Professional Wrestling Match Types - Lumberjack Match/Lumberjill Match

Lumberjack Match/Lumberjill Match

A Lumberjack match is a standard match with the exception that the ring is surrounded by a group of wrestlers not directly involved in it. These wrestlers, known collectively as lumberjacks — female wrestlers serving in this manner are sometimes called lumberjills — are there to prevent the wrestlers in the match from fleeing the ring. The groups of lumberjacks are typically split up into groups of faces and heels who occupy opposing sides around the ring. Usually, the "opposing" lumberjacks (that is, face lumberjacks if the wrestler is a heel, and vice versa) swarm the wrestlers if they leave the ring and force them back in it. Occasional interference from the lumberjacks is not uncommon, nor is an all-out brawl on the outside involving most of the lumberjacks. Early lumberjack matches even featured the lumberjacks wearing stereotypical lumberjack clothing in keeping with the lumberjack theme, though this is generally no longer done. A common theme is for the lumberjacks to consist entirely of heel wrestlers to stack the odds against the face competitor (for example on the May 21, 2012 episode of WWE Raw, all the lumberjacks in the John Cena and Sheamus versus Lord Tensai, Dolph Ziggler, and Jack Swagger 3-on-2 handicap match were heels).

Variations of this match include the "Canadian" Lumberjack match, in which the lumberjacks are equipped with leather straps, the "Extreme" Lumberjack match, competed under Extreme Rules, and TNA's "Fan's Revenge" Lumberjack match, during which fans equipped with straps act as lumberjacks and are encouraged to whip wrestlers.