Magazine Archives: Happy Accidents in Wrestling

By John Moorehouse, available in FightfulMag.com issue 3! 

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How does that old saying go? “People make plans… and God laughs.”

The credo certainly applies to wrestling bookers as well. Sometimes the best-laid plans go awry, but the final result ends up being even better than the original story. Read on as we provide a look at some of the greatest “happy accidents” in wrestling history.

“Butts in the seats”: January 4, 1999

The Monday Night Wars were still in full swing as the calendar turned to 1999, and on the first Monday of the new year, a live Nitro went up against a pre-taped episode of Raw. Potshots by each company against the other were pretty common by now, so World Championship Wrestling (WCW) opted to spoil the result of the Raw main event on the air —revealing that Mankindwas going to win the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Title. “That’s going to put some butts in the seats,” WCW broadcaster Tony Schiavonesaid, scoffing. Instead of persuading people not to turn the channel, fans —about 600,000 viewers, according to estimates —flocked to Raw to see the title change, and the WWF won the Nielsen ratings battle 5.7 to 5.0.

Foley discussed his title win with Skysportsin 2020, recalling: “We were going up against a massive live WCW show at the Georgia Dome in front of 40,000 people, and nobody thought we’d be celebrating a big victory that night.” It did not help that the episode of Nitro going against Foley’s win was headlined by a Kevin Nash-Hulk Hogantitle match that ended with the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom. Nitro cracked 5.0 in the ratings just three times in the next two-plus years, while WCW went into a general decline before getting bought by Vince McMahon. Schiavone addressed that night on an appearance on Konnan’spodcast in 2019, noting that producer Annette Yotherwalked up to Schiavone during a break, told him of the title change on WWF, and thatEric Bischoff wanted Schiavone to “really shit on it” on the air.

Yes! Yes! Yes?: 2013/14

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) loves its “WrestleMania moments,” and Daniel Bryanproduced one of the most memorable moments to date when he won the main event of WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans in 2014. The unforgettable image of Daniel Bryan hosting both titles (don’t call them belts!) after becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion in front of a jam-packed crowd in the Superdome… never should have happened. Batistahad returned to the company and won the Royal Rumble that January. Meanwhile, The Rumble match ended up being the final appearance for CM Punk, who walked out of WWE the next day.

At the time Punk left, the planned WrestleMania card reportedly had Batista challenging Randy Ortonin the main event, with Punk facing Triple Hand Bryan taking on Sheamus. Punk later confirmed this in 2020, posting a picture of the proposed booking sheet on social media. Punk’s absence made Bryan the storyline “target” of Triple H and WWE management, and with fan reaction to Batista subpar at best, he was added to the main event. Fan reaction played a huge role in forcing the change, as even before Punk walked out, Bryan was building a huge following. The crowd in Seattle — not far from Bryan’s hometown of Aberdeen, Washington — completely hijacked the final segment of a December 2013 episode of Raw when WWE was trying to add some final hype to a billed unification match betweenJohn Cenaand Randy Orton for the TLC pay-per-view.

Jimmy Hart and The King: 1980

In the territorial era of wrestling, certain acts were synonymous with certain locations. In Memphis, the top star was Jerry Lawler for decades. But when Lawler broke his leg in February 1980 playing a game of touch football, it threw the Memphis territory into chaos. Necessity became the mother of invention, and what Memphis promoterJerry Jarrettdid was elevate managerJimmy Hart to become his top heel. Although Lawler spent the vast majority of his time in Memphis as a fan-favorite, he was a heel at the time of his injury and Hart — who was still new to wrestling — was little more than an on-screen lackey with very little training or experience. That’s what made the ensuing character shift so daring.

On the next episode of Memphis TV, which was taped live in the studio every Saturday,Lance Russell set up an interview with Hart by describing Jimmy as Lawler’s closest friend. Instead, Hart turned on Lawler without any physicality needed, comparing Lawler to a racehorse with a broken leg that needed to be put down. “Jerry Lawler is no good to me anymore!” Hart proclaimed over the boos of the studio audience. “He can’t make me any more money.” Hart and his stable proceeded to rule the roost over Memphis until Lawler returned in September — and immediately set his sights on Hart.

