Shoot (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a shoot refers to any event that is unplanned and spontaneous: that is, it is real, not staged.

Occurrences

As virtually everything in pro wrestling is worked, shoots occur rarely. Shoots in general are against the nature of the business, similar to an actor ad-libbing or dropping character during a performance. Performers who shoot during a wrestling event are often punished, or even out right fired since it is thought that they cannot be trusted to act according to the bookers' wishes.

While the term technically only applies to wrestling performers, crowds also cause shoots by interfering in events, usually by assaulting a wrestler. For example, if a wrestler was standing at ringside, some of the spectators will throw objects at him/her. A famous example of this involved a fan punching Vampiro during a crowd brawl at a World Championship Wrestling event causing both him and his opponent to attack the fan.

Shoots can also occur when wrestlers stop co-operating in a match. This may occur to teach one of the wrestlers "a lesson" for whatever reason.

Shoot Interview

Some interviews or promos during wrestling shows are described as being a "shoot", when a wrestler will refer to something "real world" (such as a wrestler's real name or unscripted real incidents) these are portrayed as being unscripted and genuine. In the case they aren't, this can be seen as an example of the writers breaking the fourth wall and attempting to court the certain cache of fans who are interested in shoots, and are more accurately described as worked shoot.

A "true" shoot interview is generally conducted and released by someone other than a wrestling promotion. They are conducted out of character with a wrestler generally being interviewed about their career and asked to give their opinion on other wrestlers and specific events in their past. While some wrestlers used these as an opportunity to insult people or promotions they dislike, many are more pleasant. These shoots are often released on DVD.

Other Shoots

Example of spontaneous events that are not shoots include mistakes by wrestlers (these are known as botches), which Extreme Championship Wrestling fans started responding to with ruthless chants of "You fucked up!", or matches where the wrestlers are good enough to not need to plan and rehearse beforehand, and make it up on the spot as time dictates. The related term "shoot-fighting" is often used by wrestling fans to refer to mixed martial arts competitions, which, while superficially similar to wrestling matches, are actual athletic competition rather than scripted entertainment.

Drawing from this related term, a shooter or shoot-fighter is not a wrestler with a reputation for being uncooperative but one who uses legitimate hooking skills as a gimmick; a prime example being Dean Malenko, who used "The Shooter" as a nickname (see also legit).

Examples of shoots

Stanislaus Zbyszko defeated champion Wayne Munn on April 15, 1925 for the World Title, when Munn was scripted to retain. A similar situation occurred on March 2, 1936 when Dick Shikat defeated champion Danno O'Mahoney. Apparently the winners felt they deserved the title, and genuinely out-wrestled their opponents.
The MSG Incident (see The Clique).
The Montreal Screwjob is generally acknowledged to be a shoot, in that an agreed-upon plan was secretly changed in order to take the WWF Title off Bret Hart.
In a match between Tiger Mask and Akira Maeda on September 2, 1985 the referee stopped the match because the two were actually beating each other up.
On WCW Monday Nitro, Ric Flair attacked Eric Bischoff with vulgar and obscene words. He revealed it in his book that this was a "100% shoot".
While Extreme Championship Wrestling was on The Nashville Network, owner Paul Heyman repeatedly shot on TNN for their dislike of the program, lack of promotion, and open negotiations with ECW rival, the World Wrestling Federation.
Mick Foley has produced many comical shoots during his career, once causing 3 different wrestlers and the referee to lose all composure and burst out with laughter.
On June 12, 2005, at the ECW One Night Stand 2005 PPV, during a large scale brawl at the end of the PPV, due to personal heat between the wrestlers from former run-ins in different promotions, John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) started to actually strike The Blue Meanie, and was recorded to end up with 12 stiches in his head. In a rare occurrence, due to large discussion on the internet, the WWE actually addressed the issue on their regular programming and attempted to work it in to a storyline, as to avoid the awkward topic being discussed too much. It is rumored but not confirmed by anyone in the business that Matt Hardy did the same thing to Adam "Edge" Copeland at the same event.
At a SmackDown! houseshow in Syracuse, New York, Rene Dupree was attacked by Hardcore Holly in the middle of a tag match they were involved in. The attack was a shoot (not staged) on Holly's part, in retaliation for a ticket Dupree had incurred while driving Holly's rented automobile. Holly forcefully pitched a chair at Dupree and battered him with several stiff kicks and punches to the head.

