10 Wrestling Matches That Turned Into Real Shoots

In a business where trust is paramount and performers must help each other and cooperate in order to create the illusion of actual competition, it is very rare for one person to shoot on another and turn the choreographed combat into something far scrappier.

But it does happen from time to time, often when ego and backstage politics are involved.

It can last the entire duration of a bout or be a split-second thing, but whenever fantasy and reality mix in the squared circle it makes for gripping (if not sometimes uneasy) viewing.

Here are ten of the best examples of when wrestling matches turned into shoots.

10. Rick Steiner & Erick Stevens Vs. Vordell Walker & Dustin Rhodes

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Rick and Scott Steiner had reputations for being a handful in the ring, both when tagging together and working as singles. With their amateur experience and hardman auras, there were few who were willing to fight them back when things got rough in the ring.

Rick actually went on something a mini shooting spree (pardon the expression) in the dying days of WCW, testing Kwee Wee, Konnan, Hugh Morrus and Lash LaRoux on separate occasions (without reprisal).

In 2005, the Dog-Faced Gremlin was at it again, this time at a Southeast Championship Wrestling 'Day of the Legends' show, an event which drew around 2,000 people and was headlined by Dusty Rhodes versus Jerry Lawler.

The match most people were talking about after the show, however, was Steiner's - for the wrong reasons.

Rick teamed up with Erick Stevens to take on Dustin Rhodes and Vordell Walker and, during the bout, threw a couple of shoot kicks at the relatively inexperienced Walker, before trying to wrestle him to the ground.

This was a mistake, as Vordell was trained in martial arts, judo and submission wrestling and easily handled the situation, throwing a couple of kicks of his own, before wrestling Steiner down to the ground and neutralising him with a choke.

The match continued to fly off the rails, with Walker refusing to go up for a powerbomb off the apron through a table, before Steiner and Rhodes brawled to the concession area and left Walker and Stevens to salvage the match.

Eventually, Rick and Dustin returned and finished the bout while their partners wandered off backstage.

According to an interview Vordell gave after the show, Steiner had refused to cooperate and plan anything with him before the match took place and was apparently nonchalant after the bout, too.

Reports stated that the former WCW US Heavyweight Champion claimed he just wanted to 'rough the kid up' a little and didn't expect retaliation.

Two years later the pair crossed paths once again at an independent show and got into another fight, which Walker also got the better of before police were called to the scene.

9. John Tenta Vs. Koji Kitao - SWS Wrestle Dream In Kobe

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Japanese badboy Koji Kitao and the man better known as WWE's Earthquake got into a scrap during a match at SWS's Wrestle Dream in Kobe World Hall on April Fool's Day 1991.

The pair of former sumo wrestlers had worked against one another two nights earlier on a co-promoted Tokyo Dome event between WWE and Super World of Sports, supposedly without incident.

It was obvious from the off that the two were not cooperating, with Tenta using his massive frame to immobilise his opponent, grabbing a waistlock before taking him to the mat.

Kitao didn't take too kindly for this, rolling outside for a breather before attempting to hurl a chair into the ring.

They attempted to do a test of strength spot but, when Kitao tried to slap on an arm lock, Tenta swatted him away like a grizzly bear. The referee tried to get things back on track, but neither man was having any of it.

Kitao then intimated that he was going to take Tenta's eyes out and things completely broke down.

Koji - who had caused issues in both the sumo and wrestling worlds before due to his behaviour and penchant for tantrums - then lashed out and kicked the referee, causing the disqualification.

Not content with simply ruining the match, Kitao then grabbed the microphone and told the crowd that wrestling was fake and that he refused to lose to Tenta as scripted, suggesting that if it were a real fight there would only be one winner (before he was escorted away and subsequently left the business for a while).

8. Perry Saturn Vs. Mike Bell - WWE Jakked (May 12, 2001)

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A former bouncer and army ranger who was built like a brick you-know-what house, Perry Saturn was not a man to mess with.

During what should have been a routine win over Mike Bell during a WWE Jakked taping in 2001, Perry saw red and began leathering his opponent. Despite what some think, however, it was not a simple act of malice on Saturn's part.

Early on, Bell attempted a hiptoss on Perry and the former European Champion took an awkward bump onto his head and neck. As Saturn explained later, he was knocked a little silly from the spill and instinctively went into attack mode, getting to his feet and peppering Bell - a veteran WWE enhancement talent - with real shots before throwing him hard out of the ring which, as he explained after the fact, was to create some separation so that he could get his bearings.

Unfortunately, Bell took a very bad bump onto his head and neck and could have been badly damaged (though thankfully wasn't).

The rest of the match went as planned, but when an apologetic Saturn got backstage he was told in no uncertain terms that things like that were not to happen ever again.

Some say the subsequent angle where he received multiple concussions and fell in love with a mop was a punishment for the Bell match.

