A Big Change Wrestling Should Make Now!

A Big Change Wrestling Should Make Now!
By Kevin Kelly - taken from Wrestle Zone (see the link above)


Jeannie’s out of the Bottle… the toothpaste is out of the tube… whatever cliché you want… apply it to pro wrestling. You can’t put either back but let’s try and fix things.

One major change makes a world of difference and opens up world of possibilities.

Three words… referee stops contest.

In today’s MMA-soaked environment, pro wrestling needs to adapt their own rules to keep up with the athletes of today. Bigger, badder, stronger and faster, today’s pro wrestler drops bombs while the wrestler of the 1970’s raked an eye or played “peekaboo” with a foreign object.

Guys the size of Matt Morgan were once booked as an attraction but now an athlete like Morgan, for example, is such a combination of size and agility that it makes it hard to suspend disbelief when he hits a move. Big moves landed by fantastic athletes are so commonplace in today’s wrestling that it’s become harder and harder to get a reaction. So the moves become bigger and in turn, more meaningless.


Plus, with care and prevention of concussions a need not a want, it’s time for the third man in the ring to wave a contest off when the time is right. 

When I was in the WWE, referees from time to time were told to really enforce the rules, especially when it came to count outs. If the ref got to “10”, call for the bell. I think it only happened once or twice but man, there was heat when it did. Not on the ref, but on the wrestlers who ignored the referee who told them to get back in the ring while slowly, demonstratively counting up from one for over 30 seconds to finally end at 10.

(Now, my memory being what it is, I am probably forgetting some time on Raw when a ref tossed out a match and then got reamed and fired but I definitely remember it happening in a dark match or two…)

The lesson learned for the offending wrestlers? Actions have consequences and rules are to be followed. The referee is to be listened to and respected.

Point is, it’s time to at least try to make some real out of the unreal. I’m telling you… one of the hardest things of being an announcer in wrestling for me is watching the guys beat the hell out of one another. Despite the training, dedication and effort put in by today’s athletes, it doesn’t make the fragile parts of the body like the brain any more resistant to the risk of injury.

By having a referee able to jump in and stop a match, it will serve several masters. First, it will start to reeducate the audience, that the moves in pro wrestling have consequences. It will also (hopefully) reeducate the wrestlers that they are in control, not the audience and what they do has consequences.
Because life has consequences…

I know you can’t put Jeannie back in the bottle but pro wrestling at its finest is gladiators in dramatic, physical, emotional battle where winning and losing is only a part of the story. Just because you don’t get your hand raised, doesn’t mean you are not a winner. Just like real life. A great wrestling match is about the journey, not just the final destination. And not every story has to end in a three count to be a satisfactory outcome.

If the referee stops a match because a wrestler is absorbing too much punishment or is perceived to not be able to continue, going forward, wrestlers will protect themselves and start to construct their battle plans for matches in a more logical fashion. I know that no fan ever pays money to watch a referee make a decision but if both fans and wrestlers alike know that a referee can make that final decision, I think that both groups will benefit.

Fans will get new outcomes… some they’ll like and some they’ll hate. But, it might foster some water cooler talk, which pro wrestling hasn’t had since Rock and Austin left. The wrestlers will have some added physical protection, especially early in their careers as referees will stop many more matches with the younger guys, who are more prone to put themselves in an injurious position.

And the wrestling industry gets some fresh air in its lungs, which it needs terribly right now. This doesn’t fix wrestling but it’s an important step that can bridge the gap between wrestling and its chief rival, fan apathy.


I agree with what this guy has said. Which is why I posted it.