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Do Away with technical falls
Like most sports, amateur wrestling has a long, and sometimes dubious, history of rule changes. In 1985, the NCAA implemented one of their worst changes ever: the technical fall.
A committee decided that a wrestler who scores 15 more points than his opponent will instantly be declared victorious. The match is to be stopped and the winner gets his hand raised.
In an attempt to “stimulate pinning “ again, match terminations were added in 1997. Now, technical falls are given when a wrestler scores back points and match terminations are handed out when a wrestler doesn’t score back points. Try explaining that to a beginner who is going to his or her first wrestling meet.
There is a technical knockout rule in boxing and mixed martial arts competitions but this is done solely for safety reasons. A referee or a doctor can stop a match when a fighter is unable to defend himself or an injury has occurred. The way wrestling has the rule implemented a technical knockout would come about when a boxer lands 150 more punches than his opponent.
Logically, technical falls and match terminations don’t make sense. Wrestlers are penalized for stalling and are encouraged to be aggressive throughout the duration of a match. During a bout where a technical fall is imminent one wrestler is dominating another by executing holds and moves that have earned him points. Once he gets ahead by 15 points we tell him “hold on, you’re scoring way too much and doing what we’ve asked you to do, we’d better stop the match.”
To balance things out, it was decided that the really boring matches need to be as long as humanly possible. The proverbial 1-1 token escape matches are given the luxury of the possibility of unlimited overtime periods. Because there really is nothing more exciting than watching two heavyweights do nothing for 10 solid minutes.
At the conclusion of a technical fall, there is often a feeling of resentment as though everyone in the building has been cheated out of something. Half the time, the referee doesn’t know the match needs to end and the people at the scorer’s table start yelling or laying on the buzzer to alert him that the match is over. Then the fans give kind of a pseudo clap that really isn’t heartfelt. Where is the drama in that?
Technical falls also send the wrong message to the athletes. By nature, people will take the path of least resistance. If a wrestler is 13 points ahead and another takedown gets him a win there is no incentive to go for a pin. This also tells the losing wrestler that he can quit and save face before the match is truly over.
Wrestling prides itself on being a tough and rugged sport that instills character. Stopping a match early because one wrestler is being dominated by another stands in bold contrast to this principle. A wrestler should be looked upon favorably if he can last the entire match without being pinned. So what if the score was lopsided?
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