Modern wrestling annoyances (rational or not)

[RedTwoster]

Here’s a more pedantic (and specific) one. Kevin Knight wearing a ring when he wrestles. Aside from the risk of fucking your finger up Jimmy Fallon-style, surely that constitutes a weapon? If it doesn’t, there should be no double standards - MJF should be able to wrestle with the Dynamite Diamond on, and so should Bandido. And if the fact it’s a bit chunkier bothers you, fine - shove a Kevin Knight-sized ring on every finger and wrestle that way, punching the fuck out of your opponent. 

[AshC]

Does everyone have to wrestle really fast now? Years ago, people would have said, 'let it breathe, kid'. When and why did this stop? It works for various guys and matches, but it seems a bit of a baseline now.

[air_raid]

11 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

AEW advertising the entire line-up to every show. Sometimes it’s nice not to know what’s coming, and sometimes knowing a certain match is appearing on a show makes the show feel less appealing. 

I don’t watch AEW but I like that, makes things feel more legit. With New Japan you get the match order, and I like that too.

[garynysmon]

8 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Similar note, but over-choreographed entrances that are designed solely for the camera. I could get away with it a bit in NXT Black & Gold (even if the best Nakamura entrance was one where he didn’t quite hit all his marks) but from what I’ve seen these days it just feels so rehearsed.

This.

I'm basically a Wrestlemania and Royal Rumble consumer of WWE these days, but while wrestlers have had their signature entrances since the mid to late 80's, it all feels so forced nowadays. Everyone seems to have to get their ultra-choreographed 'shit' in, which makes it seem so unauthentic.

It was especially ridiculous in the pandemic empty-arena era. Who exactly are you posing for?!

Edited May 4 by garynysmon

[stumobir]

Wrestlers singing along to their entrance song. I think Rhea Ripley is the bee’s knees  but when she does this she looks like a total dweeb, one of the worst culprits for it. 
 

Hitting your opponents finisher on them, grossly overused and seems a non-negotiable element of WWE’s “big match” formula. 

[simonworden]

14 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

It’s certainly not a modern issue and has been around for many a year, but I don’t like wrestlers performing for the hard cam. There are cameras all around the ring and arenas, surely whoever’s directing backstage can choose whichever shot looks best. Cena, Brock etc having to position around to face the cam before delivering their finisher has always annoyed me. Even worse is when someone manoeuvres themselves when pinning so they’re facing a certain way. 

I watched an AEW contracted performer do this recently. Seemed to be having an off day and should have known better. Spent the whole match facing the hard cam with the rest of us just getting two arses in our face. Absolutely shocking, ruined the whole match. 

2 hours ago, stumobir said:

Wrestlers singing along to their entrance song. I think Rhea Ripley is the bee’s knees  but when she does this she looks like a total dweeb, one of the worst culprits for it. 
 

Hitting your opponents finisher on them, grossly overused and seems a non-negotiable element of WWE’s “big match” formula. 

Has anyone got a stat on how many wrestlers do this now? If old Vinny Mac was in charge I would guess some of the shit new themes are purposely made to discourage it. 

I do wonder if some of them do it to remember their cues during all these cookie cutters entrances. 

[air_raid]

8 hours ago, stumobir said:

Hitting your opponents finisher on them, grossly overused and seems a non-negotiable element of WWE’s “big match” formula. 

Fuck, this. Cody and Orton doing it so soon after Vaquer and Morgan had done the same at Mania was particularly annoying.

[tiger_rick]

On 5/4/2026 at 8:01 AM, westlondonmist said:

I find that so many titles means so many feuds (not all obviously) are basically I want the title so give me a title shot or because someone win a number one contenders match. Why does nobody say "Seth Rollins, you've got the face of a twat, the hair of a twat and you walk like a twat. You're a twat and I'm gonna give you a hiding purely because you're existence annoys me". 

Also feel like there are too many titles. But that's purely a vehicle to feuds because of the lack of creativity. 

I wrote about this a couple of years ago but at some point in the WWE monopoly years, it became very obvious that titles were the only thing that was over. Title matches, contender matches, stipulation matches for upcoming title matches, etc were everywhere. I dunno if it was laziness or because they found most things not relating to titles weren't getting any traction but they relied heavily on it as a booking crutch for such a long time and then TK came along and said "Hold my beer".

