I know that some of wrestling(or maybe all? that’s what the thread is for) is fake, it can be seen if you watch the matches, a lot of the punches and kickes that the wrestlers use seem to not really connect or have any real force behind them.
When Bischoff is threatened to be fired if he doesn’t find Stone Cold, is his job really in any peril? Are any of those run-ins unscripted? Is any of the speeches the wrestlers make ad-libbed?
How much of it is fake?
The grudges and showboating are fake. The matches are fairly scripted. The pain is real.
It’s meant to be entertainment more than sport, though a very physically demanding and punishing one.
The best comparison is to dance. It’s tough, demanding, athletic work, but everything that happens was choreographed before the show, from the physical moves to the dialogue and storyline.
The physical work is still tough and painful for all participants. Just falling effectively puts a huge strain on the body and takes a lot of training to do safely and effectively.
Just the parts between the comericals. 
lol Rick -
100% agreement from me too.
EVERY “punch” is accompanied by a footstomp to the floor. Come on folks - does Vegas take “odds” on this stuff? LOL
wolf_meister check out some Mick Foley matches… rent 'em download’em whatever… the outcome may have been prearranged, but that is without doubt the toughest man I have ever seen.
so… no, nobodies getting fired on TV… Yes, both sides generally know whos gonna win… Yes, sometimes punches are pulled, and moves are “sold” to make them look more painful than they are…
but also Yes, wrestlers really do punch, kick, slap, hit and get hit with real folding chairs… really get busted open, and really bleed… and really do get injured.
General rule, if you see it on TV it was scripted to happen. No run-in, story line, firing, hiring, wedding, funeral, speach, coronation, hallway meeting, or contract signing that you see was ever a surprise.
There have been a few exceptions to that over the years, but this is the way to bet.
What are some of the exceptions? I am very interested. I know that Bret Hart dieing was one, but what are som others?
Thanks.
That was Owen Hart, who plummeted to his death during a Pay-Per-View while being lowered to the ring. He was a great wrestler, and he is missed to this day.
I’m trying to remember who it was (Shane Douglas?) dissing the NWA Title that he just won and basically tossing it away. Same with Midussa throwing the WWF Woman’s belt in the trash on WCW TV, although that was obviously scripted for WCW TV.
Some injuries have been shown on live TV, but others (like Shawn Micheals concussion and nearly every stretcher job) were scripted. Steve Austin’s stinger at the hands of Owen Hart was one, as were the Mick Foley Hell in the Cell injuries. Bret Hart also got a concussion from Goldberg on live TV from a kick to the head. Don’t remember if that was even noticed when it happened.
Yes it was Owen Hart, Bret’s brother who died accidently in the ring, but Bret himself was involved in a very infamous “shoot”(wrestling slang for unscripted moment), sometimes called the Montreal Screwjob. Bret was leaving WWF to join it’s rival, WCW. Problem was he was champion and he needed to drop the belt before he left. Why was that a problem? Because the upcoming Pay-per-view(the only time the world title changes hands) was in Montreal and Bret didnt’ want to lose the belt in Canada, where he is sorta national hero. Bret was told he didn’t have to. But Vince McMahon had different plans. When Bret’s opponent, Shawn Michaels, had Bret in a submission hold(actually Bret’s own trademark, the Sharpshooter), the bell was rung even though Bret never submitted. They went with a different finish to the match than the one Bret expected.
Actually from what I’ve heard, and I think I saw this in a behind the scenes look at wrestling, the outcome is known in advance, but the fight itself is rarely scripted. Instead, what the wrestlers do, is tell their opponent what move they will do before they do it, so that the opponent knows what’s coming. The match lasts as long as the fans are interested, but when they start loosing interest, that’s when the match winds up. The referee is the one who gages the audiences reactions and lets the wrestlers know when it’s time to end the match.
Of course this isn’t true of every match, but it’s the rule, if I remember correctly.
I remember about 10 odd years ago some wrestler got in trouble for bringing a snake in the ring and the snake laid it into the opponent.
Does anybody else remember that? I know the snake was scripted, but was the snake biting the other guy scripted?
There are a ton.
Chris Benoit broke Sabu’s neck with a German Suplex; Goldberg ended Bret Hart’s career with a kick to his head; Owen Hart paralyzed Steve Austin briefly with a piledriver; Vader tore Mick Foley’s ear off by twisting his head in the ropes; William Regal knocked Goldberg around for two or three minutes unscripted on WCW TV five or so years ago, possibly leading to his firing; Owen Hart died by falling ninety fit from a rappel; Vince McMahon embarassed Bret Hart in his home country by obviously making him lose his belt to his nemesis, Shawn Michaels; D’Lp brown ended Darren Drozdov’s career with a botched powerbomb; and Buff Bagwell was paralyzed on national television
There are a whole lot more but those are just the ones off the top of my head. 99% of what you see is scripted but there are still plenty of instances where it’s all too real.
By the way, wolf_meister, since you’re so down on wrestling, why don’t you find a wrestling school and give it a try? If it’s legit, you won’t last a week. The stories and a lot of the moves might be fake, but quite a few aren’t.
I forgot the Mass Transit incident where Eric Kulas’ (Mass Transit) forehead was cut open by New Jack with an Exacto knife. New Jack cut too deep and wound up severing two arteries.
I think we need to differentiate between unscripted and accidental.
Sometimes wrestlers will meet before a match and plan some moves. Diamond Dallas Page was notorious for trying to plan out every single move before a match. It annoyed his fellow wrestlers because most wrestlers like to ad lib at least a little bit.
On Raw and Smackdown! sometimes the microphone will pick up a wrestler telling his opponent what move he’s going to do. That is always a little embarassing.
Also, match lengths on the weekly TV shows are not always ended based on fan reaction. Often there are time restrictions. You may have anywhere from 3-20 minutes to work depending on how much your match is considered a draw. Either way, it is the referee’s job to let the wrestlers know when it is time to wrap things up. A few weeks ago while watching Raw, I heard a referee tell the wrestlers “1 minute!” It was funny.
Possibly, but the original quote was “if it happens on TV, it isn’t real” which isn’t true at all. Wrestling is a brutal occupation.
Question I’ve been wondering for some time: How exactly are “shoots”, whether moments, blows, or entire matches…set up? (I remember one instance where Sid Vicious kicked out of Hollywood Hogan’s finisher because someone who was supposed to arrive at ringside was late, but I doubt that kind of situation comes up often.)
Okay, as a general note - in American wrestling, the vast, VAST majority of the programming is pre-scripted, choreographed and designed to avoid injury. But even a scripted fall from a Hell In A Cell (a 20 (?) foot high steel cage, for those keeping count) is not exactly “fake.” And in Japanese wrestling, many of the combatants also engage in “shootfighting” (mixed martial arts competitions) outside the ring, which in part determines their placements in the company. In addition, the Asian wrestlers tend to be more brutal, with longer matches and more “high-spots” (pre-planned moments that are designed as match climaxes, cliffhangers, or just to make the crowd get a rise), not to mention the more extreme violence in their garbage match style.