the beaten-down babyface finally reaches their partner.
When a babyface absorbs punishment, stops selling, shakes off the pain, and starts a fired-up comeback.
Breaking a pin by getting your shoulder up before the three-count.
A backflip off the top rope onto your opponent.
A pin attempt where the opponent kicks out at two.
Tuck your opponent's head between your legs, lift them upside down, drop to your knees so their head spikes into the mat.
The most common way to win a match.
Lift your opponent onto your shoulders, then slam them straight down onto their back.
A low-intensity submission hold used to give both wrestlers a breather during a long match.
A planned sequence or move in a match.
A hold designed to make your opponent tap out.
A throw where you lift your opponent and drop them on their back (or head, if you're Brock Lesnar and you've stopped caring).
Getting put through an announce table, a preset table, or any horizontal surface that's been set up to break dramatically.
Submitting by tapping the mat or your opponent's body to signal you give up.
Backstage
Promos, booking, politics, and what goes on behind the curtain
A backstage producer, usually a retired or semi-retired wrestler, who helps plan individual matches.
A storyline or feud.
The person who plans matches and storylines.
A match that happens before or after the TV taping and doesn't air on television.
The polite corporate term for a jobber.
Inexperienced.
A live event that isn't televised.
A wrestler whose role is to lose and make others look good.
Hitting someone in the head or face with a legitimate hard shot, intentionally or accidentally.
Hitting someone back stiff after they hit you too hard.
When a wrestler gets a new gimmick, name, look, or persona.
Same as agent but specifically refers to the producers who travel with the roster to every show.
A completely one-sided match.
Hitting harder than necessary.
Modern Era
IWC slang, dirt sheet lingo, and terms born from the internet age
A match ending where the babyface appears to win the title, the crowd celebrates, and then the decision is reversed on a technicality.
An ongoing rivalry between two wrestlers (or factions) that plays out over weeks or months.
When wrestlers from different promotions appear on each other's shows.
The backstage area directly behind the entrance curtain.
Internet Wrestling Community.
The last match on the card.
A ladder match where the prize is a briefcase containing a contract for a world title shot, redeemable at any time within the next year.
A promo that breaks the fourth wall and addresses real behind-the-scenes issues on live television.
Premium Live Event.
An aggressive, fast-tracked push to the main event scene.
WWE's flagship event.
Match Types
Cage matches, Royal Rumbles, ladder matches, and every stipulation in between
Six wrestlers, a massive chain-link chamber surrounding the ring, four pods, and pure chaos.
A match with four competitors where the first person to score a pinfall or submission on anyone wins.
A steel cage match but the cage is bigger, taller, has a roof, and surrounds the ringside area too.
A match that can only end when one wrestler verbally says 'I quit' into a microphone.
A timed match (usually 30 or 60 minutes) where the wrestler with the most falls at the end wins.
A match where the prize (usually a title belt or briefcase) hangs above the ring and the only way to win is to climb a ladder and retrieve it.
No pinfalls, no submissions.
A 30-person over-the-top-rope elimination match.
A match inside a cage of steel walls surrounding the ring.
A no-disqualification, no-countout match where anything goes.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs.
Three wrestlers, first to score a pinfall or submission wins.
Two teams, two rings side by side, one massive cage covering both.