Kicking out at 2.999999999999

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

Back in the day, Ric Flair was really good at putting over his opponent. He had the crowd believing he was about to lose the title time after time. His opponent would do move after move and every time they went for the pin, Flair would kick out at the last possible second. He would do it over and over and each time it happened you could tell from the crowd's reaction that they really thought the ref would hit 3. It did a lot for the psychology of the match and also for the excitement level.

 

These days, I think Angle is one of the guys that has this talent. Rock also comes to mind. Can you think of any others that consistently make you think they were about to be pinned?

[Guest evilhomer]

Rock is pretty good at the timing, but you can always see him clearly looking at the referee so it blows the entire illusion. The trick is to get the timing down blindly.

 

Angle is the best that comes to mind for me.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Angle...when Cena debuted, Angle had a dozen or so of those

[Guest DJ Jeff]

I would have to say Angle as well. By the way, did anyone notice on RAW how obvious it was the Big Show was going to kick out? He had his hand ready to throw the guy off him. That's predictable for you.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

Storm does a damn good job at kicking out at 2.9

[Guest evilhomer]

I've always hated how the Big Show kicks out like that. A 2.999 count is used because you've had your wind knocked out and you need every possible second to recover just enough strength to wiggle a shoulder up. Throwing the guy off kills the purpose, no-sells the move, and totally kills the drama because of the obvious set-up for it.

[Guest The Tino Standard]

I think making it an obvious kickout is Show's point. He's toying with his opponent. No drama, no suspense. The guy isn't even close to beating him. At least, that's the way I interpret the Big Show's kickout. Of course, considering he's about 7 feet and 500 pounds, yet still loses every match he's in, he might want to change this strategy.

 

At any rate, I think a big part of selling the "2.99999 kickout" is how the referee makes the count. Hebner is getting really, really bad about making this jumping forward move on a "false 3 count." When he actually counts three, he stays in place. If you see him starting to jump forward to make the third count, you can almost be assured, there's a kickout coming up.

 

On a related note, I think camera work plays a big part of it too. Rock looking right at the referee can be hidden with the right camera. Also, camera positioning that is a little 'too perfect' can be bad too. Case in point, the part of the HHH-Spike match last night where HHH puts his foot on the rope after the Dudley Dog. Why would you switch to a camera angle ahead of time to show a guy's feet unless you know he's about to put his foot on the rope? It just looked contrived.

[Guest Brian]

And Hebner also has the thing where he just doesn't get down all the way on his third count so you can tell there's a kickout.

 

HHH and Rock are good but they both look.

 

Jericho and Benoit always do a good job of it.

 

Angle has been king with it lately adding lots of suspense to his matches.

[Guest Leena]

I think Angle was great at doing that during his run in 2000, too. It seriously looked like he would lose so many times, which I think nobody else in WWE can do. Sadly, it's intangibles like that, that reduce Angle to the wimpy character he is now.

[Guest Ripper]

All the ECW guys were great at it. I think it was also the refs doing the exaggerated counts that looked like they were going to throw their shoulder out of place that helped with the timing.

 

HHH used to do the 2.9999999999 thing incredibly well....the matches against Rikishi and Taka come to mind....

[Guest rvd43]

mr. perfect had some good ones

[Guest godthedog]

And Hebner also has the thing where he just doesn't get down all the way on his third count so you can tell there's a kickout.

 

HHH and Rock are good but they both look.

 

Jericho and Benoit always do a good job of it.

 

Angle has been king with it lately adding lots of suspense to his matches.

jericho ALWAYS looks at the ref. always. he makes no effort at all to hide it, just like when he's calling spots.

[Guest Brian]

Sometimes he does. Not all the time. It's really like the two phases of Jericho; when he's motivated he looks great and sells like a king, when he's not...ughh.

[Guest Angle-plex]

All the ECW guys were great at it. I think it was also the refs doing the exaggerated counts that looked like they were going to throw their shoulder out of place that helped with the timing.

 

I agree, although I think another part of that is that not every match ended with a wrestler's signature move.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

All the ECW guys were great at it. I think it was also the refs doing the exaggerated counts that looked like they were going to throw their shoulder out of place that helped with the timing.

Agreed.

 

Watch Lynn vs Credible from Anarchy Rulz 2000...I was marking out at every pinfalls attempt, that was some serious drama.

 

Also the ECW refs counted fast...that made it look even better

[Guest DaPacemaker]

D'Lo Brown is so underated and given the proper push he would make it big. He is spectacular at the 2.9999999 thing too, ever watch D'Lo/Val Venis at Summerslam '98....opening match. Positively a great match for both. Plus he is in better shape now and much quicker on his feet than most of the Raw roster...............EAT THAT BISCHOFF!!!

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I thought this was about ratings for a second....

[EL DANDY~!]

I don't know about you, but RVD did a helluva job doing that last night, in my humble opinion. Misawa is king, but if we talk WWE, Rocky, Angle, Benoit, HHH, in that order.

[Guest Prime Time Andrew Doyle]

I would say Angle, HHH or The Rock

[Guest webmasterofwrestlegame]

I always thought Jeff Hardy's 2.99999999 effort was good, mainly because it really looked like he summed up most of his energy just to do it.

 

Of course, that would then be meaningless when he hit a massive highspot as a 'comeback both men on the mat exchausted' spot just seconds later, but that it besides the thread question.

[Guest Goodear]

I don't know about you, but RVD did a helluva job doing that last night, in my humble opinion. Misawa is king, but if we talk WWE, Rocky, Angle, Benoit, HHH, in that order.

I really don't like the Puro 2.9999th's since the referee counts pretty slowly to begin with... I like it better when the referee throws his whole body into a count instead of just lifting their arm up and down (which seems to be the puro style).