Time to re-state our assumptions here. Professional wrestling is a work: an art form that requires complete cooperation between the participants in order that moves can be executed correctly and safely, in a pre-planned order, to tell a story in an entertaining manner. The wrestler performing a manoeuvre protects his opponent, who is also responsible for taking and selling the move correctly. In the right hands, this cooperative venture can be one of the most fascinatingly brilliant bastard art forms there is, aping the structure of a genuine sporting contest to bring out some of the same feelings that a fantastic football match or big fight boxing bout can bring out in spectators. But without cooperation the whole thing falls to pieces like wet cake. The two or more athletes involved have to play their roles exactly as booked to do so, or the match doesnt work. Whats more, in these post-kayfabe days, cooperation is necessary between the wrestlers and the audience. We need to be able to suspend our disbelief fully and completely in order to get into the spirit of the story were being told. The crowd sells the match as much as the men or women in the ring. That being said, there are several occasions in wrestling history when wrestlers, for whatever reason, have taken it upon themselves to go off-script, and a work turns into a shoot. Its called going into business for yourself: whether it involves attacking your opponent for real; ignoring the booked sequence of events; refusing to tell the story youre supposed to tell; or changing the planned finish of the match. Some of the following stories are curios, some are cautionary tales... but none of them went as planned.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
