Professional wrestling match types

Here is a summary of the different types of matches that professional wrestling has to offer. The number of possible combinations is only limited to imagination:

Standard Variations

One fall: The standard wrestling match. All normal rules apply.
Best Two out of Three falls: To win you must score two falls on your opponent before he can score two on you. Sometimes each of the falls is fought under different stipulations, such as one straight wrestling fall, one submissions only fall and one no disqualification fall. This type of match is almost always booked to go to the third fall.
Iron man match: This match is a contest with a fixed time limit and the wrestler with the most amount of pinfalls, submissions, opponent disqualifications, and opponent countouts is the winner. Another variation is an Iron Man Match where only submissions count. This variation is called an Ultimate Submission Match.
Handicap match: This match usually pits one individual against a team of two wrestlers. In most such matches, the team competes under normal tag team rules. Typically, the lone wrestler in a handicap match is a large, physically dominant wrestler. Sometimes, to advance a storyline, a less physically imposing wrestler is booked as the lone wrestler. Occasionally, a handicap match will involve two tag teams that are unequal in numbers.
Cage match: This match takes place inside a 15' steel cage with an open top. There are two types of cage matches. The traditional cage match, known as a shark cage match, is won by being the first wrestler to escape the cage and have both feet touch the floor. The other variation is basically a One fall match inside a cage. Sometimes a cage match incorporates both escape and falls, permitting either to end the match.
Lumberjack match: A match where the ring is surrounded by a group of "lumberjacks", normally fellow wrestlers. When one participant in the match leaves the ring for any reason, the lumberjacks are supposed to return him to the ring as soon as possible. The lumberjacks are generally a combination of faces and heels, who sometimes fight among themselves outside the ring. Sometimes, as part of a storyline, a face will wrestle a heel with a group of lumberjacks consisting entirely of heels.
Street fight: This match cannot end in a disqualification. All other normal rules apply.
Hardcore match: Same as a street fight, except that pin falls count anywhere.
Triple threat match: This is a one-fall match where three wrestlers fight instead of two. The winner of this match is the first wrestler to get a pin fall or submission. Professional wrestling does not define what happens when one wrestler is disqualified, although it is assumed that the match continues without the disqualified wrestler (hence making it into a standard one-fall match).
Flag Match: Each team has a flag that they must retrieve and one that they must defend. They must get their flag from the opponents' corner before the opponents can get their flag.
Caballera vs. Mascara Match: A wrestler with hair, usually long hair, fights another wrestlers who is masked. The loser is either unmasked or their head is shaved bald. This usually takes place in Mexico.
Triangle match: A three way one fall tag match wherein the one of the competitors must remain outside the ring to await a tag from one of the other combatants before replacing him in the ring. Being tagged out is a serious disadvantage as you cannot win from this position.
Three Way Dance: Another three way match, this time with the loser of a fall being eliminated from competition. The last wrestler remaining is victorious. This match was a specialty of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Fatal four way: Same as a triple threat match, but with four wrestlers instead of three. On rare occasions, this may be booked as an "elimination match" similar to a Three Way Dance.
Hell in a Cell match: This is essentially a one fall match inside a steel cage with a top. This cage is larger than a traditional cage in that it also contains the immediate floor around the ring. Even though the main hook in this match is that there's "no possible way to escape the cage", in practice, the action always ends up being taken out, and it is very common to see wrestlers fighting on top of this steel structure. The most famous such match took place in 1998 in the then-WWF (now WWE) between The Undertaker and Mick Foley (wrestling as Mankind).
Scaffold match: This match takes place on a scaffold above the ring. The two ways to win the match are to push the opponent off of the scaffold so that he/she hits the mat or to grab the flag from the opponent's home base of the scaffold and return it to their own home base.
Flames of Phoenix Match: This match takes place on a scaffold above the ring. The scaffold runs on all sides of the ring and the sides are surrounded by ten foot/three meter high pieces of plywood. The tops of the plywood are ignited. The ring surface is covered with 6-12 flaming tables. Each man is allowed to bring a weapon inside the structure with them. The only way to win is to knock your opponent through a plywood wall and send them crashing down into the tables.
First blood match: This match is a no disqualification match. The only way to win is draw first blood from the opponent.
Car Trunk Match: Put your opponent in a car boot and shut it to win.
Casket Match: The winner of this match is the first wrestler to put his/her opponent into a closed casket. This match has been a trademark of the WWE wrestler The Undertaker. Number of variants exist, where the object is to place the other wrestler in other closed containers, for example an ambulance or dumpster. The Casket is often placed on the ringside, but the other variants might have the container on top of the ramp. The casket may be replaced by other containers, such as a dumpster (in which case the match becomes a dumpster match).
Buried Alive match: The object is to bury the other wrestler alive. No other rules apply.
A RIP match: A match where the only rule is to pin.Disqualification and countout are off.
Battle Royal: The winner of this match is the last person in the ring after all other wrestlers have been thrown over the top rope. This may or may not involve new wrestlers (known as entrants in this match) entering the ring at regular intervals (usually 90 seconds). WWE annually runs a pay-per-view show which features a 30-man Battle Royal as its main event; the PPV and the Battle Royal that headlines it are both known as the Royal Rumble (a WWE trademark).
Gauntlet match: Similar to a Battle Royal, but when only two entrants remain, the match continues as a standard one-fall match.
Last Man Standing: A no disqualification, no countout match with no pinfalls. Whenever a wrestler is knocked down, they must regain their feet within a ten count or they will lose the match.
Death Match: see Hardcore Match.
Texas Death Match: Similar to a Last Man Standing match, this match is fought under one fall rules, but the loser of the fall is administered a ten count. If they are able to answer the count, the match continues.
Bra and Panties Match: A match between two women in which the winner is the first to strip her opponent down to her bra and panties.
Evening Gown Match: A match between two women in evening gowns; the winner is the first to remove her opponent's gown. In practice, the end result is usually the same as in a Bra and Panties Match. However, in the Evening Gown Match booked for WrestleMania XX in 2004, all four women in the match stripped to their undergarments before wrestling started; the match then proceeded as a normal tag team match with no further undressing.
Tuxedo Match: Similar to an evening gown match, but contested between two men in outfits resembling men's formal wear. Most such matches have involved non-wrestling performers (announcers or managers).
Inferno match: The ring is surrounded by flames. The object of the match is to set your opponent on fire with those flames.
The Ultimate X match: An X formed with ropes is placed on top of the ring. Similarly to the Ladder match, a championship belt or some other reward is then placed in the center of the X. The winner is the first person to take possession of the object. This match was created for, and is a centerpiece of, the X Division of NWA:TNA.
Elimination Chamber match: A six-person elimination match that takes place in a specially constructed cage where four of the six people are initially locked up in a holding cell within the cage, and are released once every 90 seconds. A wrestler who has been eliminated in the usual manner is forced to leave the cage.

