To botch in

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

means to fail in attempting a scripted move or spoken line by mistake, miscalculation, or an error in judgment. Many botches are harmless, such as a wrestler simply flubbing a line, 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.

Causes

A common cause of botches is inexperience. Jackie Gayda, winner of the '' Tough Enough 2'' competition, in one of her first televised matches (a tag team match with Christopher Nowinski against

Trish Stratus Patricia Anne Stratigeas (; born December 18, 1975) better known by the ring name Trish Stratus is a Canadian professional wrestler, actress and yoga instructor. She is currently signed to WWE. Often regarded as one of the greatest Women's Pe ...

and Bradshaw on the July 8, 2002 edition of ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'' from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

), botched nearly every move that she tried or attempted to sell, the most infamous of which was a second-rope-

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.sold two seconds too late. On April 26, 1976,

Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-born American professional wrestler, best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF, now WWE). There, he held the WWWF World Heavywe ...

suffered a neck fracture in a match against the relatively inexperienced

Stan Hansen John Stanley Hansen II (born August 29, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestler. Hansen is known for his stiff wrestling style, which he attributes to his poor eyesight. He is also known for his gimmick as a loud, violent cowboy who w ...

at Madison Square Garden, when Hansen improperly executed a body slam. Bruno came back eight weeks later for a rematch. During a match between

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majorit ...

and Goldberg at Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia, Goldberg (who was concussed throughout the match) failed to execute his

Jackhammer A jackhammer (pneumatic drill or demolition hammer in British English) is a pneumatic or electro-mechanical tool that combines a hammer directly with a chisel. It was invented by William Mcreavy, who then sold the patent to Charles Brady King ...

finisher on the Undertaker and instead dropped him on his head without protection.

Aftermath

Injury

Botches can occasionally be extremely dangerous and can result in the end of a wrestler's career or loss of life. For example,

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

wrestler

D'Lo Brown Accie Julius Connor (born October 22, 1970), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also formatted as D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling and WWE. Brown is also known for h ...

once botched a running sitout powerbomb on his opponent Droz, resulting in Droz being rendered

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

(although he later regained some use of his upper body). This botch was mainly caused by D'Lo not being able to get a grip on the baggy clothing worn by Droz while holding him 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 was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C fo ...

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, although he regained feeling in his legs before his death in 2016. In May 2001, Brian Ong was training with Dalip Singh (better known as the 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 violently whipped back against the mat. The resulting impact caused catastrophic damage to his spine and brainstem. Coupled with a previous concussion, the move resulted in Ong's death a few days later.

Improvising endings

In most cases, minor botches are simply glossed over and the match is continued. One example was the ending of the Hulk Hogan Sid Justice match at

WrestleMania VIII WrestleMania VIII was the eighth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana in the Un ...

. 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. Serious botches resulting in injuries often result in improvised endings to matches, or the remainder of a match will be canceled if a wrestler cannot continue or requires immediate medical attention. During the match between

Stone Cold Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, and retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most ...

and

Owen Hart Owen James Hart (May 7, 1965 – May 23, 1999) was a Canadian-American professional wrestler who worked for several promotions including Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wres ...

at SummerSlam 1997, Hart botched a piledriver, breaking Austin's neck. Hart was forced to improvise an extended taunt sequence until Austin was able regain his composure and roll him up in a schoolboy pin, ending the match earlier than planned but with the desired winner. If a wrestler is seriously injured, 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 wrestling fans have noticed this, the referee may sometimes perform the symbol in an attempt to indicate a

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe, as a noun, is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged ...

injury to another performer, which will lead to the match being called off. Botches can also involve scripted lines. During the airing of

WrestleMania XXX WrestleMania XXX was the 30th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It took place on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana and was the first WWE ...

, Hulk Hogan—serving as the host of WrestleMania—mistakenly referred to the

Mercedes-Benz Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saint ...

to the live audience as the

Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

, the home of WrestleMania III and where Hogan had his famous showdown with André the Giant. After Hogan corrected himself,

and Dwayne Johnson, The Rock would rib Hogan for calling the Superdome the Silverdome, and it ended up being a running gag for the rest of WrestleMania XXX and into the post-WrestleMania ''

'' the next night.

Positive impact

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, but Race later regretted inventing the move since it caused lasting damage to his body. Jake Roberts, Jake "The Snake" Roberts claims to have invented the DDT (professional wrestling), DDT when he was accidentally tripped by his opponent while applying a front facelock. Toshiaki Kawada inadvertently invented the Powerbomb#Ganso bomb, Ganso bomb, one of the most dangerous moves in wrestling, after he failed to execute a powerbomb on Mitsuharu Misawa and instead dropped his head unprotected. Drew McIntyre has stated that his running kick finishing move, The Claymore, was accidentally invented as he slipped while delivering an attempted Big Boot, with the tight leather pants he was wearing at the time forcing him to fall to the mat. Similarly, botches can also have positive impacts on wrestler's careers. As an example, during a feud with Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch led an invasion of the former's show (as Rousey was a member Monday Night Raw at the time, while Lynch was on SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown). During the ensuing Raw vs. SmackDown melee, Nia Jax botched a punch, resulting in a broken nose and concussion for Lynch. This event, and especially the bloody photographs of Lynch afterward, are attributed by fans, as well as Lynch herself, to be the catapult of her ascent to the top of the Women in WWE, WWE Women's Division and her current position at the peak of WWE women's performers.

References