Legit (professional wrestling)

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In professional wrestling, legit (from "legitimate") is a slang term used to describe a match or event which has not been booked, or a performer who relies on wrestling skill and ability, as opposed to his gimmick, to gain notoriety and popularity with fans. In the recent past many matches and wrestlers were presented as being "legit", although this was not always, or even often, the case. Two of the most famous exceptions to the rule (in actuality and known backstage for being "legit") were Lou Thesz and Frank Gotch.

[edit] Definitions

The term is also often extended to mean a wrestler with a legitimate background as an actual street fighter or brawler, who brings legitimate fighting skills to the apparent, but often tightly controlled, "chaos" of the pro wrestling arena. A "legit" competitor in this instance may tend to revert to the actual violence of real fighting, causing concern (and danger) among opponents, and others.

The term "legit" can also be attributed to an incident where a legitimate injury occurs during a professional wrestling match. An example would be during the Four-Way Tag Team Ladder match at Armageddon 2006, in which Joey Mercury suffered a severe head injury, a broken nose and a possibly fractured frontal bone, and severe lacerations around his left eye as a result of a see-saw ladder maneuver by Jeff Hardy.^[1]

In March 2005, a new professional wrestling promotion was announced called Real Pro Wrestling. This promotion is being packaged as being strictly legit, although it should be noted that such promotions in the past have either proven to be short-lived or have soon resorted to booked and worked matches, which pro wrestling fans claim is due to what they see as the inherently dull nature of legit wrestling (possibly because of the lack of gimmicks and theatrics that are usually found in mainstream professional wrestling).