Counting Up or Counting Down?

**RaginRonic** · 11-17-2009, 04:11 AM

This is just something that has been in my head for a bit, and I need to get it out there.

As we all know, referees in wrestling matches have, since pro wrestling began, always counted up to 10/20 for wrestlers outside the ring in order to get them back in before they're counted out, count to 3 when calling a pin for the winner, and count to 5 when a wrestler is bogged down in the corner of the ring.

I know that is the norm for wrestling, and always has been, but I was thinking that, in a story-telling sense, that maybe a good way to up the intensity for a big match situation would be for refs to count DOWN instead of up.

For example, I think that a wrestler would likely want to get back into the ring with greater urgency if the ref counted down to Zero as opposed to counting up to 10.

And, maybe, in pinfall and corner situations, have the ref during pinfalls count '2..1...Done!' and in corner counts, go '5...4...3...2...1...Zero'.

I guess, to me, it makes for a greater sense of finality to a wrestling match, and has the wrestler work that much harder to get a victory.

11-17-2009, 04:11 AM	#1
RaginRonic Hellraiser Extraordinaire Posts: 670	Counting Up or Counting Down? This is just something that has been in my head for a bit, and I need to get it out there. As we all know, referees in wrestling matches have, since pro wrestling began, always counted up to 10/20 for wrestlers outside the ring in order to get them back in before they're counted out, count to 3 when calling a pin for the winner, and count to 5 when a wrestler is bogged down in the corner of the ring. I know that is the norm for wrestling, and always has been, but I was thinking that, in a story-telling sense, that maybe a good way to up the intensity for a big match situation would be for refs to count DOWN instead of up. For example, I think that a wrestler would likely want to get back into the ring with greater urgency if the ref counted down to Zero as opposed to counting up to 10. And, maybe, in pinfall and corner situations, have the ref during pinfalls count '2..1...Done!' and in corner counts, go '5...4...3...2...1...Zero'. I guess, to me, it makes for a greater sense of finality to a wrestling match, and has the wrestler work that much harder to get a victory.