Unplanned finishes

[Stingersplash89]

I just got to thinking about instances of matches finishing not how they were planned to go down. For example, a guy was supposed to kick out of a pinfall and didnt get his shoulder up. Or a guy not being able to clutch the rope during a battle royal on an attempted toss out and he gets eliminated. Can anyone think of any times that this has occurred ?

 

[FlairFan2003]

Story has it that the finish between Hogan-Sid at WM VIII was botched and wasn't supposed to be a DQ ending the way it was, some stories have it that Sid kicked out when he wasn't supposed to from the leg drop because he was upset at losing, others have it that he was supposed to "be saved" from the interference from Papa Shango but Shango was late in his ring entrance, prompting the kick out to continue the match.

It was never confirmed but it clearly appears that the ref botched the ending to Flair-Whyndam at Great American Bash 1993, when Whyndam is struggling in the figure four and trying to avoid being counted out he looks like he tries to get his shoulder up but the ref counts him anyway. Funny thing is even after the ref clearly counts 3 and signals the end Whyndam is still acting like he is trapped in the move and so if Flair, who doesn't appear to think the match is over. Clearly looks like the ref, maybe because Wyndam didn't elevate the shoulder enough when he was supposed to, ended the match in a manner that wasn't what the other two were expecting.

There are many times when injuries suffered during a match forced wrestlers to cut the action short and go to the finish quicker. Whyndam did this vs Lex Luger in 1986 when Luger inadvertently connected too hard on a clothesline, opening a huge gash that required several stitches in Whyndam's head. Ref Earl Hebner changed the planned finish to a 1992 match between Flair and Ultimate Warrior when Warrior dropped Flair on his head during a botches press slam spot and injured him (Flair rolled out of the ring and signaled for help, Hebner changed the planned finish, a DQ with outside interference from Curt Henning and planned post match brawl into a quick count out win and exit for Warrior). Years later Flair actually finished a match vs Curt Henning despite breaking his ankle on an off the top rope outside the ring flying ax handle move.

 

[Catacomb]

wrestemania 2000 hardcore holly wasnt supposed to win, crash was supposed to be saved by the buzzer, but the buzzer went off too late and the ref had to count the three.

survivor series 1996, jbl was supposed to win and get a big push, but the ref counted to three eliminating bradshaw and his push

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The obvious one is the 2005 Royal Rumble match, where the botched finish made Vince look a right tit.

Batista was booked to eliminate John Cena to win, but somehow lost his footing and both wrestlers went over the top. An irate Mr McMahon (out of character) stormed the ring but tore both his quadriceps getting in, so we were 'treated' to the hilarious site of angry Vince screaming restart instructions whilst sitting on the mat.

Stupid thing is, both Batista and Cena were booked to win world titles at Wrestlemania anyway, so in hindsight, it would have made perfect storyline sense - and not injured Vince - to just call it a draw.

I assume they now have default contingency plans in place if it ever happens again...

 

[Mr.Maikeru_Sawyer]

TLC a few years ago, when Cena accidentally fell off the turnbuckle through the table during the WWE champ Tables match. he wasn't supposed to win that night, but I believe he was to win at The Rumble

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

It was never confirmed but it clearly appears that the ref botched the ending to Flair-Whyndam at Great American Bash 1993, when Whyndam is struggling in the figure four and trying to avoid being counted out he looks like he tries to get his shoulder up but the ref counts him anyway. Funny thing is even after the ref clearly counts 3 and signals the end Whyndam is still acting like he is trapped in the move and so if Flair, who doesn't appear to think the match is over. Clearly looks like the ref, maybe because Wyndam didn't elevate the shoulder enough when he was supposed to, ended the match in a manner that wasn't what the other two were expecting.

There are many times when injuries suffered during a match forced wrestlers to cut the action short and go to the finish quicker. Whyndam did this vs Lex Luger in 1986 when Luger inadvertently connected too hard on a clothesline, opening a huge gash that required several stitches in Whyndam's head. Ref Earl Hebner changed the planned finish to a 1992 match between Flair and Ultimate Warrior when Warrior dropped Flair on his head during a botches press slam spot and injured him (Flair rolled out of the ring and signaled for help, Hebner changed the planned finish, a DQ with outside interference from Curt Henning and planned post match brawl into a quick count out win and exit for Warrior). Years later Flair actually finished a match vs Curt Henning despite breaking his ankle on an off the top rope outside the ring flying ax handle move.

