Continuity Nod/Professional Wrestling

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Examples of Continuity Nods in Professional Wrestling include:

  • Throughout the Attitude Era, the WWF gave us a subtle Continuity Nod on a weekly basis, in the form of Chyna's nickname, "The Ninth Wonder of the World". You may be saying, "Wait, aren't there only seven wonders?" Yes, but in the '70s and '80s, the WWF billed Andre the Giant as "The Eighth Wonder of the World", and thus Chyna was next in line after him.
    • And Zack Ryder was in line after her, as he was recently called "The Tenth Wonder of the World".
  • The WWF shows from October '99 to around August '00 paid a greater attention to continuity than usual thanks to the efforts of then head writer, the late Chris Kreski. Kreski made a habit of extensively storyboarding everything and keeping continuity charts. One specific continuity nod sticks out in a world where allegiances are constantly changing and old ones are often ignored. Shortly before Kreski took over, Summerslam '99 saw the climax of the feud between Test and Shane McMahon over Test deserving the love of Shane's sister Stephanie McMahon. Test won a "Love Her or Leave Her" match and the next night on Raw, Shane told him he was the better man and that they should be friends from then on. After Kreski took over, and even for a long time after Stephanie turned heel on her family and Test to marry Triple H, Test had Shane's back whenever he was needed. I believe that at least for a while, this thread even outlasted Kreski's run as head writer.
  • Subverted by WWE firing the continuity editor when he pointed out too many issues and never hiring a new one.
  • These days, WWE doesn't tend to make Continuity Nods referring to incidents from more than half a decade ago (see Fleeting Demographic Rule). This tendency does not apply to appearances by or even casual mentions of Legends (WWE Superstars who are no longer with the company but are still widely remembered), who will often be referenced by younger commentators who weren't even born when they were in their heyday! One commentator earlier this year casually mentioned Sky Low Low - a midget wrestler whom very few fans over the age of 40 are even aware existed!
    • The WWE either intentionally does this (such as HHH never referring to his loss to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 17 during promos for their fight at 27) or completely forgets about some stuff because they weren't important enough at the time. CM Punk reportedly had to remind the writers during his feud with Randy Orton that he was jumped by Orton and his stable in Unforgiven 2008, making him lose without even entering his title match, and thus giving him a pretty valid reason to go after Orton for Wrestlemania 27.