10 Obscure Wrestling Secrets That Took Years To Discover
9. Fireballs
The fireball barely made it past the territories—bar a very literal interpretation of X-Pac heat—even as the WWF elsewhere promoted manslaughter n’ miscarriages on international television. That is because, as WCW learned to its hilarious cost, the scope for error was vast. The trope literally blew up in Hulk Hogan’s face at Halloween Havoc ’98, and as WWE’s product became glossier and more family-friendly in subsequent years, it more or less burned out.
This very dangerous heel trick was popularised by the original Sheik (and mastered by Jerry Lawler), and was bestowed upon the former by a magician, thus drawing further parallels between the two industries.
Both involved flash paper: Sheik would either rub diluted phosphoric acid into his fingers, or would strike a flint, throwing his hand forward to create a shooting effect. Because nitrocellulose burns out almost as quickly as it ignites, it minimised the risk of severe burning—but the highly flammable material heightened the risk of the firestarter burning himself.
Too often, an ostensibly terrifying trick served only to embarrass the magician.
We know this now—we know everything now, under the amorphous exposé of various wrestling media—but the Detroit natives certainly didn’t know it then: to heighten his aura, Sheik, after burning his opponent’s face, would then mimic the hand movement to the terrified first-row onlookers patently unaware that the heat flamed out about as quickly as Dean Ambrose’s has.