12. Tables, Splatters, And Scares
In a recent Reddit AMA chat, season one Tough Enough winner and former WWE Hardcore Champion Maven confirmed something that fans have suspected all along: crashing through one of those flimsy pro wrestling tables actually hurts less than taking a bump without one, as it partially breaks the fall and provides very little additional impact. Apparently, all those times Bubba told D-Von to "get the tables," their opponents were secretly relieved. Tables used improperly, though? That's a completely different story. When John Morrison and Triple H did battle in a tables match on a January 2009 edition of Smackdown, then-WWE Champion "The Game" seemed to have the match won. He flung Morrison from the top turnbuckle to the outside of the ring, where an assembled table waited. "The Shaman of Sexy," though, flew too far he merely smacked his head on the table's edge and bounced away. Morrison, luckily, did not suffer the devastating neck injury that could have easily resulted from such an error. Less fortunately for Morrison, though, the match aired on Smackdown that meant that the show was taped and edited. As a result, he had to climb back to the top rope and take the bump once more this time, successfully. The retake aired on the show and the botch was left for the vast halls of YouTube.
11. Steiner-Lie
Scott Steiner experienced something of a career renaissance in TNA. After dominating the final days of WCW as the terrifying World Heavyweight Champion, a foot injury forced him to lose the belt to Booker T on the final episode of Nitro. When Steiner finally showed up in WWE in late 2002, his foot was still a problem, as evidenced by his matches with Triple H and, well, pretty much his entire run with the company. He was a new (and healthy) man in TNA, though. Despite being well into his mid-40s, Steiner was a man unleashed, joining the Main Event Mafia and wrestling great matches with the likes of Samoa Joe and others. Christian, also, benefitted from his time in TNA. He jumped to the organization after it became clear that, for all his talent, WWE would never use him as a major player. Being with a smaller organization gave Christian the opportunity to headline, and while he was a big fish in a smaller pond, the experience he got carrying a promotion made him even more well-rounded as a talent (and helped him when he eventually returned to WWE). Why mention all this? Because even world-class talent riding incredible waves of momentum can screw up badly, as seen in the error above. When something happens that blatantly reveals wrestling as the farce it is, it's called "exposing the business." Though some botches make sense in the context of a wrestling match, in this case, the business was indecently exposed.