The Windham stories are interesting because I remember Windham describing the match with Luger where he got that cut, and to hear him tell it, he carried Luger for another 45 minutes or some such. I also had to go back and watch the Flair/Windham match, and CLEARLY, Windham half-assed getting his shoulder up. What was interesting to me was Randy Anderson was pretty sure about the decision...i.e, maybe Flair and Windham thought it was supposed to go longer, but Anderson didn't think so. Looking at Wikipedia, the match went just over 11 minutes -- Short for a Flair/Windham match. I'm guessing they realized they were running out of time and signaled to Anderson to wrap the match up in a hurry.

 

[spiketbear]

TLC a few years ago, when Cena accidentally fell off the turnbuckle through the table during the WWE champ Tables match. he wasn't supposed to win that night, but I believe he was to win at The Rumble

I'm pretty sure that was WWE's way of getting the title off of Cena and onto the rookie Sheamus without making Cena look weak. It was the fluke.

A few unplanned finishes I can think of are the Royal Rumble where The Miz's lackey was supposed to be in the match till near the end, and The Miz was supposed to run in and throw out Cena right after he eliminated what's-his-name. But he stupidly fell out of the ring early on, and the producers were left struggling to think of something. They must have been screaming in the announcers' ears, including The Miz's, because they were at a loss of words. Eventually, they let us know that Miz's henchman was officially out. But he came back later anyway to do his spot, helping Miz eliminate Cena. It was as if they couldn't think of anything else.

Also, there was Edge vs Randy Orton from a few years ago. Orton's shoulder got dislocated, so the match was changed to a count out victory for Edge. Sadly, they never continued the rivalry.

Another unplanned finish was Owen Hart dying.

 

[Wolf Pac]

The most famous example would be the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series 1997, although one half of the people involved (Bret, Patterson) had a planned finish for a DQ and the other half (Vince, Shawn, Earl, HHH) had a completely new plan in mind without telling anyone they were gonna do it. So not sure if you wanna count it or not.

Another famous example is Summerslam 1997 where during the Intercontinental Title match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Owen Hart, Owen had broken Austin's neck with a Sitout Piledriver, temporarily paralyzing Austin. Owen had to waste time, walking around the ring and trash talk the crowd while Austin was laying on the mat for a couple of minutes and the referee was trying to figure out what to do. Austin could barely move but he managed to roll up Owen with a really weak schoolboy pin to end the match and win the IC Title. It's a shame cause it was a damn good match up until it happened and Austin had to completely change his in ring style after that.

At TNA Victory Road 2011, Sting was scheduled to defend the TNA World Title against Jeff Hardy, but the idiot Hardy showed up at the event, high and in no condition to compete, forcing everyone to rush the match and have Sting beat Jeff quickly in 2 minutes. What an absolute disgrace to the business that was, I was hoping they would fire Jeff after that, it was a big slap in the face to the fans.

Starrcade 1997, where Nick Patrick was supposed to make a fast count for Hogan on Sting, parodying the Montreal Screwjob. Bret, who was the special enforcer or something (I forgot what role he was playing), was then supposed to restart the match and Sting would beat Hogan. Patrick made a normal count, completely screwing up the match and the hottest angle of 1997.

Sid breaking his leg at WCW Sin in a Fatal 4 Way that also involved Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett and a Mystery Man. They showed Flair accompanying the Mystery Man to the ring while Sid broke his leg, jumping off the second turnbuckle. The Mystery Man (Animal) jumped into the ring, dropped an elbow on Sid and Scott Steiner covered Sid to retain the belt.

On a house show in 94, The Quebecers were defending the WWF Tag Team Titles against Mabel and Mo, The Quebecers were supposed to retain the titles, but that lard ass Mabel accidentally fell on top of one of The Quebecers and pinned him for the titles. They lost the titles back to The Quebecers at Wrestlemania X.

