7 Wrestling Rules That WWE Forgets Exist
4. Breaking Before The Five Count And Count Outs
A hold shall not be allowed if either contestant is in physical contact with the ropes or if any part of either contestants' body is outside the vertical plane of the ring ropes. The referee will instruct the wrestler applying the hold in such cases to desist and the wrestler applying the hold will have five seconds as counted off by the referee in which to comply.
What's The "Wrestling Reason" For This Rule Existing?
Much like boxing, this rule is in effect to prevent matches from going to the outside of the ring. Fighting outside of the ring (which we will get to shortly) is illegal itself and this rule prevents wrestlers from tumbling to the arena floor while trying to escape a hold.
Make note that the rule states you must break the "vertical plane" of the ropes, meaning you have to be in the ropes, not grabbing them like you see in WWE. Count outs exist because wrestling matches are supposed to take place in the ring, not out on the floor. Brawling on the floor is not an acceptable part of wrestling but, much like stepping out of bounds in other sports, wrestlers are allowed on the floor for ten seconds at a time (or twenty in some territories).
What's The Real Reason?
The real reason is that it once again allows the heels to push the boundaries of rules and get heat on themselves. WWE ignores this rule completely, especially when wrestlers are fighting in the corner. To make matters worse, the referee will usually count to four (unless he's particularly awful) and then, when he's supposed to get to five and disqualify someone, he'll just stop counting and say "break it up" or something equally dumb.
It makes the referee look completely incompetent and puts the heat on him instead of the cheating wrestler. Now, this is a rule that WWE only follows when it wants to be part of the storyline. A wrestler (usually someone like Sheamus, Mark Henry, or Kane) will beat a helpless opponent in the corner and refuse to break, so the referee will call for the bell. In the very next match though, someone will do the exact same spot and the referee will just stare at them like a deer in headlights.
Consistency is severely lacking and one of the main reasons why WWE's referees are so useless. The same goes for count outs. How many times have wrestlers seemingly been on the floor for minutes at a time without the referee so much as warning them? Of course, in the old days a wrestler would just roll inside the ring and then roll back out. This was known as "breaking the count" and the referee would start over at one. That might seem like a tiny detail that doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things. Remember though, wrestling is supposed to be a legitimate sport. When the clock runs out in a football game, the game is over. There isn't some referee counting on his fingers and then magically restarting if the players are busy doing something.