Botch (professional wrestling)

To botch in professional wrestling means to attempt a scripted move that does not come out as it was originally planned due to a mistake, miscalculation, or a slip-up. Most botches are harmless but embarrassing, such as a wrestler simply flubbing a line or missing a cue, or falling before his opponent's move actually connects, inciting the fans to chant "You fucked up!"

However, botches can be extremely dangerous and can end a wrestler's career (or worse). For example, former WWE wrestler D'Lo Brown once botched a running sitout powerbomb on his opponent Droz, resulting in Droz being paralyzed from the waist down.

In most cases, minor botches are simply glossed over as though they never happened. Serious botches resulting in injuries often result in improvised endings to matches, or the remainder of a match being cancelled if a wrestler cannot continue or requires immediate medical attention. If a wrestler is seriously injured (in a botch or otherwise) the referee normally signals the need for immediate help by doing the X formation.

Notable botches

• WCW wrestler Erik Watts attempted to perform a dropkick on "Dr. Death" Steve Williams during a tag team match that was part of the Battlebowl tournament at StarrCade '92. Instead, Watts ended up landing on his stomach, much like a belly flop.
• Kevin Nash performed his trademark Jacknife Powerbomb on The Giant, but could not perform the move properly due to the Giant's recent weight gain (and the fact that Nash was physically weaker after recovering from a knee injury), and dropped him on his neck.
• Similarly, Nash attempted to perform the same maneuver to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XI, but instead of dropping Michaels on his back, he couldn't hold him in the air long enough to correctly complete the move and let Michaels crash on his feet, where he quickly buckled to the mat to sell the move.
• Japanese wrestler Hayabusa botched a springboard moonsault in a match against Mammoth Sasaki when his foot slipped on the second rope and he landed on his head, severely injuring his neck and paralyzing him. He is now able to walk again after several years.
• Sabu botched landling a flapjack by Chris Benoit. The move was botched when Sabu attempted to change the move from a flapjack, which has the opponent land face-first, to a back body drop, which requires that the opponent somersault and land on his back. Sabu misjudged the height and time which he had in the air and attempted to flip himself over onto his back, but did not get enough rotation and landed almost vertically on the side of his head which broke his neck. This incident earned Benoit the nickname, "The Canadian Crippler".
• In the Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring 1998 a famous spot occurred where The Undertaker chokeslammed Mankind through the roof of the cage, causing Mankind to fall on his back to the ring below. In reality, the cage was not meant to break and Mankind ended up knocked out with a concussion for several minutes due to the impact. To make matters worse, the chair he was chokeslammed onto on top of the cage fell through, hitting Mankind in the face which dislocated his jaw and knocked out one and a half teeth. Some improvised spots between The Undertaker and Terry Funk took place to allow Mankind some time to recover.
• On May 28, 2001, Brian Ong volunteered to receive a flapjack while training with Dalip Singh. When it came time for Ong to receive the move he grabbed Singh's shirt instead of pushing off his back as his trainers had suggested, and landed on his head. The resulting impact, coupled with a previous concussion, killed Ong.
• Triple H performed his finishing move, the Pedigree, on jobber Marty Garner, also known as Cham Pain. Garner thought Triple H was attempting a double underhook suplex and assisted him by jumping. Triple H dropped him on his head almost vertically, making the move into a more dangerous version of a double underhook piledriver.
• Brock Lesnar botched a shooting star press and landed on his head during the main event of WrestleMania XIX against Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship. He had performed the move many times while wrestling in OVW. In this case, the move was the planned finish of the event. Angle realized what was wrong and had to improvise the finish to the match. After Lesnar botched the move, Angle went for the cover, but Lesnar kicked out. Angle managed to get Brock to pin him after a third F-5.
• Sid Vicious botched a big boot off the second turnbuckle when he landed incorrectly and broke his leg during a four corners match during WCW Sin.
• Sabu botched a moonsault off the ropes to the outside, to connect with a table leaned up against the guardrail that Shane Douglas was set up against. It is assumed that Douglas was to move away at the last second, and Sabu would go through the table, however on viewing it cannot be certain what they were attempting. Douglas did indeed move at the last second, but Sabu merely hit the table, which didn't break, and he fell onto his head on the concrete, knocking him unconscious. Douglas had to go back into the ring and pose to the crowd until Sabu's condition could be properly determined. He didn't regain consciousness and after a few minutes, the match was called off.
• Owen Hart performed a sitdown Hart Driver on Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin, mistakenly thinking that Hart would fall to his knees, took the bump improperly and broke his neck. This was the turning point of Austin's career: the continuing pain from this injury eventually led to his current semi-retirement.