There's a Youtube video of a Steel Cage match between Bruiser Brody and Lex Luger that took place on a house show where Bruiser Brody starts no selling Luger's punches, Luger and the referee have no idea what's going on, Brody's just standing in the corner, taking the punches without reacting, Luger gives up, climbs out of the cage and abandons the match. I don't really know the story behind it, I think Luger was leaving for another company and the bookers wanted to make him look bad, so they told Brody to no sell Luger's attacks or something.

 

[closet_fan]

I've heard stories about this one, but not sure how true they were.

It was a first blood match with Austin against Kane in a cage match, but Austin wound up bleeding first.

One reason I think it's a myth is how was Kane supposed to show blood?
One reason I think it was real is that Austin won the belt back the next night on RAW.

No Way Out 2001, Rock v. Angle. Rock hit the Rock Bottom for the pin but, the ref only counted two and said that Angle kicked out, so he hit a second one for the win.

 

[Catacomb]

I've heard stories about this one, but not sure how true they were.

It was a first blood match with Austin against Kane in a cage match, but Austin wound up bleeding first.

One reason I think it's a myth is how was Kane supposed to show blood?
One reason I think it was real is that Austin won the belt back the next night on RAW.

No Way Out 2001, Rock v. Angle. Rock hit the Rock Bottom for the pin but, the ref only counted two and said that Angle kicked out, so he hit a second one for the win.

not true at all, kane was supposed to set himself on fire if he lost, no way that was gonna happen. kane won that match as planned

 

[Wolf Pac]

Two more from the Royal Rumble 1999 that I just remembered.

In the European Title match between Gangrel and X-Pac, X-Pac hit a top rope crossbody on Gangrel, Gangrel flipped over, reversing the crossbody into a pin, and Teddy Long counted to 3 as Pac raised his shoulder up at 2, Long ignored his count and let the match continue as the crowd chanted "YOU FUCKED UP!" at him. A minute later, Pac reversed a Powerbomb attempt into the X-Factor for the win.

In the infamous I Quit match between Rock and Mankind, Rock was supposed to handcuff Mankind and only hit him over the head with the chair just 3 times before Mankind "quit", but Rock went too far and ended up hitting him with it 15 times. The moment is even more awkward as Foley's wife and kids were in the front row, crying their eyes out, as seen on Beyond The Mat.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The Austin/Owen is arguably the worst. Not just for severity of the situation but the sheer stupidness of all involved.

I am a firm believer that No way Owen should have done as he did that night, the correct thing was to pin Austin... end the match and deal with the fallout afterwards, or the ref stops the match. Allowing Austin to move to get the pin "just to keep continuity" is arguably one of the reasons the neck was so bad going forward... anyone with basic medical training knows you immobilise immediately, you certainly don't let them walk from the ring.

It's hard to know who to blame... According to Austin, Owen had a "mental block" on the move... Austin was geared for the Tombstone and had told Owen 3 times during the day to go to his knees not sit out, but Owen was intent he was to "sit out" despite being told. I guess a lot comes from his death but if that is even half true, Owen was to blame for the injury and it explains his "lost" behavior, but even Austin would probably admit he should have just stayed down...

Sid v Hogan was always rumored, as was Hogan v Warrior... the most serious one was Flair blading at WM8... while the small package was scheduled to be the finish, Flair went too far in kissing Elizabeth with his crimson mask... he famously said in his book that Vince told him when he came through "You get this close to greatness and do something like that..." Arguably his push and WWE career pretty much ended that night.

There are always botched finishes, however today's presentation makes it much harder to spot than it did in the past... Referees, announcers and wrestlers themselves are more attuned to hiding them... Ironic considering in the Hogan era etc everything was taped bar 4 shows a year... but today's guys are masking it rather than actually "working round it" like the older generation did.

Worst one I've seen not injury related was Orton when he completely broke character and berated Kofi for a botch Randy himself had made... yelling "Stupid, Stupid" on live TV at your opponent cos you screwed the finish is the height of poor form... Kofi either has no stroke at all or is a real gent for putting up with that.

