9 Ways WWE Owes A Debt To UFC

There’s a worldwide misconception that, in boxing, when things are going spectacularly badly for one of the parties involved, all his trainers have to do is throw a towel into the ring to forfeit the match, regardless of whether that’s what their fighter wants.

That’s not actually the case: it’s the referee, and only the referee, that makes the decision to stop a boxing match, and there have been occasions when the ref has simply thrown the towel straight back at them and ignored the plea.

In the same way, only the referee has the authority to stop a mixed martial arts fight. However, fights are ended via stoppage as a matter of course in MMA.

On at least two occasions the old ‘throw in the towel’ trope has been used in the WWF/E as a direct reference to the supposed practice in boxing: it’s how Bob Backlund lost the WWF Championship to the Iron Sheik at Christmas 1983, ending a near six year title reign, and was the basis for a submission-gimmicked Backlund vs. Bret Hart match at Survivor Series 1994.

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin’s loss to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 was by referee stoppage: the referee in question was former UFC champion Ken Shamrock, who awarded Hart the victory when Austin passed out in the Sharpshooter rather than submit.

In WCW in 1999, Sid Vicious’ US title was awarded to Goldberg after the referee stopped their match at Halloween Havoc due to Sid’s excessive blood loss - although, to be fair, that’s probably because it was the first card Vince Russo booked for the company, and the man’s more clueless than a blind policeman with no hands.

The WWE’s inconsistent application of kayfabe rules for disqualification has made this kind of finish a waste of time until recently, as a stoppage finish, by definition, cannot occur if the damage was caused illegally.

Stoppage occurred in Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels’ incredibly personal feud in 2008: Jericho targeted HBK’s previously injured eye at the Great American Bash, and Michaels simply wouldn’t stop beating an unconscious and helpless Jericho during an Unsanctioned blow-off match at Unforgiven, causing the referee to intervene even though the bout’s gimmick allowed it.

In both cases, legal damage caused the stoppage, so the win was awarded to the damaging party, just as in MMA.

Upon his reintroduction to the WWE in spring 2012, Matt Bloom’s Lord Tensai character was said to have crushed his opponents in Japan so badly that referee stoppage was the norm. He proceeded to do so to several of his initial opponents in the WWE before the company gave up on his monster heel push.

Of course, the most famous examples of referee stoppage due to TKO in recent WWE history are Kevin Owens’ definitive defeat of NXT Champion Sami Zayn last year to win the title, and the Undertaker’s heelish victory over Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam a few months later, where Lesnar passed out in the Hell’s Gate submission.