Amazingly, something somewhat similar happened later in the year, when another enhancement worker named Brian Gamble stopped cooperating and Perry had to take matters into his own hands at another Jakked taping.

Gamble was wrestling in his hometown and didn't want to look like a sap in front of his friends and family, so he stopped selling Saturn's offense and double-crossed him on a couple of planned spots, before telling Pez that he wasn't going to lose.

I think that might have been a mistake.

Perry responded by taking him down and eventually putting him in a shoot submission hold for the win. Backstage, people knew something went wrong and when they found out the reason behind the match falling apart they threw Gamble out of the building (presumably before Saturn could throw him through a wall).

7. Diesel Vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte - WWE House Show (September 16, 1995)

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You may have heard this somewhere before, but sometimes Canadian wrestlers have a problem losing in Montreal.

Count Pierre-Carl Ouelette (working then as Jean-Pierre Lafitte) was among them, as he took umbrage with being asked to do a clean job to WWE Champion Diesel at a September 15, 1995 house show. He and the Kliq had words about the way to do business in the runup to the show, too, adding fuel to the fire.

He successfully got the finish changed to a double countout, but neither Kevin Nash nor other members of the locker room at the time were happy that management had acquiesced to Ouelette's demands simply because they were in Montreal.

The next night in Quebec City, the two were once again working a match for the WWE Title, when Pierre supposedly hurt Big Daddy Cool after coming off the top rope with a legdrop.

Having had enough, Nash then decided to throw a few live rounds and the match briefly descended into some sort of semi-shoot, until the Jacknife Powerbomb finish.

The two continued to go at it backstage, until things were broken up. Needless to say, PCO's card was marked from that on and he didn't stick around too terribly long after.

Thankfully, the two squashed the beef when working together in WCW years later and actually worked a programme and had another match in Montreal in 2009.

That time, Nash put the pirate over, no questions asked.

6. The Great Antonio Vs. Antonio Inoki - New Japan Pro Wrestling (December 8, 1977)

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Though New Japan was built on a real sports presentation that emphasised fighting spirit, the organisation in its early days was not averse to bringing in somebody who didn't fit the typical mould to serve as an 'attraction'.

The Great Antonio, a ginormous Canadian strongman who had dabbled in wrestling for Calgary's Stampede promotion but was more famous for stunts and feats of strength like dragging cars by his hair or eating 25 chickens in one sitting, was certainly that.

The Great Antonio was brought into the company in December of 1977 to wrestle New Japan founder and top star Antonio Inoki.

The Great Antonio had previously wrestled in Japan, though it did not go well for him. His conceited attitude rubbed his peers the wrong way and they decided to take it out on him, with Karl Gotch and Bill Miller once delivering a brutal in-ring beating on him before he was kicked off the tour.

When it came time to wrestle Inoki, he clearly hadn't learned his lesson. Though the two had worked earlier on the tour (Inoki had put him over by DQ), something went haywire during their big match at Tokyo's Sumo Hall.

The opening exchanges were weak and disjointed and the two were clearly not on the same page when, just a few minutes in, the Great Antonio decided to stat no-selling Inoki's offense while showboating.

Then he began working a little too stiff for the chinster's liking, so Inoki responded by entering shoot mode.

From there, things turned ugly as Inoki repeatedly struck him before taking him down and unloading with kicks to the face, leaving the strongman bloodied and unable to get up.

The only thing left to do was for the referee to stop the match.

5. Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas Vs. Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki - WWE House Show (November 21, 2004)

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Bob 'Hardcore' Holly had a reputation within the industry for sometimes taking liberties with people in the ring (especially rookies) and was considered by many to be a bit of a bully.

He famously put the boots to eventual Tough Enough season two winner Matt Cappotelli and there are numerous stories of him working extra 'snug' with young talent, such as Randy Orton (who was booked against Holly on numerous house shows when he was promoted to the main roster in 2002).

While such incidents were in a 'working' context, his attack on Rene Dupree during a match on a November 21, 2004 house show in Syracuse, New York was pre-meditated and very real.

On the show, Holly and Charlie Haas were challenging Dupree and Kenzo Suzuki for the WWE Tag Team Titles in a hardcore match.

According to reports (and Holly's own autobiography), Holly started hitting Rene with stiff shots, followed by a vicious chairshot to the head, after which Dupree fled the scene - only to be hunted down by Holly backstage, where the beating continued before it was broken up.

Now, for context, Holly claims that he had warned Dupree beforehand about what was coming.

As for the reason for the whopping, Dupree had previously gotten a speeding ticket while driving a rental car registered in Holly's name, failed to either pay it or inform Holly about it, leading to some legal headaches for Bombastic Bob.

Holly was reprimanded and fined after for the incident (though showed no remorse for his actions), while Dupree claims that he paid Holly back the money that he owed him stemming from the rental car issues and admitted he was in the wrong.

The two later worked together without incident.

