If you’re not a pro wrestling fan, you can skip this post. If you are a fan, read on, you’re in for a treat. I found a video on a website I check frequently, and wanted to share.
As most everyone knows, pro wrestling is scripted, with the wrestlers trained to perform moves that look impressive but don’t really injure their opponents. However, once in a great while, things go wrong. A “shoot” is the term in pro wrestling for when two opponents drop the script and start legitimately fighting.
Below is the video for one of the most widely-discussed shoots of the modern era. In January 1987, Lex Luger was to face Bruiser Brody in a cage match in Florida. Luger had been the top good guy (“babyface”) there for most of the past year, but he’d just turned in his two weeks notice and signed a contract with WCW. As was common in those days, Florida wrestling management asked Luger to do a “job,” and lose to monster bad guy Bruiser Brody on the way out.
Luger refused to do the job. After all, he was about to go to WCW and campaign to become a member of the Four Horsemen. He was afraid he’d look less like “The Total Package” if the most recent match on his record was a loss.
Luger’s refusal didn’t go over well with Bruiser Brody, who decided to take matters into his own hands. For about the first four minutes of the match, everything seemed to be fine. But then Brody stopped selling Luger’s offense. Punches seemed to not affect him at all, and even when Luger slammed his head into the cage, Brody bounced right back and attacked. Brody put Luger in several legit holds, and even tried to piledrive him.
Luger and the referee quickly figured out that Brody was out to legitimately, seriously hurt Luger, and the match ending was changed on the fly. Luger got the hell out of Dodge, climbing over the top of the cage, and Brody’s hand was raised in victory.