Welcome back to Reading Wrestling, your encyclopedia on the art of wrestling. Today’s entry takes us to another hallmark of character building, the dances, poses, and, well, what we might term pre-TikTok shimmies wrestlers have crafted as part of their characters. Wrestling is, of course, famous for its taglines and sonic memes, as when the Rock bellows, “The Rock came out to surprise the MILLIONS,” and the crowd answers “AND MILLIONS” of the Rock’s fans. But another dimension of a character’s persona can be the dances and poses they perform. Consider here participatory memes like Daniel Bryan’s “Yes” chants, where the crowd collectively points to the heavens and chants the affirmation. Or think about Adam Cole, bay-bay, or Finn Balor who have a singular dance move that always hits at the same point in their entrance songs. Some wrestlers might do a full out dance as part of their gimmick, like Rikishi and 2 Cool. Others might have a pose or gesture that is their signature move, like Shayna Baszler’s Queen of Spades hand symbol. All in all, the crowd is conditioned to expect these movements as part of the character and to participate through them. Today on Reading Wrestling, we’ll talk about the subtle choreography that makes a wrestler memorable.