Pin (professional wrestling) Pin (professional wrestling) A pinfall is a victory condition in various forms of professional wrestling that is met by holding (pinning) an opponent's shoulders on the wrestling mat, usually until the referee counts to three. In professional wrestling, a pinfall is a common method of winning a match. The count is broken (a near-fall) if the opponent manages to raise one or both of his shoulders off of the mat, commonly by "kicking out" (throwing their legs up to cause their shoulders to rise from the mat). In some positions, a wrestler may "bridge" (arching their back so that only
Referee (professional wrestling) wrestlers. Like wrestlers, referees are also responsible for maintaining kayfabe, and must render decisions in accordance with the promotion's kayfabe rules. The kayfabe purpose of a professional wrestling referee is to render decisions (pinfalls, submissions, disqualifications, countouts) during a match but the legit purpose they serve is to transmit messages to wrestlers about the progress of matches, communicate with them about the amount of time left (plus the beginning and end of commercial breaks on live broadcasts), and, if necessary, help them gauge the crowd reaction as well as reminding them of match script. They also have a key role