How to work a Tag Match
From Bywpedia
How a tag match works In independent discussion and analysis of matches, certain terms are used to describe specific scenarios involving tag team matches. These are planned and timed to inject drama into a match. One spot that occurs in practically every tag team match is the hot tag. One member of the face team is in the ring, too weakened to move or otherwise impaired, while his partner watches helplessly, struggling to reach him for a tag. The tension builds as the legal man is unable to tag out, until something happens (a second wind, miscommunication between the heel wrestlers, or another stroke of luck) that allows the faces to tag and reverse the momentum of the match in their favor. When done well, this results in a large audience reaction, and was the typical climax of tag matches for decades. A common variation on the hot tag sees both wrestlers from the heel team attacking a face, while his partner protests to the referee about this bending of the rules (and therefore, unintentionally "distracting" the referee away from the heels). Eventually the weakened face wrestler does make the tag to his partner, who comes in as the fresh man and is able to take on both opponents quite easily. A blind tag is a legal tag made without the referee's knowledge. This typically results in the legal man being forced to leave the ring once the referee sees him inside—thus giving the audience cause to feel injustice. The word blind tag is sometimes used when the outside wrestler makes the tag without a request from his partner. For example, he can pat on his partner's shoulder when he bounces into the ropes or has his back turned. Usually, the opponent will not see it either, so typically, he will either be attacked from behind by the newly legal wrestler, or try a pin on the inside wrestler, but it will not count since he is no longer legal. This is actually a self tag. A phantom tag is when a legal wrestler is replaced by his partner without making a legal tag, also without the referee's knowledge. Sometimes one wrestler will clap his hands in order to mimic the sound of the tag. These will, however, be allowed, thus giving this cheating team an advantage; another source of injustice. A wrestler will sometimes clap his hands together for a phantom tag, helping him to convince the referee that a legal tag took place.
