Watch any wrestling match, and it's highly likely that there will be at least a handful of near falls - occasions during which a wrestler barely makes it out, pulling his/her shoulder off the mat right before the count of three. Designed primarily to add dramatic effect, the idea is that fans will think the bout is about to be over, before one of the combatants shows unbelievable fortitude to keep fighting. In modern times, most fans know when matches are about to end. There's a formula to it, something which many people feel needs to be addressed. After all, if the people watching know what's about to happen, where's the fun? As children, it seems possible that a match could end any time one of the wrestlers covered another, and that only heightened the over all atmosphere of what was being displayed. It's crazy to think now, but there was a time not so long ago when most pinning situations were met by a reaction from the crowd, instead of simply being excuses for fans to count to two, knowing full well that the end of the contest isn't yet forthcoming. Maybe this changed for a lot of young fans when their attention was drawn to the wrestler being pinned watching out for the referee's count during a near fall situation, but closing their eyes when it was a stick-on three count!