Titles in AEW was a big modern bugbear of mine. I love that AEW recognises the whole wrestling eco-system and it makes a lot of sense and it can be very enjoyable but I don't want to see other belts on AEW TV unless they're part of a big story, like Kenny or Mercedes Mone collector gimmicks, or they're worth something, like the IWGP Title. I don't want minor NJPW belts, IWGP Strong, Stardom, CMLL, ROH, etc. Get them the fuck out. 

22 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

It’s certainly not a modern issue and has been around for many a year, but I don’t like wrestlers performing for the hard cam. There are cameras all around the ring and arenas, surely whoever’s directing backstage can choose whichever shot looks best. Cena, Brock etc having to position around to face the cam before delivering their finisher has always annoyed me. Even worse is when someone manoeuvres themselves when pinning so they’re facing a certain way. 

Great shout this. I watched an old match recently and it's so incredibly noticable how much better the work was because the camera's found the action and not the other way around. Still cut promos at the hard camera. It's clearly there. If you're posing or mugging to the people at home, recognise it but don't turn yourself around in matches because you might be hitting the move the wrong way or pinning away from the hard cam. That's horrible and unnatural. It's a massive irony that the company who proliferated it cut to a different camera every 0.3 seconds anyway so working to any camera was completely pointless!

15 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

Agree with this 100% back in the day when I was watching regular TV you went in every not perhaps knowing 1-2 matches, the rest were made or just thrown at you on the night. Love the spontaneity of that.

I see AEW graphics every week and it just looks like endless mix n' match wrestling every week to me, I don't need that from a TV show.

One of those things that was endlessly ripped for years was going into shows with fuck all announced and having all the matches made on the night. It makes much more sense to know what you're getting, whether that's WWF Superstars running through it on the opening or AEW putting it on socials. A really daft complaint, IMO.

Here's one and it'll upset some people I'm sure but fuck it - I've seen Seth Rollins name all over this forum in the last few days. Seth is a loser who'd carry on eating if Nick Khan shit in his cereal. But people who pay to watch him and that hideous company calling it out is some fucking irony, lads. Look in a mirror.

[Lorne Malvo]

21 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Similar note, but over-choreographed entrances that are designed solely for the camera. I could get away with it a bit in NXT Black & Gold (even if the best Nakamura entrance was one where he didn’t quite hit all his marks) but from what I’ve seen these days it just feels so rehearsed.

And I know that’s because it’s a TV show not a live event, and I know that’s because it has been rehearsed, but I watch the Oba Femi walk, which I do love as a screen viewer, and sometimes wonder how weird it must look watching from the crowd with the camera crew huddled in front of him slowly shuffling backwards as he struts to make sure they get the exact right angle at the exact right time to make it look like every other entrance he’s ever done. It’s just all very aware of itself as TV production.

Regarding WWE being over-produced and over-reheased, it's not just the entrances either. I remember a few years back when Lars Sullivan first debuted on Smackdown (remember him?!) there was a compilation video which showed him attacking Rey Mysterio over 3 seperate weeks. Every single week the beatdown was the same - not just the same moves in the same order but the same camera cuts each time, the same timing, near enough the same commentary. They may aswell have just replayed the first angle.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

I just find the "modern" style absolutely tiresome. 

There are so many guys up and down the card in major companies that are just too similar for me. So many guys do superkicks, running knee's, Canadian destroyers, "cutters" (the most overused move in YEARS), springboards etc. So many people seem to only be able to structure a match based on kicking out of big moves. 

I find it completely exhausting and played out. Too many guys who got a big stiffy over 2010s PWG shows and just do that. It's honestly such a barrier for me. I dont know who is seeing 20 second clip on twitter of two guys doing Ospreay/Ricochet stuff in 2026 and being amazed by it. Never thought I would see the day where even WWE social media is posting reels basically going "look how awesome this ludicrous highspot is lmao". Maybe that is just where we are now with attention spans. 

Maybe I am just old and fulfilling the "things used to be better" destiny. But I really want to see selling, story and struggle. Bret Hart v Steve Austin from Survivor Series 1996 is one of my favourite matches of all time. I dont see anyone in the business today that could work that style of match.