Tag Team Variations

Tag team match: A match in which two teams of wrestlers face each other. Only one wrestler from each team is allowed in the ring at a time. The other(s) wait on the apron outside the ropes. Interference from a team member will not end the match in a disqualification. That wrestler will be escorted back to his/her corner. A tag team match involving more than two wrestlers per team is often referred to by the total number of people involved (eg. a six-man tag team match involves two teams of three), while a tag team match involving more than two teams is referred to by normal qualifiers (eg. a triple threat tag team match involves three teams of two).
Tornado Tag Team match: This is a team match where all wrestlers involved are allowed in the ring at the same time. This also means that any wrestler is vulnerable to a decision. Thus, despite its name, is not a true tag team match, as it involves no tagging.
Elimination Tag Team match: This is a tag team match except that the wrestler suffering the loss of a fall is eliminated from participation. The match continues until all members of one team are eliminated. In many cases, the match is reduced to a one-on-one match. The WWE uses the term Survivor Series match to denote a ten-person match held during the yearly Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Mixed Tag Team match: This is a tag team match featuring mixed-sex teams. Only wrestlers of the same sex may be in the ring at the same time--for example, if a woman tags her male partner, both women leave the ring and both men enter.
Intergender Tag Team match: Same as a mixed tag team match, except that men and women can be in the ring at the same time.

Variations Involving Finishes

Finisher Only: The only way to win is by using your opponents finishing move.
"I Quit" Match: A one fall match in which victory can only be achieved by making the opponent say "I Quit."
Pinfalls Only Match: A one fall match in which victory can only come as a result of a pin.
Submission Match: A one fall match in which victory can only come as a result of a submission.
Gorilla Slam match: A match where the only way to win is to perform a body slam on an opponent.
Stretcher Match

The only way to win is to lash your opponent to a stretcher.

Variations Involving Foreign Objects

Blindfold match: Both competitors wear blindfolds. Otherwise normal rules apply.
Indian Strap/Chain match: This match is a no disqualification match between two men that are connected together by a 20 foot leather strap or chain. The first person to tag all four corners of the ring without offensive contact from the opponent is the winner. Another variation is a one fall match while connected by the strap or chain. Called a Dog Collar Match if the combatants are chained at the neck instead of the wrist; or a Texas Bullrope Match if the combatants are connected by a bullrope, usually with a cowbell attached to the middle of the rope.
Ladder match: This is almost always a championship match. The championship belt hangs over the ring. Ths winner of this match is the wrestler who climbs the ladder and takes the belt. A ladder match may also be fought over a specific item such as a briefcase, contract, etc. In such a match, the ladder can be (and almost always is) used as a weapon.
Table match: The winner of this match is the first man to drive his opponent through a table. It varies from match to match as to whether a wrestler going through the table under his own power constitutes a fall or not.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) match: A ladder match where tables and chairs are considered to be legal foreign objects. This match is often a tag-team match between three or four teams for a tag team title belt.
X on a Pole Match: Some object, either desired by both parties in the match or possibly a weapon of some kind, is place at the end of a pole. Depending on the circumstances the match will end when the object is successfully retrieved by one of the combatants, or if it is a weapon, when it is successfully used by one of the combatants on the other. Alternately the match is fought under one fall rules with the object on the pole considered a legal foreign object. It may be used as a weapon by the wrestler who retrieves it.

Extreme Variations

Taipei Death Match: The wrestlers fists are wrapped in tape, dipped in glue, then dipped in glass. The Glass-Glued fists can be used in any manner, including low blows, blows to the face.
Barb Wire Bat 10,000 Thumbtack Match: A solid baseball bat with the end wrapped in barb wire hangs off a pole in a corner of the ring as a box filled with 10,000 thumbtacks lays at ringside. The only way to win is to put your opponent in the box of 10,000 Thumbtacks and to make the pin. The bat is just to make the match a little more brutal than it already is.
Explosion Match: Usually accompanied with barb wire ropes, a large barb wire wrapped explosion board is placed in the ring laced with a small amount of C-4. The loser is the man that is blown up.
Beds of Weapons: It is an anything goes match that has beds of thumbtacks, nails, barb wire, glass, and/or lightbulbs. Up to three of these can be involved in the match. These matches usually occur in Deathmatch Title matches or Deathmatches in general.
Brimstone Match: A match where the only way to win is to throw your oppenent in burning hot coals laid on the floor next to the ring.
Rage in a Cage: A cage that looks like an oval that is typically used as the arena for the "blowoff match" of a feud. It can be used for a tag team or singles match. In this match, wins are usually by pinfall.