Back in the 1990s, Shawn Michaels was an arrogant son-of-a-gun, cocky, conceited and critical. When he made fun of The Harris Brothers, calling them wimps, losers, quitters because they couldn’t afford to go on tour with the WWE, Ron Harris was not going to take it. Infuriated, he grabbed Shawn Michaels by the throat and threw him against the wall.
Kevin Nash stepped in and diffused the tangle. One version of the story says Shawn Michaels began to sob as Ron Harris slammed him against the wall. The fandom likes that version.
Spider Lady vs. Wendi Richter
This was a huge WWF event billed at Madison Square Gardens. It was there Wendi Richter would fight to maintain her title, having won the Women’s Championship on the first WrestleMania, when she stripped it from arch enemy Fabulous Moolah. When Richter hopped into the Madison Square Gardens ring with the masked Spider Lady, she expected an easy win. Instead, she received a legendary betrayal. Maybe it was because she asked Vince McMahon for increased compensation, or maybe her reign was up, because what happened next was unbelievable.
In the ring, dancing with Spider Lady, Wendi Richter started to get suspicious about who was behind the mask. She ripped it off and, lo and behold, it’s Moolah! Moolah pinned her and stole her title, after a ref who was paid to be in on the sabotage, hastily called the match for Moolah.
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruno Sammartino
These two wrestlers never really got along. Bruno Sammartino was World Champion in America and Antonio Inoki was Japan’s greatest wrestler. During a legendary 1970s match in Osaka they aired some of that acrimony. Antonio Inoki instigated by shooting in a few moves off script in an effort to out-wrestle Bruno “the Strongman” Sammartino.
The Strongman answered the aggression by trapping Antonio Inoki in a front face-lock, pounding him ruthlessly, and finally tossing him out of the ring. Humiliated, Inoki never entered the ring with Sammartino again.
Koji Kitao vs. John “Earthquake” Tenta
This scheduled showdown went completely off the rails of its script, careening into a mismatch with a grandstanding Koji Kitao dissing the sport of pro wrestling to the entire audience. It was March 1991 and WWF co-sponsored the show in Japan at the Tokyo Dome. John “Earthquake” Tenta was a former sumo wrestler as was Koji Kitao. In this match Earthquake was scripted for victory and Koji Kitao wasn’t having it.
Koji Kitao kicked the ref, grabbed the mic and announced that wrestling is fake, angry that he could take Earthquake in real life and unwilling to submit to the loss, fake or real. It was one of the strangest outcomes in wrestling history.
JBL vs. Blue Meanie
Blue Meanie, either brave or crazy, decided to stand up to the infamous Texas bully, John Bradshaw Layfield. Making matters worse, JBL was drunk. The Blue Meanie was taunting him and JBL punched him in the back of the head, landing his fist exactly on a wound that took 14 staples to close up the day before. And then JBL went at him, punching the front of his face until he was bleeding from his forehead as well. It was on June of 2005, at a scheduled PPV show.
The brawl was staged with the ring crowded, rope-to-rope, with a mob of wrestlers. The brutal attacks by JBL were not staged. The Blue Meanie considered taking legal action but received a bonus instead, going on to become friends with JBL. “JBL is cool, I’m cool with him, he’s cool with me,” the Blue Meanie told Hannibal TV for Wrestling Inc.