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Tapping in professional wrestling does indeed say "i give up" and is a feud ender. For example, Rhea Ripley tapping out at Wrestlemania has completely killed whatever momentum she had.
Watching old WWE and other federation matches and you'd be surprised how much faces were protected. Up until recently, you'll very, very rarely see faces tapping out, more often than not they'd pass out or some other shenanigans. As a matter of fact, top guys back in the day never, ever used to tap out. I don't think Cena ever tapped out after he became WWE champion back in the day.
I think when MMA started becoming more mainstream we started seeing faces tapping out. That being said, IMHO we shouldn't see heels tap out top guys. It really does hurt their characters. But heels can tap out, heels are supposed to get their come uppance at the end of extended angles with a top face.