What Is A Pinfall In Pro Wrestling? What Are Its Rules?

What is a pinfall in pro wrestling?

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The professional wrestling world is glammed up with powerful battles and epic storytelling, leading to memorable endings. Like all stories, there has to be an ending. 

In Pro wresting, the pinfall, pin, or simply a fall is the grand finale.

It is a crowd favorite finishing technique used by professional wrestlers to defeat their opponents. 

Originating from the Pins in Amateur Wrestling, a pinfall or simply a fall happens when the attacking wrestler successfully pins down the opponent to the mat, and the referee starts the three seconds countdown.

Here is an example of a beautiful pinfall

What are the rules of a pinfall in pro wrestling?

With that said, let’s revisit the rules that a professional wrestler must follow to create an epic conclusion (a successful pinfall) to a tiring battle.

Rules to keep in mind for a successful pinfall/pin in pro-wrestling

The first rule is – Both the shoulder blades of the opponent must touch the mat.

The second rule is – the attacking wrestler must hold the opponent down until the referee finishes the three seconds countdown.

There are different variations to professional wrestling, followed mainly to make the sport more consumable and increase the entertainment quotient.

Does the pinfall have to be inside the ring to count?

Unless stated otherwise, a pinfall must be executed inside the ring and within the ropes. Violating this will lead to disqualification.

However, in Falls Count Anywhere matches, there are slight alterations to the pinfall rules.

The pinfall must happen within the designated arena of the match. At times, the wrestlers get over-excited and take the match backstage, far away from the arena. Such an instance will lead to immediate disqualification unless the match is played under the rule of Falls Count Anywhere.

Here is an example of a Falls Count Anywhere match between Kohn Morrison and Sheamus

Rule variation in Tag Wrestling Matches: There are some instances when the pin attempt nullifies

In tag wrestling matches, the pin attempt fails if the pinned wrestler manages to touch the ropes or touch his teammate’s hand.

Additionally, in tag wrestling, the partners get only one opportunity to break a pin in the entire game.