When describing wrestling, there's something troublesome about the word "fake." A more accurate word is "pre-determined," because even though the outcomes are known before the matches start, the bumps they take are very real. The numerous deaths of wrestlers in their 3's and 4's due to concoctions of pain killers and other drugs is frightening. Being a wrestler comes with a very vigorous and unforgiving lifestyle.
Another thing that's very real is the amount of disagreements that take place backstage. While the results are pre-determined, they don't always agree on the planned outcome. Hulk Hogan was notorious for not wanting to put other guys over, out of fear that he would not be in the spotlight any longer. There's also the issue of being too reckless in the ring. Every time a wrestler steps out there, they're putting their body in their opponent's hands. If he/she takes liberties, that tends to lead to confrontation as well. Let's be honest, we're not dealing with Harvard grads either. There is a lot of testosterone and type A personalities back there and sometimes they just clash.
There was one confrontation where Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious went at it in a hotel room and Sid ended up grabbing a pair of scissors and stabbing Anderson repeatedly. This was a very ugly and sad confrontation. Obviously most of them are less gruesome and sometimes even a tad comical and, for the purposes of this list, we're going to focus on the most light-hearted confrontations where the underdog came out on top!
10 10. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar
Angle and Lesnar have different versions of this story. An interviewer once asked Lesnar while he was in the UFC, what exactly was the result when he and Angle had a wrestling match? Lesnar angrily responded: "I tapped him in 10 seconds." Despite the fact that there are no "taps" in a freestyle wrestling match. However, there are more than a handful of wrestlers confirmed Angle's story as they were standing ringside watching it unfold.
In short, Lesnar had won an NCAA championship at the University of Minnesota and Angle was a gold medalist at the 1996 Olympic games. Angle had the more decorated pedigree but Lesnar was confident he would win in a freestyle wrestling match due to his 70 pound weight advantage. Before an episode of RAW in South Dakota, the wrestlers were messing around in the ring and the two decided to go at it, so everyone cleared the ring and watched. It was an extremely tight match with Angle scoring the only takedown. On Jim Ross's podcast, Angle had this to say: "The match was tight, there was no doubt about it. There was only one takedown, I took Brock down and that was it. But we went a good 12 to 15 minutes." Jim Ross went on to say that he and Gerry Brisco got blamed by Vince McMahon for letting this happen. Seems like good ol' J.R got blamed for a lot!
9 9. Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff
Anyone who read Bischoff's autobiography "Controversy Creates Cash" will know that Bischoff fancies himself as a tough guy. Every few pages the reader would be subjected to Bischoff's stories about how he was an excellent kick-boxer and how people were scared to fight with him, even claiming that Diamond Dallas Page once hid from him in a hotel room. If you took Bischoff at his word, you'd think that Bischoff would have mopped the floor with The Nature Boy...not so fast.
The tension all started back in WCW when Bischoff was Flair's boss. Bischoff would constantly give Flair a hard time and their issues were well documented. Once they were working in WWE, Flair decided to give Bischoff a piece of his mind. Flair had this to say in his book: "I slapped him hard across the face, knocking the cell phone out of his hand. I swung at him three times but couldn't connect because he was moving so fast. When Bischoff got to the wall I pushed him on a couch, climbed on top of him, pressed my finger against his eye and said "I could take your f***ing eye out right now." Flair then goes on to say that he could have used his fist to open up Bischoff's face as he was cowering under him. Finally, Sergeant Slaughter broke them up. Of course, Bischoff downplays the incident saying that Flair swung at him and that he just stood there confused. On the show "Off The Record", Mick Foley was a guest and Michael Landsberg asked him who won between Flair and Bischoff. Foley maintains Flair's description of the events are accurate and he is not a fan of either guy. Score one for Naytche, WOOOOOOO.
8 8. Dynamite Kid vs. Jacques Rougeau
Simply put, Dynamite Kid was a bully backstage. Even Bret Hart, who was one of Dynamite's closest friends, admitted that he was a surly fellow and very standoffish. He was only 5'8, but was still one of the strongest wrestlers of that time (he was very "pharmaceutically enhanced" too). Dynamite was notorious for his mean-spirited pranks that he'd play on fellow wrestlers, just because he could. One of his main targets were the Rougeau brothers and they would just "take it," out of fear of being beat up by the Bulldogs. Finally Jacques channeled his inner Popeye: "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"
The Rougeau's returned from a match to find their clothes cut up and thrown around the locker room. Jacques put a roll of coins in his hand and sucker-punched Dynamite right in the face, knocking out several of his front teeth and leaving him a bloody mess. The irony is that apparently Dynamite's hands were clean in this one, as Mr. Perfect was the one who actually did it. It's debatable as to whether a sucker punch counts as a win, but it's always fun when the bully gets a taste of his own medicine.
7 7. The Great Khali vs. Big Show
Big Show and Chris Jericho describe this altercation on Jericho's podcast and you have to go listen to it because their description of the event is simply hilarious. Big Show was not too fond of Khali because he did not think that he took wrestling seriously. After a match, Big Show called out Khali on a blown spot and said: "you don't even know what you're doing, you're the shit!" Khali's reply: "you're the shit too, bro." Jericho summed up the fight as "great," while Big Show maintains it's the worst fight he's ever been in.
The two seven footers were throwing haymakers and connected with a few until Khali took Big Show down. Show maintains that he "slipped on a bag" but that sounds like sour grapes. As Big Show was laying on the ground with Khali on top of him, an unknown wrestler (Jericho maintains it was William Regal) ended up sitting on his head in an attempt to break up the fight. One would think Big Show would be a heavy favorite in this tilt as he outweighs Khali, but also due to the fact that Khali seems like he has poor stability.
