Moments When Wrestling Matches Got Too Real

Wrestling is an unusual mix of reality and scripted acting. The violence is enough to get fan’s blood pumping, yet the drama doesn’t go as far as someone getting seriously hurt. We all know that accidents happen in any risky business, and the same is true of wrestling. Stunts have gone wrong and injuries (and even tragic deaths) have occurred as a result.

But these incidents should always be accidents, not entirely preventable or malicious events. In UFC, you expect a very real fight. The situation is plain and simple. You aim to win by submission or KO, or else the match goes to points. In wrestling, the actors often meet beforehand to discuss the structure of the match. The outcome is planned, but the professionals can get involved in the creative aspects to give the fans a good fight. This relies on trust between the wrestlers. Each must play their role and ‘sell’ the moves and the match.

There have been occasions where wrestlers have deliberately failed to sell the match, been involved in setups, or when violence has broken out beyond what was planned.

Antonio Inoki Vs The Great Antonio

This match between legendary Japanese wrestler Inoki (considered one of the top 100 wrestlers of all time), and Croatian-Canadian strongman The Great Antonio is a classic example of a ‘shoot’. The term is used to describe a wrestler breaking the script. The pair fought back in 1977, and The Great Antonio was supposed to play the antagonist before eventually losing the match. Inoki would win a thrilling victory in front of a home crowd.

As the match progressed, it quickly became obvious that The Great Antonio, who was absolutely huge in size and weight, had other plans. He completely stopped selling the moves, instead allowing dropkicks to bounce off his flab and grabbing Inoki in painful headlocks. Despite Inoki’s best attempts to continue the match as planned, Antonio proceeded to bash him with over the neck and back with sledgehammer fists. The action ramped up a notch and the fight got serious.

Inoki eventually had enough and had Antonio punched in the face, followed by a takedown and a kick to the face. Then followed several more kicks to the face and head. The referee then called off the fight, and a shocked Antonio left the ring.

ECW’s Hardcore Fans

Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a smaller branch of wrestling running alongside WWE and WCW between 1992 – 2001. The organization had carved out a niche for itself as a brutal and extreme form of the sport, complete with weapons, barbed wire, burning ropes, and steel ladders. All the ingredients needed for a violent blood bath. This attracted like-minded fans.

In 1994, rivals Terry Funk and Cactus Jack faced off again. This time, the tag-team Public Enemy ran down to interrupt the match, forcing Funk and Cactus Jack to work together for a short time during the match. At one point, Funk shouted out to the bloodthirsty audience for them to throw him a steel chair, an invitation he would regret moments later. First came a few chairs and then a few more, and soon there were dozens of chairs being thrown into the ring, many of them piling up on top of Public Enemy in an avalanche of steel.

Not planned, not safe, not clever. Announcements went out for fans to stop, but alas they had already had their invitation from Terry Funk, clearly the authority when it comes to health and safety.

Jake ‘The Snake’ Robert’s Cobra

This story was featured on the recent Vice documentary ‘Dark Side Of The Ring’. Remember that time Jake Roberts started messing around with a giant King Cobra? It’s a pretty good hook, aside from the animal cruelty aspect. Roberts brought the cobra to the ring to interrupt the Macho Man Randy Savage’s wedding with Miss Elizabeth, and then later was set to fight Savage at WWE Superstars. The fight would involve a dramatic scene with Robert’s cobra biting the Macho Man.

The problem was, the Savage didn’t believe that the venom had been taken out of the snake. He went to the locker room before the match and demanded in a rather passionate way that Jake The Snake take a bite from his own cobra. Jake eventually agreed and took the bite, and Savage was satisfied that the stunt was safe for him.

The match went ahead as planned, and Roberts put the snake to Savage’s arm for it to take a bite. And boy, did it take a bite. It wouldn’t let go. Fangs deep in and locked on, Roberts couldn’t do anything but watch as the cobra mauled the Macho Man for about 15 minutes. Ouch!