If ever there was a profession that would feature a whole lot of stomping, professional wrestling would be that profession. For starters, how many wrestling shows have featured at least one wrestler stomping their way to the ring, either furious over something their opponent/rival has done, or because they happened to be Bill Goldberg or Ryback, and that's just what those guys did as they made their entrance. In recent years though, stomps have become an integral part of some wrestler's offense. For example, talents such as Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley have become known for using the Curb Stomp as a finisher and/or set up move, while the likes of Finn Balor, Dragon Lee, and others have perfected the Double Stomp move, confirming the move has come a long way since lucha legend Perro Aguayo first adopted it during his heyday.
But there is one stomp in wrestling that largely goes unnoticed, and for good reason, given it isn't a Curb Stomp, a Double Stomp, someone stomping to the ring, or really anything anybody would think of at all if it wasn't pointed out. This, of course, is the stomp that many a wrestler has made when they've thrown a punch. If this seems confusing, that's understandable. Anyone who has, fortunately or unfortunately, had to throw a punch in their life knows that they don't have to stomp their feet when doing so in order to land a blow. Throwing a punch can easily be done when standing still, and even if someone has to step forward slightly, a stomp isn't required any more than just a slight shuffling of the feet. So it begs a question; why do wrestlers stomp their feet before a punch? And does this have something to do with all those other secret signals in wrestling? The answer is yes...and also not quite. But mostly yes.
The truth is, there has only ever been one possible explanation given for why wrestlers stomp when they punch. Any other possibility has been one that's simply been guessed. It's reasonable to assume some fans would think the stomp is done in order to simulate the sound of a wrestler getting hit with the punch, similar to how the thigh slap has been used to simulate the sound of a wrestler getting kicked in the face. A slightly less reasonable, but still plausible, explanation could be that the stomp would be similar to a wrestler clapping their hands before a move or Jake Roberts slapping someone's back before a DDT, in order to warn the opponent that the move is coming so they don't legitimately get punched. Again though, as reasonable as those possibilities could be, none have ever been offered by someone in wrestling as a true explanation.
That brings us to the one man who did offer an explanation for it; "Cowboy" Bill Watts. The WWE Hall of Famer became known for many things during his career; being the booker for the still beloved Mid-South Wrestling territory, being the much aligned head of WCW during an early 90s period, and getting fired from WCW for making several racist and homophobic statements during an interview. While far less important than all of those moments/incidents, he also put for the best reasoning for stomping during a punch while doing commentary for Mid-South. To hear Watts explain it, stomping while punching was done because it gave the wrestler leverage in a wrestling ring, allowing the wrestler more force with his punches. Is that true? Who is to say, although it fit with Watts' philosophy of trying to make everything make sense. If nothing else though, it at least gives wrestling fans an idea of why the stomp before the punch is, in fact, a thing.