• Marty Jannetty, who was then one half of the tag team The Rockers, botched a Rocker Dropper on Charles Austin in December 1990 in a WWF dark match. Austin was to face-plant, but instead tried to roll forward. As a result, he landed straight on his head, breaking his neck. In 1994, a Florida jury awarded Austin $26.7 million in damages.
• Jimmy Hart blasted referee Jim Korderas too hard with his megaphone during a match between Brutus Beefcake and The Honky Tonk Man at WrestleMania IV, legitametly knocking him out. Korderas was to eventually awaken and disqualify Honky Tonk Man, but as a result of the botch, Earl Hebner, Joey Marella and Jack Kruger had to rush into the ring, where Hebner awarded the match to Beefcake, while Marella and Kruger physically assisted Korderas out of the ring.
• Jackie Gayda, winner of the Tough Enough 2 competition, in one of her first TV matches (a tag team match with Christopher Nowinski against Trish Stratus and Bradshaw on the July 8, 2002 edition of RAW from Philadephia), botched nearly every move that she tried, the most famous of which was a second-rope-bulldog by Trish, which Jackie sold two seconds too late. The match was felt by many fans to be one of the worst matches in pro wrestling history. Jackie was sent to OVW to get in-ring training, but when she returned on WWE television, she took mostly ringside roles.
• During the World Heavyweight Championship match at the 2003 Royal Rumble, Scott Steiner (due to fatigue) botched a double underhook powerbomb on Triple H, and fell down on the mat, nearly dropping Triple H on his head. This botch has since been nicknamed Stumble Bomb '03 by the smark community in reference to the Tiger Driver '91 which unlike the botch is a move that is done in the same way but on purpose.
• During the 2001 King of the Ring, Shane McMahon fought Kurt Angle in a Street Fight match. During the match, the script called for Kurt to give a belly-to-belly suplex to Shane in front of the glass window of the King of the Ring set. On his first attempt, Shane did not break the glass as scripted. He also was dropped nearly vertically on his head, resulting in Kurt waiting a minute for Shane to regain his bearings. On the second attempt, Shane successfully broke the glass as planned. However, the script called for Kurt to suplex Shane again from the inside of the set to the outside (through another glass window set). After 2 failed attempts that saw Shane dropped almost vertically on his head again, Kurt improvised by throwing Shane through the glass window, rather than attempting anymore belly-to-belly suplexes and risking seriously injuring Shane. Despite landing on his head, Shane was abe to finish the match as planned, even using the Shooting Star Press against Angle, although the move missed. Shane suffered no lasting effects from the match.
• In one of her first times managing in TNA, Gail Kim attempted a diving Hurricanrana. The plan was for her to jump over her client's opponent, and accidentally Hurricanrana her client. In the match, Kim jumped over her client's opponent, landed on her client, but fell on the back of her head. It took her 10 seconds to finally get up.
• In the main event of StarrCade '99 (a WCW World Title match between champion Bret Hart and challenger Goldberg), Goldberg nailed Hart with a superkick to the head. Hart suffered a concussion as a result of the kick, forcing him to retire from pro wrestling. He believes that the concussion was a causal factor in his 2002 stroke.
• At Survivor Series 2002, during the opening match between Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley vs. Rosey, Jamal and Rico, the match was briefly exposed. Rico had climbed the turnbuckle and the plan was to have him be shoved off by Jeff Hardy. Hardy completely missed his cue (he was too busy brawling outside), causing a frustrated Rico to shout "Come on Jeff, goddamnit!"
• During a SmackDown! match, Brock Lesnar dropped A-Train on his head after botching the F-5 (his finishing move) since he couldn't support A-Train's weight.
• During the WWE Women's Championship match at WrestleMania 22 between Trish Stratus and Mickie James, the plan was to have James win the Women's Championship by stealing Stratus' finisher (the Stratusfaction). However, as James attempted the move, her feet slipped on the ropes, causing Stratus to fall to the mat and James landing right on top of her. Disappointment was clearly seen on both Stratus and James' faces, which resulted in James quickly having to nail Stratus with a Mick Kick for the rushed finish. The botch was later edited out of the WrestleMania 22 DVD.
• At No Mercy 2002, Chris Jericho went for a Lionsault during a tag match between him and Christian and Booker T & Goldust. The turnbuckle literally snapped upon contact causing the ring ropes to collapse leading Jericho to hit a regular, top rope Moonsault as an improvised finish. The ring ropes had to be re-installed before the remainder of the event could continue.
• During the TNA World X-Cup 2004, Juventud Guerrera botched a Juvi Driver on Jerry Lynn. Instead of dropping Lynn on his back/shoulders, Guerrerra turned Lynn too far and dropped Lynn on his shoulder tearing the tendon from the bone in his rotator cuff.
• During an ECW match, Rob Van Dam attempted a Van Daminator on Kurt Angle, but missed. The botch was fairly clear, as the Van Daminator uses a steel chair as a weapon, which produces a metallic clashing noise upon being kicked, and nothing was heard. Angle fell down anyway.

See also

• Professional wrestling slang
• Mass Transit incident (ECW)