[garynysmon]

Yeah, it would do wrestling and wrestlers the world of good to stop and think if doing these (sometimes very risky) moves is actually going to get them a major pop nowadays, or are they just doing it out of habit?

A suicide dive, or any kind of dive to the outside of the ring, is probably a very dangerous move to perform. I'm sure any wrestler can appreciate a good dive when they see one and it pops the lads backstage.

But think of it from the audience's point of view. What do we see? Unless its timed to perfection its a move pulled out at every ppv by every single company, its a bunch of people awkwardly standing around quite clearly waiting to catch someone.

I don't think it even looks particularly thrilling. And anyway, its so overdone that it doesn't excite a crowd any more, so you're putting your life at risk for something that's not really even worth it.

Now, even being the nostalgia nerd as I am, there were ridiculous fake-looking moves in the 90's that I'm glad have disappeared. Think of a slingshot when a wrestler was on the apron and their opponent tugged on the ropes and they're forward flip over the top rope. Even a catapault is pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

But for my money, I detest any moves that take an age to set up and the 'victim' is so clearly assisting the 'assailant' and putting themselves in the correct position. Half the time the 'victim' is doing most of the work!

Rey Mysterio's 619 was bad for that, a wrestler would just happen to fall face first on the second rope for Rey Mysterio, when they'd just fall to the canvas for someone else. 

@Ironic Indie Lad Interesting that you mention attention spans. Yet generally speaking, match lengths feel longer nowadays than at any point I've been watching wrestling.

But it feels a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. 

Are fans wanting much more in-ring stuff week-to-week over everything else, or have we just spawned a generation or two of wrestlers who are better in-ring at the expense of their ability to do an off the cuff promo or the strength of their character?

I'm amazed WWE Speed didn't get over more than it did tbh. I found myself watching a lot of those.

Edited May 5 by garynysmon

[JNLister]

My main wrestling annoyance is that getting people to pay to watch wrestling matches is now a tiny minority of the revenue stream for major wrestling promotions. That pretty much changes what pro wrestling is. I preferred it when wrestling fans were the customers rather than being the product.

[garynysmon]

3 minutes ago, JNLister said:

My main wrestling annoyance is that getting people to pay to watch wrestling matches is now a tiny minority of the revenue stream for major wrestling promotions. That pretty much changes what pro wrestling is. I preferred it when wrestling fans were the customers rather than being the product.

In fairness you could say the same about professional football etc couldn't you?

[Ironic Indie Lad]

I honestly think the high spot style that's all over TV is such a turn off to lapsed fans who consider coming back in.

I know a few people who were big fans at one point. Every now and then they will bring something up to me that they have seen and say "why does it look like a dance routine now? Why does it look so obvious that they are cooperating?"

A recent example is Jevon Evans springboard "cutter" to Rusev at Mania. I had more than one person link me to that and say "why does he dive off the ladder head first into the other guys finisher?"

I mentioned this in another thread recently. I remember watching BOLA in my old flat 10+ years ago. My flatmate came in and sat down. I remember thinking he would probably be amazed by this having only ever been a casual on again / off again WWE fan. Could not have been more wrong there. He was laughing at it. 

I think if you have watched regularly or even semi-regularly for years you have probably seen the style evolve bit by bit. If you have barely watched then I can see why you would tune in and wonder what the fuck these guys are doing. 

 

 

[DazzM]

I agree with a lot of what's been said in here, particularly the modern "style". 

Although we've got some "big men", gone are the days that some big bastard goes in and smashes a guy about for a few mins then goes away. Even the big guys have to let the other guy get "their stuff in". 

I think part of it is the fact that everyone has faced everyone all the time these days. When I was growing up, the "superstars" mixing it up with each other was more special, because they didn't fight each other in various variations heading into a PPV where they fight each other again. Jobbers were great. Let the "Superstars" come across as that. Kick some weenys about, then go away, ahead of when they might actually fight someone that's worthwhile.

I imagine that if there was more "jobber" style matches, more "superstars" could get on TV.  These would also increase the number of actual wrestling matches on shows too.

As an aside, one of my favourite things of the past was Ludvig Borga. He came down to the ring, no flexing or anything, climbed through the ropes, went straight for his opponent, whacked him about, won, went back up the ramp. Beautiful no nonsense.