10 Wrestling Mistakes That Made Matches Better
7. Big Van Vader Vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW Super Fight In Tokyo Dome 1990)
In which Vader's eye literally pops out of its socket.
Vader and Stan Hansen were as stiff and nasty as they were big and beefy. For Hansen, the snugness with which he worked wasn't entirely a matter of choice. Wrestling folklore states that the Unsinkable Battleship's poor eyesight meant that if he didn't throw everything into every shot, it'd either look too soft or he'd miss completely, thus exposing his act. This led to a 27-year career of jaw-rattlingly hard-hitting battles with anyone willing to respond in kind.
No American wrestler could rival Hansen's stiffness other than Vader, whom Stan wrestled for the first time in February 1990. The eyeball near-disaster came after a typically barbaric striking exchange. In it, Hansen accidentally caught Vader's eye with a thumb. Out it popped, creating one of wrestling's most horrifying visuals, but Leon White - that hard, hard bastard - pushed it back in, held it in place with his eyelid, and fought Hansen to a no contest.
The image might be more iconic than the match itself (how couldn't it be?), but not scripted, kayfabe act could ever generate such a shocked response.