Here's my opinion on real life wrestling and efedding!
Babyfaces should almost never tap out. Even if they're being put in the sharpshooter, they pass out from the pain and the referee calls it off. The only time that a babyface should tap out is if the heel in some way gives them no other option, like they should have gotten to the rope but the heel's manager pulled it out of their grip.
Heels on the other hand, definitely get to tap out without much harm to them.
What's the difference? Well you have to get down to the psychology of it all. Tapping out is an act where you are both literally (and symbolically) giving up. You are surrendering, you are admitting the other person is stronger. The big problem with this is that in traditional wrestling, the prototypical story being told is that the babyface is legitimately more capable than the heel, but he often loses to the heel at first because the heel is willing to take shortcuts. The babyface then sacrifices in some form or fashion to gain a rematch and hopefully comeuppance.
Now, the big problem here is that if you have the heel tap out the babyface, it sends the message that the heel is better than the babyface in every way, as the babyface gave up, he took a shortcut, he gave out. This is devastating to the prototypical characters mentioned above because, like it or not, the heel is meant to be weaker than the babyface in a clean fight, that's the source of the drama. You know that John Cena can beat Edge, but gosh darn it if Edge doesn't keep cheating! By golly I can't wait till Cena gets a match with Big Show banned from ringside!
So what about the heel in this situation? Well, there's the interesting thing. Tapping out from a symbolic perspective is demonstrating weakness, taking a shortcut. Buuut, that's exactly what a heel does anyway, right? If you take that prototypical pairing once more, Cena tapping out Edge is expected, because Edge is weaselly. Of course he'll tap out to save his own skin, he's a bad guy! He's not only physically weaker, but mentally weaker as well! It's completely acceptable or even expected for the weaselly guy to tap out if he gets caught in the Yes Lock.
Does this mean that face never get to tap out? No, of course not. But by the same token you really, REALLY have to have it mean something when it happens. You have to have that babyface fight and claw and tear his way across the mat, to aaaaalmost make it to the rope, for the referee to be begging him to tap out, for the audience to be in tears from sympathy, for the pain to be catastrophic!
In other words, you have to make it clear that there is NO other option.
That...kind of doesn't translate well to efedding, especially on a random weekly show. You wouldn't have John Cena tap out to the Walls of Jericho on RAW even if he's supposed to lose the match anyway, see what I'm saying?
Babyfaces have a couple key things that they can get away with that heels can't, and one is their ability to take a beating. Babyfaces can kick out of things at 2.9 that heels wouldn't, can make it to the ropes when they've been in the hold 20 minutes, can have the referee step in and stop the match because they pass out rather than giving up... It's the nature of the characters.
It's not about making them look weak, I mean this. But, let me use myself as an example. I have written Teo alot, and by all accounts I have him take a heck of a beating in just about every match he's in. He's been torqued, cracked, blasted, cut open, you name it. But the thing about it is that the key thing about his character is that so long as the fans are cheering him, he can kick out of things that would otherwise be impossible. To have Teo del Sol tap out on a random match with no fanfare because he lost the RP does make him look weak, yes, but it also fundamentally undermines the basic tenets of the character. Teo would pass out from pain and permanently injure himself rather than tap out to a heel, that's just WHO he is.
Now, is this a weakness of the character? Maybe. But that's kind of like pro wrestling, isn't it? You very rarely see people who tap out opponents in every match. Even Chris Jericho has backup finishers, because the tapout should be a significant moment. It should close out the whole feud even.
I would honestly suggest that if you're going to have a submission move as your finisher, that's great, but also make it clear to the writers not to use that finisher unless they're going to tap. Make it clear that once that bad boy is locked in, there's no way to get out. I don't know if this was intentional, but for about 6 months nobody kicked out of the Habanero High Dive. If I knew it wasn't going to finish the match, I didn't break it out.
(The first was Kemp for anyone who is curious)
Your best bet is to have that submission finisher be the same way. You don't use it every match, but when you use it, that's it. The match is OVER. And be prepared not to use it except once in a while. It'll take some comittment and cooperation from other people, not to mention a bit of time, but you can have a truly feared hold if you can get that established.
I typed 1000 words on this? Someone get me back to work on my RP.
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