Wrestlers sabotaging matches

[Egg Shen]

was going to post this in the Network as it relates to the Austin/Ambrose podcast but i thought it could open up the discussion to similar cases that people know of.

 

Basically, if you haven't seen it, Dean Ambrose talked about his Wrestlemania match with Brock Lesnar. The match itself was a disappointment and considering the tease going in delivered nothing of what they were hinting at. Ambrose on the podcast said that Brock simply didn't want to do anything creative, was lazy and made the match end up what it was.

 

Whilst it's not necessarily sabotaging the match itself, the process of putting the match together was clearly affected by Brock being a bit of a knob.

 

Any other cases you can think of? of guys doing something similar or actually not complying in the ring?

 

the obvious example of sabotaging a match in-ring i can think of is the infamous Hulk Hogan/Shawn Michaels match which has been talking about on here before, here's the jist of it:

 

Background to this: the story goes that they were supposed to have two matches, Summerslam, and whatever the PPV was after. HBK already wasn't happy about having to put over Hogan, but he was going to get his win back at the next PPV so it all worked out. Just before summerslam, Hogan says he's hurt and can only work Summerslam, so now he doesn't have to put over HBK. HBK was pissed Hogan was up to his old tricks so he decides he's going to make Hogan look ridiculous by overselling like crazy.

 

any other examples?

[NEWM]

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but despite it being a great match I've always been quite pissed off with Austin/Angle from Summerslam 01, having been miffed with it at the time.

 

Austin was knee-deep in his weakling role whilst Angle's face turn as arse-kicking company defender had really caught fire. Then the match comes along and despite Austin bottling it in the finish to escape with his title, the match didn't tell that story at all. Austin chewed Angle up and spat him out, cutting off endless comebacks and looking like a dominant heel out-wrestling and out-brawling him, rather than taking shortcuts to stay ahead like a proper heel should. And he always said how he called his own matches, and Angle had a few occasions in that era where he should have put his foot down and got his shit in properly (HHH at Unforgiven 00, Taker at Fully Loaded, HHH at Rumble 01 all spring to mind). Takes me out of the match and just makes me think Austin was a paranoid prick.

 

Still a match I don't love like others do, because it annoyed me at 16 and it still does now. Well, it doesn't, but it was a shitty deal on Angle.

[air_raid]

Earthquake vs Koji Kitao, or is that not the type of thing you mean? Kitao just stops co-operating and it descends into farce.

[MungoChutney]

Shawn Michaels was an expert at this. Apart from the Hogan match he also sandbagged Diesel's finish at WM XI. Nash mentions it in a couple of shoots and he also brings up how Michaels likes to make bigger guys blow up early in the match.

[Egg Shen]

well i guess you can include that, it's similar to the Luger/Brody deal, them things were matches where someone simply stopped co-operating. The initial example was more a case of wrestlers not being on the same page with regards to what they want from the match.  Whatever though, include what you like

[Snitsky's back acne]

Apparently JBL deliberately sandbagged his matches with Batista. I think thats in Batistas book.

 

Mick Foley famously badmouthed Mil Mascaras for not selling anything during their match but that was more down to Mascaras' legendary ego than deliberate sabotage.

[Bukamania]

Lex Lugar Vs Bruiser Brody in a steel cage match.

 

Ric Flair vs. Bret Hart in 1992 according to the miserable cunt himself (Bret).

[LCJ]

I'm sure I can remember Austin (Not too long before he walked on WWE IIRC) having a terrible match with Jericho on a pay per view. I heard rumours that he was unhappy with WWE signing Hall, Nash and Hogan and he wasn't being on his best behaviour backstage. Some people blamed Jericho for the poor match they had but it looked to me like Austin was so unhappy with things, he deliberately sabotaged their match and wasn't putting in anywhere nearly as much effort as he usually did.

[kostan]

"...according to the miserable cunt himself (Bret)."

This made me laugh out loud. Bret really is a miserable cunt. Did he have ANYTHING positive to say the last 15+ years?

[The King Of Swing]

Ah good old Bret. Everything great was thanks to him (and the entire locker room probably told him that while shaking his hand) and everything shit was someone elses fault.

 

Fapper Fin's line about Bret and his new wife back in the day "both loving Bret Hart" still makes me chuckle just thinking about it.

[King Pitcos]

The WWE vs Nexus match at SummerSlam 2010. Cena came up with his comeback at the end, Edge and Jericho told him not to do it. He was resolute and did it anyway, then told them afterwards they were right.

[Really Big Shoe]

HBK/Vader comes to mind. Didn't Shawn badmouth and not co-operate with Big Van during the match?.

[darkship]

The Road Warriors had a bit of a reputation for this I believe. Usually when they were scheduled to drop a title they'd start throwing chairs and forcing DQs.

[Jon-Carr_92]

Puts me in mind of the the whole thing about how people were thinking Lesnar ended the Streak due to going into business for himself.

[Snitsky's back acne]

HBK/Vader comes to mind. Didn't Shawn badmouth and not co-operate with Big Van during the match?.

I seem to remember him going up top to drop and elbow, coming off, landing on his feet and kicking Vader hard in the face while yelling 'Move!' or something at him.