Botch (professional wrestling)

For other uses, see Botch.

Brock Lesnar performing a botched shooting star press at the main event of WrestleMania XIX, that resulted in a severe concussion afterwards.

To botch in professional wrestling means to attempt a scripted move that does not come out as it was originally planned due to a mistake, miscalculation, or a slip-up. Most botches are harmless, such as a wrestler simply flubbing a line or missing a cue, or falling before his or her opponent's move actually connects. At times, however, a poorly timed or executed move has resulted in serious injury or even death.

Inexperience

A common cause of botches is inexperience. Jackie Gayda, winner of the Tough Enough 2 competition, in one of her first TV matches (a tag team match with Christopher Nowinski against Trish Stratus and Bradshaw on the July 8, 2002 edition of Raw from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), botched nearly every move that she tried or attempted to sell, the most infamous of which was a second-rope-bulldog by Stratus, which Gayda sold two seconds too late.

On April 26, 1976, Bruno Sammartino suffered a neck fracture in a match against Stan Hansen at Madison Square Garden, when Hansen improperly executed a body slam. Bruno came back eight weeks later for a rematch.

Danger

Sometimes botches can be extremely dangerous and can end a wrestler's career or life. For example, WWE wrestler D'Lo Brown once botched a running sitout powerbomb on his opponent Droz, resulting in Droz being paralyzed from the neck down (it should be noted, that this botch was mainly caused by a member of the audience tossing a beverage into the ring which D'Lo slipped on while holding Droz in the powerbomb position. Droz also did not cinch himself up at the waist as is the safety measure for powerbomb receivers). In other cases, the wrestler performing the move could be injured. Japanese wrestler Hayabusa botched a springboard moonsault in a match against Mammoth Sasaki when his foot slipped on the second rope and he landed on his head, causing damage to his spine and neck and paralyzing him.

An example of the worst case scenario is when a botch results in the death of a performer. This happened to wrestling trainee Brian Ong. In May 2001, Ong was training with Dalip Singh (better known as WWE's Great Khali) and took a flapjack from Singh. The move was botched, reportedly because Ong had grabbed Singh's shirt instead of pushing off Singh's back as he was instructed. Although he had made the mistake several times before without incident, this time Ong landed tailbone first and his head was whipped back against the mat. The resulting impact damaged his spine and brainstem. Coupled with a previous concussion, the move resulted in Ong's death a few days later.

Improvising endings to matches

In most cases, minor botches are simply glossed over as though they never happened. Serious botches resulting in injuries often result in improvised endings to matches; one famous example being the match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Owen Hart, in which a botched piledriver left Austin with a broken neck and forced Hart to improvise an extended taunt/victory dance sequence until Austin was able to roll him up in a schoolboy pin, ending the match earlier than planned but with the desired winner. Hart died twenty-one months later as the result of a botched ring entrance stunt, crushing his chest from a seventy-nine foot fall. Sometimes, the remainder of a match will be canceled if a wrestler cannot continue or requires immediate medical attention.

If a wrestler is seriously injured (in a botch or otherwise) the referee normally signals the need for immediate help by doing an "X" formation with his arms over his head. In recent years, as some professional wrestling fans have noticed this, the referee may sometimes perform the symbol in an attempt to indicate a kayfabe injury to another performer, which will lead to the match being called off.

Other improvised endings result from actions that are ultimately harmless. These actions, such as a wrestler missing a cue, sometimes force other wrestlers involved with the match to come up with an alternative ending. One example was the ending of the Hulk Hogan-Sid Justice match at WrestleMania VIII. The planned ending was to involve Papa Shango running into the ring to break up Hogan's pin attempt. However, Shango missed his cue, forcing Sid to kick out of the pin attempt and manager Harvey Whippleman to jump onto the ring apron to interfere and prompt the disqualification, just as Shango ran into the ring to assist Sid with the intended double-team beating of Hogan.

Positive aftermath

Along with being dangerous and sometimes fatal, botches can also have a positive impact on one's career. One (in)famous example is when Mick Foley, under his ring name Mankind, was wrestling The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. After Foley was tossed off of the top of the cell through the announcers table, the match was going to be stopped. However, as he was being stretchered out of the arena, Foley got off the stretcher, climbed back on top of the cell and continued the match. The Undertaker then delivered a chokeslam to Foley on the roof of the cell, which caused one of the roof panels to give way. Foley plummeted to the mat below, both dislocating his shoulder and dislodging a tooth, caused by a chair falling with Foley and landing on his face, which punctured his upper lip and protruded through his nose. Despite suffering these injuries, Foley still finished the match. After this botch, Foley gained a legendary status among wrestling fans, and has since been dubbed "The Hardcore Legend" for this unplanned bump.

Also, sometimes, botches can lead to the accidental invention of new moves. For example, the diving headbutt was invented when Harley Race botched a splash from the top rope, the DDT was invented when Jake "The Snake" Roberts was accidentally tripped by his opponent on his head while applying a front facelock, and the powerbomb was invented when Lou Thesz accidentally botched a piledriver.

See also

• Glossary of professional wrestling terms
• Mass Transit incident (professional wrestling)