4. Brock Lesnar Vs. Braun Strowman Vs. Kane - Royal Rumble 2018

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The one person you probably don't want shooting on you is NCAA Division 1 heavyweight wrestling and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

While The Next Big Thing's credentials speak for themselves and he could manhandle just about any member of the roster at will, Brock's sports entertainment career has passed without him feeling the need to make an example out of an opponent.

While Lesnar is a pro and won't go about beating people up for the thrill of it, he's also not about to take a stiff shot without handing back a receipt, which Braun Strowman found out at the 2018 Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The Monster Among Men got a little overzealous in the triple threat WWE Universal Championship match with Lesnar and Kane, hitting the Beast Incarnate with a full-on knee to the side of the face.

That awakened something in Brock, who delivered a shoot punch to Braun's midsection, followed by another to the side of his head.

Though Lesnar didn't strike with total force, he certainly did rock Strowman, sending him the message to slow down and refrain from hitting that hard from then on.

While things got tasty for a second, the match continued as normal and the two brushed off the potatoes with a post-match laugh backstage.

3. Yoshiko Vs. Act Yasukawa - Stardom (February 22, 2015)

One of the most uncomfortable in-ring shoots ever happened on a card promoted by Japan's all-women Stardom promotion on February 22, 2015.

In it, Yoshiko met Act Yasukawa. The two had previously been members of the same stable and Yoshiko was defending her World of Stardom Championship in the main event of the show.

A couple of nice ingredients for what should have been an intriguing match, but it was not to be.

That's because Yoshiko decided to go off-script and pummel her smaller opponent, which some reports said was an act of jealousy because Yasukawa had started to really gain in popularity.

The match turned into a one-sided fight that left Yasukawa with multiple serious injuries, including a broken cheekbone, fractured facial bones, fractured orbital bone, a broken nose and a concussion.

The referee eventually stepped in and stopped the match but it was too late and the damage was done.

Yasukawa had to spend a couple of days in the hospital afterwards and was forced to sit on the sidelines for months while she recovered. This was also coming after a six-month injury layoff where she had almost gone blind (something Yoshiko was no doubt well aware of).

Yoshiko was stripped of her title, suspended indefinitely and forced to take a paycut as punishment. Sadly, after a few attempted comeback matches in December of 2015, Yasukawa was forced to retire due to the injuries she sustained at the hands of Yoshiko (she now works as a manager).

2. Andre The Giant Vs. Akira Maeda - New Japan Pro Wrestling (April 29, 1986)

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Right next to Brock Lesnar on the list of 'people I wouldn't want to hit me' would be Andre the Giant. Especially a drunker-than-usual Andre, like the one that turned up to face Akira Maeda for New Japan in 1986.

Drunk Andre didn't play nice, but neither did Maeda, a man with a reputation for being difficult to do business with if things didn't go his way.

Before the match, neither man would agree to lose but went to the ring with the understanding that the Eighth Wonder of the World would have his hand raised at the end of the night.

According to legend, NJPW boss Antonio Inoki (who'd had his issues with Maeda in the past) let Andre know that his opponent that night could use a little straightening out.

Come bell time, the two didn't have a plan or a proper finish in place and it was apparent from the beginning that they weren't on the same page. Hell, they weren't even reading the same book.

Andre lumbered around and tried to swat his smaller opponent away, while Maeda successfully completed a couple of takedowns and tried to wear the giant down with some very real leg kicks.

It went on for an eternity, much to the bewilderment of the crowd. Eventually, Andre either got bored or realised he needed another pint or twelve and lay down on the mat before signalling for Akira to cover him.

Inoki stormed out and tried to get things going the way they should, but his presence infuriated Maeda, who decided to walk out instead. The match was officially declared a 'no contest'.

Incredibly, the two would work together on opposite sides of a tag match just a month later.

1. Charlotte Flair Vs. Nia Jax - Raw (August 30, 2021)

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Was it a shoot? Was it a work? Was it a worked-shoot? Did they not know it was a work and worked a work and worked themselves into a shoot (marks)?

It was hard to tell for a bit, but the fact is something happened during Nia Jax and Charlotte's match on the August 30, 2021 episode of Raw and it was just about the most interesting thing to happen on WWE's flagship for about five years.

The match was not going well to start with, but at some point it got a whole lot worse and the two were quite clearly not cooperating.

The thing that perhaps set things up was Nia's back suplex to Charlotte, which dropped her hard and at a bit of an angle, because after that the two were on the verge of throwing fists, with Jax audibly saying 'girl don't' to her opponent and trying to swat her away.

The Queen started to sandbag on moves and threw out a few pushes and slaps, with Nia firing back a couple of receipts. Their timing was thrown completely off as there were several awkward moments where one tried to do some pre-planned moves, only for the other not to have gotten the memo.

Things mercifully came to an end when Nia pinned Charlotte following a (very stiff) powerbomb.