Rock/Mankind isn't a "botched ending" in the same way... Mick later admitted he should have known what was coming and it was hard to blame Rock for doing it as both were "in the zone"... Indeed had that camera crew not been in attendance a lot of Mick's "anger" may never have even surfaced... Rock might have come into the dressing room and talked to him... It was Mick's call to have Blaustein filming his family...

From a technical standpoint a lot of people point to The Rockers v the Harts when the rope botched... The rope didn't lead to the match and title win for the Rocker's being thrown out despite popular belief... Neidhart owed Vince money for his courtcase, he'd won and wasn't paying Vince back...so Vince was gonna split the Harts and let Neidhart go rather than pay him more... only he decided to pay some back...and kept his job a while longer...so the change was thrown out with a very convenient excuse.

 

[baufan2025]

Rumor was that one time Andre got mad because a wrestler poked him in the eye during a match and immediately forced him onto the ground and held him down for the three count. The match ended up ending a lot sooner than it was supposed to.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

At TNA Victory Road 2011, Sting was scheduled to defend the TNA World Title against Jeff Hardy, but the idiot Hardy showed up at the event, high and in no condition to compete, forcing everyone to rush the match and have Sting beat Jeff quickly in 2 minutes. What an absolute disgrace to the business that was, I was hoping they would fire Jeff after that, it was a big slap in the face to the fans.

This was the first one that came to mind, I was absolutely disgusted with what I saw that night. Like you say it was an insult to the wrestling business, to the fans and to Sting himself as Hardy showed such a lack of respect as to get himself drugged up before the main event of a PPV, putting both himself and more importantly Sting in danger.

In a way I don't think TNA should have sent Hardy out at all, but they would definitely have suffered a backlash had the main event been cancelled at such short notice, so by letting Hardy go out there and humiliate himself at least that seems to have been a wake-up call for him, and from all reports he is a sober man these days. It was sad to see a childhood hero of mine in such a pathetic state, but I think that match definitely counts as one where the finish wasn't originally planned, as The Stinger just holds Hardy down for a 3 count as soon as the match begins.

There's a Youtube video of a Steel Cage match between Bruiser Brody and Lex Luger that took place on a house show where Bruiser Brody starts no selling Luger's punches, Luger and the referee have no idea what's going on, Brody's just standing in the corner, taking the punches without reacting, Luger gives up, climbs out of the cage and abandons the match. I don't really know the story behind it, I think Luger was leaving for another company and the bookers wanted to make him look bad, so they told Brody to no sell Luger's attacks or something.

And that was the other one I immediately thought of! I've heard several stories about why this happened. It's known that Luger had already signed a contract with Crocket Promotions, but there are various rumours as to why the match went as it did. Firstly, that Luger was refusing to lose so Brody was under orders not to sell his punches.

The second one I have read is some veteran wrestlers had put Brody up to it as a joke and that they’d freaked Luger out by by telling him of Brody’s real-life viciousness, so he bailed as soon as he saw Brody no-selling, and feared for his own safety.

The last one I've read about is that Luger wanted to call the match which pissed Bruiser off, so he just refused to go along with it.

However, apparently Brody has said he had no problems with Luger and was doing it to send a message to the promoter because he hadn't been paid or something like that. No-one knows for sure though, but you can't blame Lex for being a bit freaked out when a known madman is refusing to work with you, Brody could have killed Luger!

 

[RKOrob]

Bit of a random one, but I remember Dean Malenko's last match in WCW was at Souled Out 2000 vs Billy Kidman and it was a stupid stipulation (I think it was called a Catch As Catch Can match) where the loser is the first person to exit the ring (whether it be over/under the top rope/through the ropes/whatever). I think pinfalls/submissions also counted in the ring.

However, Malenko looked like he forgot about the stipulation and rolled out of the ring after about a minute in after Kidman hit a move on him. The commentators were certainly surprised, and Malenko's reaction said it all

EDIT: here's a link to the match, incase my description was unclear http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x69a0t_kidman-vs-dean-malenko-16-1-00_sport