It doesn’t matter if you’re related to, dating, or friends with a wrestler, you’re going to end up at a wrestling match someday. You’re probably going to be confused by all of the random phrases being yelled throughout the match. You might even feel like you need a translator to understand all of the nonsensical jargon you hear. Don’t worry though, because I’ve put together a little cheat sheet for you. What you’re about to read, is a comprehensive list of everything you’ll need to know. Behold, the realistic guide to wrestling matches.
1. “HE’S FLAT!”
The phrase everyone screams when a referee doesn’t call someone pinned that was so, very obviously, pinned. His shoulders are flat to the mat, your wrestler is doing everything right (see also, “CHEST ON CHEST!”) and the referee seems to be suffering from some sort of blindness that keeps him from seeing that the opponent is pinned.
2. “TWO!”
The fans scream this when your wrestler definitely scored two points on his opponent, yet the referee didn’t call it. The crowd will often shout “TWO” over and over to remind the referee how to do his job.
3. “HALF!”
The fans will scream this when they think your wrestler should do a move called a half nelson. Although the wrestler is a little preoccupied at the moment, the dad screaming this in the back row is usually convinced that he’s going to hear him and go ahead with his suggestion (just let him yell, it makes him feel better).
4. “RUN IT!”
The crowd will scream this when the wrestler has a half nelson in on his opponent and needs to push harder to get him on his back. It doesn’t seem like it makes a lot of sense, but just trust me on this one.
5. “WRIST CONTROL!”
This phrase is used when the crowd thinks your wrestler should grab the opponent’s wrist to gain control. It’s actually pretty self-explanatory, now that I think of it.
6. “EXPLODE!”
Every period, the wrestlers will get a choice of which position they want to start from. The referee will flip a coin and the wrestler that wins the coin toss will get to choose top, bottom, or neutral. If they choose top or bottom, that means they will go on the ground in the referee’s position on either the top or the bottom. If your wrestler chooses bottom, you want them to “explode” from the bottom position and get back to neutral (on their feet) to score a point. It’s a little confusing when I spell it all out, but when you see it in person, you’ll get it.
7. “SHOOT!”
You will hear this the most during boring times in the match. If the wrestlers are just circling (see also, “CIRCLE!”) and not much is happening, the crowd may yell “SHOOT” in hopes that your wrestler will shoot for his opponent’s legs and get him on the ground (so that more exciting things can start happening again.)
8. “CIRCLE!”
A lot of times, people will yell this when they want your wrestler to start circling around his opponent to get a better angle on him and hopefully score some points (and make the match a little more interesting.)
9. “PRESSURE!”
The fans will yell this when they want your wrestler to apply some more pressure onto their opponent in order to keep them on the mat (so they can do some fancy moves and hopefully pin them!)
10. “ON YOUR TOES!”
Everyone will yell this when they want your wrestler to stay on their toes while running a pinning combination such as, a half nelson. (See also, “HALF!”)
11. “CHEST ON CHEST!”
The crowd will yell this when your wrestler is about to pin someone, but can’t quite get their shoulders down. They want your wrestler to take his chest and put it directly on his opponent’s, while applying pressure. It sounds a little uncomfortable if you ask me, but hey, you do you.
12. “STALLING!”
This will be what you hear echoing through the gym when the wrestlers just seem to be laying on each other doing nothing during the match. It literally looks like they are just lying there trying to look busy… its super exciting (I’m just kidding).
13.”MOVE! MOVE!”
There are two different instances where you will hear this.
The first one, will be during the match, when you want your wrestler to get moving and do something. (See also, “STALLING!”)
The second one, will be during the match, when a mom with a camcorder will be yelling at innocent bystanders to get out of her way so she can see the match. (DO NOT at any time stand up in front of a match.)
14. “ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!”
You’ll probably hear this more than once during the match. In fact, this is my personal favorite. It doesn’t matter what it is, if the referee does something wrong during the match, everyone is going to yell this. You might as well join in.
