4 Wrestling Tropes It Is Time to Retire

In-Ring Contract Signings

You know this trope from:

• WWE Monday Night RAW
• WWE Friday Night SmackDown
• WWE NXT
• TNA Impact

There are so many of these signings that WWE has MULTIPLE compilations of this trope on it’s official YouTube page.

The contract signing has long been a staple in trying to build hype for a match. Your competitors meet in the ring, generally about a week or so before the “Big Match” is set to take place in what’s supposed to be a professional setting.

There’s suits, a carpet, a table (on the rare occasion, a desk) and a piece of paper the combatants are set to sign. One combatant signs the contract, the other goes to do the same, something is said, and the whole thing explodes into violence wherein a bunch of security guards or talent from the back that couldn’t be bothered to be present in the ring, suddenly show up to hold the two wrestlers back.

Professional wrestling relies on this convention as a means to entice any last-minute holdouts that this match is something they want to see, and to sure up anyone already excited for this match.

Tell me why an undead mortician who can summon lightning and hurl fireballs is bound by paperwork?

It’s a bad convention, because there’s no longer any surprise left in these segments. We go into it knowing what’s more than likely to happen. There are other ways to build tension better than contract signings. Whatever happened to backstage assaults? Hanging out in the rafters? Vignettes that speak to the actual characters involved in the match?

Let’s move beyond this convention and start putting effort into our creative endeavors.