Kofimania: 2019

Five years after Bryan’s Cinderella story in New Orleans, a similar tale played out on WWE’s SmackDown brand, this time with Bryan as the antagonist and Kofi Kingston positioned as the beloved challenger, ultimately prevailing to become the first African-American WWE champion. That historic moment and arguably the biggest highlight of WrestleMania 35 would not have happened had Mustafa Aliremained healthy. Ali originally was slated for the Elimination Chamber match but got pulled due to injury and replaced by Kingston. Kofi promptly made a splash, going more than 50 minutes in a Gauntlet Match to determine the final Chamber entrant on the next episode of SmackDown. He put together another marathon performance in the Chamber match itself.

In the ensuing weeks, on-screen management would back Bryan and refuse to put Kingston in a title match at WrestleMania, using the same term “B-plus player” to describe Kingston that was used for Bryan five years prior. Two years later, Ali tried to use the circumstances of this match to lobby for a WrestleMania opportunity of his own against Kingston, which didn’t happen. Ali ended up in the Andre the GiantMemorial Battle Royal while Kingston and Xavier Woodswrestled and lost toAJ Styles and Omosin a Raw Tag Title match.

The Switchblade and Jim Ross: 2018

At the end of 2017, Jay Whitereturned to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) from an excursion with a new “Switchblade”persona. Even though he quickly found himself facing some of New Japan’s top names and defeated Kenny Omegafor the IWGP U.S. Title just a couple of months after his return, fans greeted his new look and persona with a collective “meh.” Then New Japan came to the United States in the summer of 2018, where White defended his U.S. Title againstJuice Robinson in San Francisco.

During the match, White sent Juice into the ringside barrier right in front of the commentary table, manned by Jim Rossand John Barnett. White rammed Juice with enough force to send the barrier into the table, the table into JR, and good ol’ JR ass over teakettle to the floor. That brought Barnett to his feet, and he had to be held back by security from going after White. It seemed like the type of incident that could have been a clever work, but it wasn’t part of the show. On Twitter, JR said the fall was “not storyline driven matter nor was it discussed” and that he thought he broke a rib. Barnett and Ross both “lectured” White and Robinson about the spot. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but White seemed more comfortable in his role as a top heel for NJPW coming out of the incident. His matches also improved, while he became one of the leaders of Bullet Club and one of the top stars in New Japan.

Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels’ wife: 2008

After Shawn Michaelsretired Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24, Michaels and Chris Jericho spent most of the rest of 2008 in an excellent and critically-acclaimed storyline. Hostilities between the two broke wide open in June 2008, when Jericho rammed Michaels head-first into the Jeritron during an episode of Jericho’s Highlight Reel. Michaels had a storyline eye injury from the attack, and Jericho exploited it in their match at the Great American Bash in July. At SummerSlam, the two did not wrestle but were part of a segment, which also involved Michaels’ wife, and teased his retirement because of the eye injury. Jericho came out to interrupt, words were exchanged, and Jericho took a swing at Michaels but instead hit his wife,Rebecca.

Here’s the thing, though: there was nothing worked about the punch. Jericho hit Michaels’ better half square in the face, as Y2J explained in his third book, The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea. “I smacked her full force in the mouth,” Jericho wrote, adding, “When they got backstage, I kept repeating over and over again, ’I am so sorry, man. I am so sorry.’ The doctors tended to Rebecca as Shawn stared at me blankly like he wanted to kill me. He finally broke the silence, ‘I should’ve never allowed this to happen. This never should’ve happened. I can’t believe I brought my family into this.’ If it was possible to feel worse than me, he did. We were both staring at our feet in silence, waiting to see if Rebecca was okay when she suddenly sat up off the stretcher and looked me in the eye. ‘Is that the best you got, Jericho?’ she said with a crooked smile.” The incident added a tremendous amount of sizzle to the remainder of the Jericho-Michaels feud.

