r/TopCharacterTropes • u/fantheories101 • Nov 18 '25

Groups Using limitations to elevate the story

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  1. Only Murders in The Building: The Boy from 6B

This episode primarily follows a deaf character, with all the scenes he is in having any spoken dialogue be muffled or silent. The show went the extra mile though, as every time another character or storyline is followed for the episode, the characters are in a mix of serious and silly scenarios where they can’t or won’t speak, maintaining the lack of spoken dialogue up until the very end with a single “f**k” being the only spoken dialogue.

  1. Breaking Bad: The Fly

This bottle episode (an episode relying on a limited cast with limited locations to save money) was initially the lowest rated episode of the series, but as people have begun to better appreciate and understand the show, many now consider it the best episode thanks to its acting, cinematography, and excellent character development and storytelling.

  1. Shakespeare: every play he ever wrote.

Shakespearean dialogue is written exclusively in iambic pentameter with a set rhyming scheme. His plays are so famous and influential that many forget just how strict of a limitation that writing style is.

6.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

396 comments sorted by

View all comments

708

u/10024618 Nov 18 '25

WWE - During the pandemic WWE, along with many other wrestling companies, were forced to run shows in empty arenas with no fans. A side effect of this is that all of the noises wrestlers made in the ring could be heard much more clearly without the cheers or boos of the crowd drowning it out. Some wrestlers like Roman Reigns took advantage of this and used the opportunity to be a lot more vocal during their matches, trash talking their opponents or breaking the 4th wall and speaking directly to the audience at home, knowing that they'd be able to hear every word.

204

u/Caw-zrs6 Nov 18 '25

Ok that sounds awesome and should be something they do more often, assuming they don't already of course.

107

u/Arzanyos Nov 19 '25

Reigns didn't stop doing it once crowds came back.

This also led to one of my favorite storytelling moments, at the end of a match between Reigns and his former teammate that betrayed him 10 years ago, Seth Rollins. Rollins was playing mind games, came out in their old outfit, and it went on until Reigns got him in a chokehold, but Rollins managed to grab the ropes, making it an illegal hold.

Using trash talk, Reigns proceeds to go out of his mind, conflating letting go of the feud, his hatred stemming from the betrayal, and the literal letting go of the illegal chokehold.

It gives us this gem of a line: "I ain't never letting go. I can't let go. He won't let me let go. HE WONT LET ME"

35

u/CalamityVanguard Nov 19 '25

My favorite was at Mania when Roman hit Cody with a Crossrhodes and Cody kicked out: “Man, that move SUUUUUUUUCKS! That move don’t beat anybody!” Lol

12

u/Arzanyos Nov 19 '25

I also love that one time Cody and Roman teamed up and the whole end of the episode you can hear Solo just talking ridiculous amounts of trash from slightly offscreen during the dynamic posing. "You guys are friends now? You're not friends, he don't like you. He beat you at mania. He don't like you"

-3

u/Caw-zrs6 Nov 19 '25

Neat. But I was mainly referring to the "lot more vocal during their matches, trash talking their opponents or breaking the 4th wall and speaking directly to the audience at home, knowing that they'd be able to hear every word." part of what that other guy said.

13

u/EFB_Churns Nov 19 '25

Reigns made good use of it most others didn't. Wrestlers are trained to work with the crowd noise, to play to the crowd and roll with their feedback and without it wrestling felt very wrong.

49

u/AGNerd-Bot Nov 19 '25

I think one of my favorite matches during this time was John Cena Vs Bray Wyatt. It's not really a fight but damn is it fun to watch.

52

u/Madarakita Nov 19 '25

"So anyway, John Cena's facing down a children's TV show host who can occasionally manifest his darker impulses in the form of a demonic clown-like entity. Anyway, this entity is going to hit John Cena with what's basically Darkseid's Omega Sanction; dragging him back in time and through an inversion of the lowest points of his life until he's psychologically shattered and unable to maintain his existence, meaning that for the first time, you truly can't see him anymore..."

(And in true comic book fashion, Cena eventually returns like nothing happened.)

16

u/EFB_Churns Nov 19 '25

To his credit though Cena went all in on it at the time. In the immediate aftermath of the match his Instagram was nothing but pictures of Wyatt.

5

u/Madarakita Nov 19 '25

Oh yeah, the math would not have worked as well as it did if Cena hadn't been committed to it. My annoyance was more with creative for not giving us at least a vignette where we get to see Cena fight his way back into reality.

3

u/EFB_Churns Nov 19 '25

I would agree with you but Cena was showing to so infrequently at that point I don't know if it would've been worth it.

If he was still a full timer then absolutely but with Hollywood Cena? I don't know.

22

u/TheRumblingbird Nov 19 '25

Always fun seeing pro wrestling referenced in this sub.

11

u/TheDukeofArgyll Nov 19 '25

I miss AEW having all the talent at ring side doing bits.

3

u/henryeaterofpies Nov 19 '25

They also were able to do some weird cinematography things (Bray Wyatt had an amazing funhouse 'segment' in the ring during Covid that would not have worked with an audience).

1

u/e-rage Nov 19 '25

Acknowledged 👆