Opinion
Cook’s Top 5: Unwritten Rules of Wrestling
Noted baseball fan Steve Cook is no stranger to unwritten rules–and neither is his beloved pro wrestling!
Noted baseball fan Steve Cook is no stranger to unwritten rules–and neither is his beloved pro wrestling!
The unwritten rules.
The game of baseball is largely governed by stodgy old (and young) men that refuse to combine their sport with anything resembling fun. Should some player be seen to be having a little too much fun, the unwritten rules brigade will do their best to put that player back in line and quit trying to make baseball look like something that kids might want to partake in.
Fernando Tatis Jr. found his way on the wrong side of the fun police this week. The 21 year old that leads Major League Baseball in home runs, RBI & stolen bases had the gumption to hit a grand slam on Monday night in the 8th inning when his team was already up by seven runs. How dare he. The opposition, the Texas Rangers, were outraged. Even Tatis’ manager spoke against it, and Tatis went to the trouble to apologize.
Now, logical people don’t think he had anything to apologize for. Baseball doesn’t have a clock. Teams come back from huge deficits in the late innings all the time. There’s no reason for Tatis, or somebody else, to keep from adding more runs to his team’s total, other than avoiding hurting the feelings of his opponents. Oh, and to avoid breaking those unwritten rules.
Baseball isn’t the only form of entertainment with unwritten rules. Pro wrestling has many. Most aren’t in place to keep cranky old men from getting their feelings hurt, but there are codes & things you’re not supposed to do that aren’t spelled out for you. Let’s take a look at five of pro wrestling’s unwritten rules.
5. You Must Point at the WrestleMania Sign

Triple H says that Royal Rumble winners aren’t told to point at the WrestleMania Sign. They all do it anyway. Pretty much everybody on WWE’s roster points at a WrestleMania Sign at some point before the big event. Why do they do it? I’m pretty sure it’s one of the requirements to be booked on the show. If you don’t point at the sign, you don’t make the show.
4. Shake everybody’s hand!

It’s a tradition that goes back to the beginning of pro wrestling. Whenever entering a locker room, a wrestler is expected to shake hands with everybody else working that evening. Should they miss anybody, they become the object of scorn & derision. There’s also a certain way you’re supposed to do it, very light. Which is strange to me because my grandfather preached the value of a tight, firm handshake. Proves you’re a man, or some such thing.
Now, I’m not sure if this time-honored tradition is continuing during the Pandemic Era. I suspect it is, or at least it was until there was more of an emphasis on social distancing backstage. I suggest wearing gloves. You never know where some of these people have been.
3. The 5 or 10 count for one member of a tag team to exit the ring after a tag isn’t binding.

Jim Ross makes a big deal of the referee’s count during every single AEW tag team match. He wonders why these damn kids won’t get out of the ring & do as they’re told. It’s become part of his gimmick now, and there are other old school minded folks out there that probably like it.
Here’s an inconvenient truth: I have never seen a tag team disqualified for having both members stay in the ring past a referee’s count. Not once in my thirty glorious years. I’m not saying it’s never ever happened before in some weird match, I’m just saying I’ve never seen it. Most of the fun of a tag team match involves innovative double-team moves that makes the crowd ooh or ahh. Or, heel tag teams staying in past the count and goading the good guy to try and get in themselves, forcing the referee to put them out while the heels continue the shenanigans behind the referee’s back. These things can’t happen if stick in the mud referees aren’t a little liberal with their counts.
Sorry JR, that’s just how it works. Unwritten rule.
2. Don’t use another wrestler’s signature move.
You wanna get some heat in a locker room? Use one of your co-worker’s finishing moves. When a wrestler has spent some time perfecting a move and making people buy it as a finisher, the last thing they want is another dope on the card claiming it as their own.
You didn’t see other people in the WWF using leg drops until Hulk Hogan left. Or elbows off the top rope until Randy Savage left. The DDT didn’t become a transition move used by everybody until Jake Roberts went away. Super Dragon got a spot on an ROH Do or Die show, and died (didn’t get booked again until the CZW feud) because he did a dive that Homicide liked using in his matches. It takes some work on your part to know what moves established stars in a given fed like using, but you better find out real quick.
1. You don’t mess with your rival’s family.
Wrestling rivalries are only supposed to involve pro wrestlers. Sure, things get emotional during the course of a good feud, but you’re only supposed to target your rival. Maybe their friends if they happen to be wrestlers employed by the company. Maybe even a sibling/spouse if they happen to be wrestlers employed by the company.
Family members that aren’t wrestlers or have any kind of affiliation with the business other than their family member working in it are off-limits. Any time you go after a wrestler’s family members that aren’t involved in the business, you’ve crossed the line. Samoa Joe did it against AJ Styles back in 2018, targeting AJ’s wife Wendy. Rey Mysterio’s son Dominik became part of WWE storyline canon back in 2005, when Eddie Guerrero took credit for being his real father. Eventually the kid started training because he was sick of being targeted by his dad’s rivals. He got tired of other wrestlers breaking unwritten rules.
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Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
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Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
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Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)
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