In Big Show's words: "I'm getting too old for this sh*t".
6 6. Yoshi Tatsu vs. Sheamus
Years back, Yoshi Tatsu, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Sheamus shared an apartment and Sheamus would act like he was "king of the castle." This altercation started because apparently Sheamus was using items that belonged to DiBiase and Tatsu and would not wash them or return them. Anytime this story is brought up, a protein shaker cup that wasn't cleaned is always mentioned, so we're going to go ahead and say that the shaker cup was a focal point! Tatsu confronted Sheamus about being a terrible roommate and Sheamus acted aggressively towards his smaller roommate. A fight ensued and Tatsu beat the heck out of Sheamus, leaving him verbally submitting.
Former WWE wrestler Evan Bourne talked about the incident, where it seemed like an attempt to defend his friend: "I guess everyone heard the story about how Sheamus got dropped by Yoshi Tatsu so I think that sort of makes him soft. I will say Sheamus is also tough. He literally broke his hand in a match in a match running me into a pole and didn't even miss a beat. He's one of the toughest guys. Maybe he's got a soft chin, I don't know what happened."
5 5. Buff Bagwell vs. Shane "The Hurricane" Helms
This incident occurred way back in 2001 right after WWE had purchased WCW. Bagwell made an off the cuff remark about how Helms would never be a superstar because he was too short and didn't have a good physique. Keep in mind, that Bagwell was always running his mouth and making condescending remarks like that. Helms finally had enough, pitched a frozen bottle and charged Bagwell, clocking him right in the face before hitting him multiple times in the back of the head while he was down. Bagwell was in a world of hurt and it could have been way worse if the other wrestlers did not step in and pull the enraged Helms off of him.
Winner= Helms. WHAT'S UP WIT DAT?!
4 4. Booker T vs. Batista
This might have been the best actual fight because the boys stood back and: "let them handle it." The fight took place in 2006 at a photo shoot where Batista was the champion at the time and his ego had inflated, to say the least. Booker T took exception to the way Batista was acting and it escalated quickly. The two wrestlers went into a room, closed the door and went right at it. Once the wrestlers standing outside started hearing some serious "fists on flesh" noises, they opened the door to break them up, Booker was on top but Batista urged everyone to let the fight continue. Once they got to their feet, round two commenced and Booker started getting the better of his bigger opponent before they were finally separated.
The underdog "on paper" won this tilt, but a lot of the wrestlers weren't surprised as Booker T is a bad dude. He had this to say on the scrap: "He took a pretty good beating, the thing is, when you're in a fight, it's different from an MMA fight. That's the thing with me, I've fought my whole life. You don't just call out a person to fight if you don't know their background, what they've been through, and how to test them."
3 3. Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon
Everyone knows about the exchange Hart and McMahon had after the screwjob at Survivor Series in Montreal. You're probably wondering how could Hart knocking out Vince be considered a story where the underdog won?
You have to consider the circumstances. They were in a locker room packed with wrestlers including Shawn Michaels, Gerry Brisco (McMahon's henchman) and Shane McMahon. Triple H was also standing right outside the room flanked with a bunch of other goons. You'd have to figure that the second Vince was in any kind of danger, people would have intervened. Hart even acknowledged in his book that a fight between the two would probably just end up in a "half assed pull apart" due to the amount of people that were there. Hart literally had to clock McMahon within seconds or else they would have been broken up...and that's exactly what he did. One punch, pack a lunch! The Billionaire goes down for the count!
2 2. Joey Styles vs. JBL
A more famous example of the bully finally getting bullied! JBL has a long history of bullying and hazing people. There's a difference between good natured ribbing like Owen Hart used to do and being downright mean like JBL. He even beat up and bloodied The Blue Meanie during a match because he felt like it.
This particular incident occurred at the Tribute to the Troops tour, when JBL was up to his old tricks. His main target was commentator Joey Styles. Now just to refresh everyone, Bradshaw is a 6'6, near 270 pound wrestler and Styles is a pudgy commentator. At a certain point, Styles had enough of Bradshaw's crap, walked up to him and punched him right in the face, leaving JBL with a black eye.
1 1. Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg
Jericho and Goldberg had heat dating back to their WCW days in the late 90s. The animosity started because Goldberg was billed as "the man" with his crazy undefeated streak and Jericho wanted to work with him. Goldberg wasn't willing because he felt that Jericho was too small and that the fans wouldn't buy it if they had a 15 minute match. Eric Bischoff basically did whatever Goldberg told him to do, so he nixed the idea as well. Jericho ended up going out and cutting promos on Goldberg despite Bischoff's reservations (seems like he was running a tight ship over there). This obviously created some tension between Jericho and Goldberg.
Fast forward to the WWE days and the two of them were still bickering and finally a physical altercation ensued. Goldberg approached Jericho and put his hands on Jericho's throat, so Y2J immediately took him to the ground and had him in a front-face lock. On his podcast, Jericho admitted that he was holding on for dear life because if Goldberg managed to get up, he might have been screwed! Goldberg did in fact manage to get up, but got taken down immediately by Jericho again, who started yelling: "THAT'S TWO TIMES, I GOT YOU DOWN TWICE!" When they stood up again, Jericho told Goldberg that he was acting like an a**hole...to which Bill responded: "Your mother is a f***ing a**hole". Booker T's (who saw the whole thing unfold) next comment is the funniest part of the whole scuffle: "Did he just say your mother is an asshole? That's the worst insult I've ever heard."