10 Wrestling Messages Hidden In Plain Sight
4. The Hot Tag Hand
The brilliantly simplistic science of the hot tag has ensured that every doubles duel (before the empty arena era anyway) could be engineered to get at least one pop from the crowd.
Vince McMahon may not have a great affection for the art form, but tag matches add diversity to a card as well as an entirely different dynamic and pace. They're reminders how just how important formula can be too - for all there are reasonable complaints about why so many things in wrestling seem to cling to a strict style, good tag wrestling does not fall into that category. And this tiny trick is just a small part of the wonderful illusion.
The babyface in peril may reach for the tag several times during the extended beatdown by the heels, but they'll look for a visual clue when the time comes for the tease to be paid off. By extending their hand with palm facing up, the partner in the corner is indicating that the time is right to send the fans into a frenzy. If it's down, no dice and expect that slow strained crawl to be stopped in its tracks.