What It Means When Wrestlers Squeeze Each Other

For an art form that is largely seen as mainstream, or at least on the cusp, pro wrestling in many ways feels like a secret society. It comes complete with jargon that one often doesn't find in the everyday world, such as babyface, heel, and kayfabe; wrestling also includes plenty of signals unique to itself, just the same way certain signs are unique to baseball. The most common, and unfortunate, of these signals is the X, the sign a referee uses when a wrestler has suffered a legitimate injury. 

But there's plenty more, including wrestlers clapping or slapping their opponent on their back to signal for a certain move, or the old practice of hooking the leg when a match was about to end. And then there's wrestlers squeezing each other. This may not sound out of the ordinary; in some instances, wrestling is all about wrestlers squeezing each other to win matches, most notably when they use a move like a Bearhug. 

The most common form of squeezing in wrestling, however, comes when a wrestler, or referee, squeezes the wrist or leg of another wrestler. And it generally happens after wrestlers perform a high-risk spot such as a dive, a move through a table, or something in between, with the wrestlers using the squeeze to signal to the referee or their opponent that they are okay.  The squeeze became the primarily technique for this seemingly out of a desire to protect the business from fans, whereas verbal communication could give away that wrestling was, shocker of all shockers, predetermined. Over time, however, the lessoning of kayfabe overall, and fans picking up on the squeeze has led to some refs, like former WWE official Jake Clemmons, using it less, instead communicating with the talent instead.

Of course, there's been more uses to squeezing than just signaling the "all clear" to the referees or their opponent. Indeed, squeezing has also been used as a warning, like the famous WrestleMania 22 street fight between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. During the match's most famous spot, when Michaels hit McMahon with an Elbow Drop off a ladder, the referee squeeze McMahon's in order to prepare him for the spot. While this would seem to be weird at first glance, it was less so here, given McMahon couldn't see Michaels on account of the trashcan that was put over his head.

But perhaps the most famous example of squeezing in wrestling came during a match that many consider to be among the greatest in the history of wrestling; Bret Hart vs. "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam 1992. The match has gone onto become famous for Smith's hometown victory, it's well paced back and forth action over the course of a half an hour, and because of the recent revelation that Hart essentially willed the match into greatness by calling it the whole way, after Smith admitted to him early in the match he had forgotten all his spots.

So where did the squeezing come in? Right before the finish, when Smith infamously sat down on a Hart rollup attempt to score the 1-2-3, and the Intercontinental Championship. In order to set up that spot, Smith had to reverse an Irish Whip by Hart, sending him to the ropes. It was then that Hart squeezed Smith's wrist, reminding him of the reversal. As such, the Hart-Smith match is a reminder of how important squeezing is, whether used to keep someone safe, or to remind a wrestler of what to do next.