Wrestling Tricks Revealed
secrets:
ARE THE RING STEPS AND RING POSTS REALLY MADE OF STEEL?
Both of these are indeed made of
steel. The steps however are much lighter than the commentators
say they are. Being hit with the steps is not really painful. In
most cases, you will notice that the triangle part of the steps
(i.e. the V-shaped part cut out of the steps to allow them to be
placed against with the ringpost) is what is supposedly making
contact with the wrestler. If the steps are rammed into an
opponent’s head, the opponent gets his hand up to protect
himself. If a wrestler is laying on the second, lower part of the
steps, and his opponent throws stairs into him, look carefully and
you will see that the opponent usually throws the corner of the
steps into the lower part of the steps, not into the opponent.
The ring posts are a much more solid and potentially dangerous
piece of equipment. Again, the wrestlers are not usually hurt by
the posts. From inside the ring, wrestlers can go shoulder first
into the post if their opponent moves out of the way. If you watch
closely, you will see that they never actually make contact with
the post. As well, when wrestlers are “crotched” by the post,
their crotches never actually make contact with the steel. Being
whipped into the posts on the outside is a little more realistic
as legitimate contact is made with the post. Again watch closely
and you will see that the wrestlers normally get their hands up
before their shoulders hit the post. This of course lessens the
impact.
IS THE BARBED WIRE THEY USE REAL?
The WWF uses both real and fake
(capped) barbed wire. Barbed wire matches don't happen very often
in the WWF but when it is used, the wrestlers often switch between
the real and capped barbed wire during a match. The match between
Mick Foley and Triple H at No Way Out is a perfect example. When
it was time for the wrestlers to be “busted wide open”, they
switched the fake wire for the real wire. They did so behind the
announce table. “Capped” barbed wire is just as it sounds: the
sharp and jagged pieces of the wire are capped so as to prevent
being cut.
HOW DO WRESTLERS FALL OFF LADDERS, LAND ON LADDERS AND DO MOVES OFF THEM?
The reason wrestlers don't get hurt when they go through a table or when they use a ladder in the ring is because they went to a wrestling school and learned how to do it properly. That is why people who are not trained shouldn't do things you see on TV.
HOW DO THEY GET DRIVEN THROUGH TABLES?
The tables used in a wrestling match are thin and cheap, and break easily. They are not pre-cut or rigged in any way, however they are made of poor quality materials. Also, they almost always go through the centre of the table, where no metal is present.
HOW DO WRESTLERS HIT EACH OTHER WITH SLEDGEHAMMERS WITHOUT GETTING HURT?
When the wrestlers use a sledgehammer, it is either a fake or plastic hammer used, or the wrestler "pulls" to lessen the blow. Pulling means that he doesn't hit the person as hard as he can, and pulls back on the movement of the sledgehammer.
WHAT ABOUT LEAD OR STEEL PIPES?
When you see wrestlers using a
"lead pipe" it is usually a plastic or aluminum pipe. It
is near impossible to get a lead pipe anyway - they aren't
used anymore because of lead poisoning. The "steel"
pipes aren't actually made of steel.
ARE THE THUMBTACKS THAT THEY SOMETIMES USE REAL?
Yes. These are real thumbtacks
and they hurt when they puncture the skin. When you seen any of
them stuck to a wrestler's (such as Cactus Jack's) skin they hurt.
However, the wrestler's boots, knee pads and elbow pads block out
most of the tacks. The ones you seen in the wrestler's face and
body definitely do hurt.
HOW DO WRESTLERS HIT EACH OTHER WITH CHAIRS WITHOUT GETTING HURT?
All of the fold-up chairs the wrestlers use are designed to take most of the impact of a blow and most of the time, wrestlers don't hit their opponents very hard, which reduces the risk of injury. Be warned: Regular folding chairs won't take most of the impact (as if you didn't already know) and will end up actually injuring your opponent. By the way, if you were wondering, the chairs ARE made of steel.
HOW DO WRESTLERS BLEED?
95% percent of the time, a
wrestler bleeds by "blading" himself, and not by using a
blood capsule. Here's how it works: A wrestler rolls out of the
ring and hides himself from the view of the audience. He then
pulls out a small blade (usually concealed in a taped-up wrist or
finger, or given to him by a referee when the ref is checking on
him to see if he is "hurt") and quickly cuts his
forehead. Cutting anywhere else is very dangerous and is rarely
ever attempted. However, cutting the forehead is somewhat
dangerous, because you can hit a major artery if you cut too deep.
You will notice that 9 times out of 10, the camera will cut away
from a blading wrestler so as not to spoil the illusion. A small
cut is all that is needed as the blood quickly mixes with sweat
and produces a great effect.
Some ‘pretty boy’ types refuse to cut themselves. In these
cases, the wrestler will use a blood bag or packet. Chris Jericho
comes to mind here. The wrestler will duck out of camera range and
break the bag, filled with a red liquid that looks like blood.
HOW ARE SOME OF THE COOL MOVES DONE?
When you see the Undertaker, Kane or someone else hit a chokeslam, this is how it's done. The chokeslam takes a lot of help from the person who is receiving it. First of all the wrestler who is receiving will place their hand on the shoulder of the Undertaker etc. Then when the Undertaker (or someone else) lifts them up the person receiving the chokeslam then tucks their body up to seem like they are high off the ground. You may remember when the Rock had two refs as tag team partners. One of the refs got a chokeslam but it didn't work for Kane, because the ref didn't tuck up, so it didn't look like he was very high off the ground. When you see a piledriver, which is very rare in the WWF, the wrestler lifts up his opponent. He then puts his opponent's head so that it is just above the crotch area. The wrestler drops to his knees so it looks like the opponent is getting his head smashed into the mat, but in fact, he still has his head a couple of inches off the ground. Piledrivers are incredibly dangerous and are very rarely attempted now. When was the last time you saw Kane give someone a Tombstone Piledriver?
IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THE RING?
The ring is built so that underneath it is sprung. You may see this when the curtain gets raised up. Wrestlers say that it is most like a bouncing castle. When wrestlers take huge jumps in the ring it takes a lot of the impact away. There are a few layers of soft wood under the mat, to take away the force of impact. Also, there is often a microphone under the ring to make big moves sound more dangerous.
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