From Rocky to the Rock: 1997

You know him now as movie starDwayne Johnson, but when The Rockfirst debuted in WWF in 1997 as clean-cut, smiley, third-generation babyface Rocky Maivia, it was the perfect persona… for the 1980s. With the WWF transitioning to a more adult product in the early stages of the Attitude Era, fans swiftly soured on the Rocky Maivia character within a few months of his debut. A real-life knee injury sent him to the sidelines, and when he returned, a heel turn quickly followed, along with a persona change.

Rocky Maivia was gone. Long live The Rock, the cocky, brash trash-talker who constantly referred to himself in the third person. Although The Rock became a beloved fan-favorite within a couple of years, the initial gimmick change set him up for success — and occurred organically because the original character tanked so badly with the fans. Of course, today, The Rock has transcended wrestling to movie megastardom (this writer may or may not have had one of the Jumanjimovies on while making final revisions), his own TV show… and maybe even a future in national politics? Who knows?

The Accidental Top Contender: 2012

Anything can happen under the bright lights when the bell rings, even someone winning a match they weren’t supposed to. Case in point: a battle royal on an August 20, 2012, episode of RAW, with the winner earning number one contender status for the Divas Title. The match came down to Kaitlynand Eve Torres. Eve had been on a roll as of late, but when Kaitlyn clotheslined Eve out over the top rope, Eve tumbled off the apron. One small flaw in the plan? Eve was supposed to win the match. “Well, that was a shocker!” Michael Colesaid during commentary. Kaitlyn had just been on the main roster for a few weeks. “Sometimes the best stories come from mistakes,” Eve said in a March 2020 interview, adding, “it created a more interesting story. Had that not happened, it probably would have been a very cookie-cutter Women’s Title experience. It just made it more interesting. So in hindsight, I’m so glad that happened.”

From RK-Braun to RK-Bro: 2021

Coming out of WrestleMania, two storylines were reported as part of WWE’s plans for the Raw brand: Matt Riddle(or, excuse me, Riddle) was going to continue battling Sheamusfor the U.S. Title, while Randy Orton and Braun Strowman would enter a rivalry. Neither happened. Instead, Sheamus beat Riddle decisively at WrestleMania, and the Irishman — and the U.S. Title — moved on to other pursuits. Orton and Riddle ended up getting thrown together into a tag team, and RK-Browas born, with the duo having some excellent matches both as a duo and individually with The New Day. Meanwhile, Strowman was inserted as the third cog in a program for the WWE Title, lost at WrestleMania Backlash in May, and surprisingly got released by the company near the beginning of June.

Bloody Becky: 2018

Survivor Series has been the province of Raw vs. SmackDown matches ever since WWE revived its brand split. The elimination match involving women from both teams got some serious spice during the last week of TV, when, during a brawl involving females from both rosters, Nia Jaxpunched Becky Lynchright in the damn face. The punch drew blood, concussed Becky, and broke her nose. The show ended with a brawl into the crowd and a close-up of a bloody but unbowed Becky surrounded by roaring fans. Becky wasn’t able to wrestle Ronda Rouseyin a non-title champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series, but this moment arguably made Becky’s rise downright meteoric, propelling her to victory in the triple threat match for both titles at WrestleMania 35. If Nia Jax hadn’t inadvertently busted Becky Lynch’s nose, would Becky still be part of the company? Instead of being part of the first-ever women’s main event in WrestleMania history, would she have ended up being in the field for the women’s battle royal? Becoming an also-ran in the women’s division? Eventually getting released, as was the fate that befell several of Becky’s fellow women on the roster in 2020?

John Moorehousehas long covered pro wrestling for a variety of outlets. In 2016, he joined Fightful as a wrestling contributor, in which he served until 2018

Twitter: @john_moorehouse