A Wrestling Glossary for the U.S. Today
LETTER RE: 'HEEL TURN,' TERMS & CONDITIONS, EPISODE 6
You were bang on with “heel turn” in “Terms & Conditions.” terms. Here are a few more I use somewhat often.
Face — Actually short for “baby face,” which is the “hero” in the wrestling world. The charismatic, marketable good guy that kids want to cheer for.
Heel — Bad guy, can be by gimmick or how they win matches. Basic villain.
Turning Heel/Turning Face — Can be called a Turn either way, Face Turn or Heel Turn. Going from one end to the other. A heel after years of being hated suddenly does the right thing or a baby face all of a sudden betrays another face. After decades of being a face, John Cena finally turned heel in what is considered his final year in the ring. (Although, you never really quit the business. They always come back.) Famous match in Wrestlemania 13 between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin had a double turn, where both Bret (the face) and Stone Cold (the heel) turned to the other side by the end of the match.
Mark — A fan who is invested heavily in the storyline/characters. “Marking Out” is the act of going crazy when someone’s music hits/turn happens, etc.
Heat — Crowd reaction. A hot crowd refers to a crowd really into the matches. Yelling at the heel, big cheers for the face.
Pop — Sudden heat. Usually the moment of a surprise entry or a big finish. Think of it as the crowd equivalent of a champagne bottle opening.
Sell — Making everything look believable. Matches are theater. Even if you have to lose, you have to sell to make it look good.
Work/Shoot — Work is doing the job and playing your part in the storyline. Shoot is when you go off script. Wrestling is at its best when the marks don’t know what’s a work and what’s a shoot. Even though the results are predetermined, wrestlers are people and there is a ton of backstage politics going on. with matches, reactive, who you are working with, etc.
So, if I were use apply wrestling jargon to the political climate: Trump is a heel. MAGA are marks for him. Pop is something MAGA fans want when they wear their hats in public. Powell can go either way, but I for sure view him as a Face if Trump is against him.
Of course, art imitates life. Half of the population can look at that last paragraph and flip it around: Bernie is the real heel and AOC and followers are big marks, etc. That’s why it works.
Travis Weldon
St. Cloud, Minnesota