I do love how in wrestling believable is never believable. No one will ever tap out to a keylock, but they will bend over for 30 seconds after a boot to the stomach.

I would laugh my ass off if there was a gimmich that's only purpose was to not follow along with wrestling cliche.

That'd be pretty funny.

I've argued with wrestling marks before over what'd be more painful, and it really is a case of "the shit that would never work in real life" is always the stuff they think comes out on top. Maybe not the big boot, or leg drop, but A lot of moves are supposedly "powerful." I've even demonstrated some simple wrist lock stuff, and asked them to resist. I'm not a master...I don't even have my first stripe, thanks to a shoulder/neck injury...But I can drop someone to their knees pretty effectively with moves that aren't showy.

MMA's a pretty good example of what works, though. A lot of the finishers aren't flashy. Hell, most of the finishers are moves a ton of guys use. You don't need a 360-degree-extreme-senton-uranage-toe-lock to make people tap. You just need a good sense of joint manipulation.