Pro wrestling terms, in plain English

The unwritten rule that wrestling is real. When wrestlers stay in character and the storylines get treated like actual events, that's kayfabe. It used to be sacred. Guys playing enemies on TV wouldn't be seen eating lunch together in public. The internet mostly killed that, but the word stuck around for any moment where the show keeps up the act.

A work is anything planned. A shoot is anything real. If two wrestlers brawl in a scripted segment, that's a work. If one of them actually loses his temper and throws a real punch, that's a shoot. The fun part is the gray area in between (see worked shoot).

A scripted segment built to look unscripted. The wrestler says things that sound too honest to be planned, blurring the line on purpose. CM Punk's 2011 "pipe bomb" promo is the one everybody points to. It was a work that felt like a shoot, and that's exactly why it landed.

The bad guy. A heel is built to make you boo. Cheating, cutting corners, talking down to the crowd, all of it. A great heel makes you want to see them lose so badly that you'll buy a ticket to watch it happen.

The good guy. The one the crowd is supposed to cheer. The hero who fights from underneath and overcomes the heel. "Babyface" is the full term, "face" is the shorthand.

Somewhere between face and heel. Fans cheer them even when they do shady things. Stone Cold Steve Austin in his prime is the classic example. Technically a jerk, beloved anyway.

A wrestler the crowd actually cares about. Get a loud reaction every time your music hits and you're over. It's the whole job. A guy can be the best athlete on the roster and still go nowhere if he never gets over.

A big, loud, positive reaction. A surprise return that makes the building erupt got a huge pop. It's the sound of a moment landing.

Two meanings. On TV, heat is the crowd hating a heel, which is the point. Backstage, "heat" means real-life trouble: a wrestler in the doghouse with management has heat. Context tells you which one someone means.

The decisions behind the show. Who wins, who loses, who feuds with who. The booker is the person making those calls. When fans complain about "the booking," they mean the creative choices, not the wrestling itself.

When a company gets behind a wrestler and pushes them up the card: more wins, bigger matches, more mic time. A "strong push" means the company clearly wants you to become a star.

The opposite of a push. Booking a wrestler to look weak, usually with a string of losses or by getting talked down on the mic. Sometimes it's punishment, sometimes it's just bad creative. Either way, the fans notice.

To job is to lose. A jobber is someone whose role is to lose and make others look good. To "put someone over" is to lose to them on purpose so they come out looking like a bigger deal. Veterans putting over younger talent is how stars get made.

A storyline. The reason two wrestlers are fighting. A good angle gives you a reason to care about a match before the bell even rings.

An unexpected twist. The trusted partner who turns on his friend, the surprise heel reveal. A swerve done right gets a gasp. Done lazy, it gets an eye roll.

A wrestler's character. The Undertaker's dead-man act, a biker, a rockstar, a regular guy with an attitude. The gimmick is the package: the look, the music, the personality.

Selling is reacting to moves so they look like they hurt. It's half of what makes a match feel real. To no-sell is to pop right back up like nothing happened, which can be a deliberate character move or just bad work.

A spot is a planned move or sequence, often the big highlight-reel stuff. A botch is when a spot goes wrong: a missed landing, a blown timing cue. Everybody botches eventually. The good ones cover it so you barely notice.

Stiff means hitting for real, with force. A potato is an accidental hard shot, usually to the head. A receipt is when the guy who got potatoed hits back just as hard to make a point. Wrestling is cooperative, but it isn't soft.

A mark is a fan who's all the way in, reacting like it's real. A smark (smart mark) knows how the business works behind the curtain and still loves it. Most of us reading wrestling newsletters are smarks, and that's fine.

Someone who makes money. A draw sells tickets, moves merch, and gets people to pay for the show. It's the highest compliment in the business, because this is a business, first and last.

The big shows. PPV means pay-per-view, the old model where you paid per event. PLE means Premium Live Event, the streaming-era name for the same thing: WrestleMania, Double or Nothing, the major nights a company builds toward.

A controversial finish where someone gets cheated, often involving outside interference or a referee in on it. The Montreal Screwjob in 1997 is the most famous one, and the term has been borrowed for any finish that feels like a stitch-up ever since.