The Not-Quite Kickout

In Austin’s recent podcast review of Wrestlemania, when talking about the Raw Womens match, he talked about how he would’ve preferred Nia Jax attempt the kickout at 3 & a Half. He described the "big man" kickout, where they give a kick out but after the 3 count, so show strength/fighting spirit even though it is a legit pin. Austin said, used sparingly, it’s a good way to keep heat on the monster wrestler. Hogan’s "too late" kick out on Warrior was cited as an example.


Do you care for that trope of kicking out just after 3? And sub question, do you like it when a wrestler tries to kick out, but doesn’t have the strength? I remember Tito Santana in particular having a string of PPV matches where he would do the job to a wrestler’s big finish, and lay there trying to kick out.

I understand the theory on it & like it personally as a nice little touch, but I also see the side of "if the person is out cold, they shouldn’t be moving or struggling"…

​I personally prefer the struggle approach myself, because if a move is so devastating that the person is knocked unconscious to the point where they can’t move for the three seconds required to pin them, it’s probably too dangerous of a move and should be banned. In kayfabe. So it’s actually more beneficial for someone to work to get up and barely get beaten, because then it adds more drama to the false-finish trope that WWE loves so much now.

Also, I LOVE the cliche of the big man throwing the smaller man off at two when he kicks out. Dunno why, it’s just a charming part of wrestling and always gets a big pop. Except when Randy Savage loses the Royal Rumble that way.

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