Examples of Worked Shoots

These examples may not be confirmed "worked shoots", but are generally regarded as such, especially by the smark community.

When Bob Backlund lost the WWF Title to the Iron Sheik in 1983, his manager, Arnold Skaaland, threw in the towel without Backlund's knowledge.
The "Pillman's got a gun" storyline in 1996, in which Brian Pillman pulled a gun on Stone Cold Steve Austin on-camera when Austin "invaded Pillman's home."
Ken Shamrock calling out The Undertaker using his real name, Mark (Calaway), on an episode of Monday Night RAW.
Stephanie McMahon referring to Test by his real name, Andrew, throughout 1999.
Also on RAW, a mid-2005 storyline in which Lita left her storyline husband Kane for Edge. Subsequently, the previously-fired Matt Hardy began appearing at WWE events, attacking Edge and berating Edge, Lita, and the WWE for the situation. Throughout the attacks Hardy would refer to Edge by his real name, Adam. This is generally thought to be an attempt to cash in on a real-life affair between Hardy's former girlfriend Amy Dumas (Lita) and Adam Copeland (Edge). Later, on the August 1, 2005 RAW, WWE owner Vince McMahon came to the ring and officially acknowledged Hardy's new contract and return, inviting him to the ring and giving him the microphone. Hardy proceeded to cut a worked shoot promo in which he recounted the details of the affair and referred to Lita and Edge by their real names, recalling them as "Amy Dumas, better known as Lita" and "Adam Copeland, better known as Edge".
At World Championship Wrestling's New Blood Rising (August 13, 2000), Goldberg sandbagged a powerbomb attempt by Kevin Nash during a three-way match also involving Scott Steiner, and pushed him away. The commentators acted like the incident was a shoot, and acted like they were completely unprepared for the match afterwards, while the wrestlers also acted like they were improvising. This led to a storyline in which Nash and Goldberg traded "shoot" promos at each other to build to a later one-on-one match.
On June 12, 2005, at the ECW One Night Stand 2005 PPV, Rob Van Dam cut an interview about his dissatisfaction with the direction of his character in WWE. Later in the same show, Paul Heyman cut a shoot interview where he scolded Edge for having an affair with female wrestler Lita, who was at the time the girlfriend of Matt Hardy. In the same interview, Heyman told JBL, "The only reason you were WWE Champion for almost a year was because Triple H didn't want to work Tuesdays!" (SmackDown!, the show JBL is a part of, is taped on Tuesdays.) The berated wrestlers took these remarks with amusement.

On the July 25, 2005 edition of RAW, Shawn Michaels cut an in-ring promo for his upcoming match with Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam. Notably, he finished the promo by telling Hogan "Whatcha gonna do when the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels, won't lay down for you?" This is not only a play on Hogan's normal "Whatcha gonna do..." catchphrase, but is also a thinly veiled reference to the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom, a 1999 incident in which Michaels' old friend Kevin Nash blatantly laid down for Hogan in a WCW Championship match. He also made other such comments during the feud.
At the 1995 Royal Rumble, Bam Bam Bigelow, after losing a tag team match due to his partner's bumbling, noticed retired football player Lawrence Taylor laughing at ringside. Bigelow approached Taylor, to which Taylor stood and offered a handshake. An insulted Bigelow then shoved Taylor to the floor and walked off, prompting a surprised reaction from the crowd, and the respective anger of Taylor, who was restrained by his colleagues, and Vince McMahon, who, according to co-commentator Jerry Lawler, had left the table in pursuit of Bigelow (explaining the sudden silence during the broadcast). A formal apology was made by McMahon to Taylor the following night on RAW, along with the announcement that Bigelow had received a 30-day suspension. The confrontation was used to propel a storyline in which Taylor agreed to a match with Bigelow at WrestleMania XI.
On the May 1, 2006 edition of RAW, commentator Joey Styles came out and "quit" his job as commentator. But Styles than began giving a speech on how he thought the WWE's style of "sports-entertainment" was a big joke and that he wasn't allowed to refer to anything as professional wrestling, nor was he allowed to call anybody a wrestler. He also had sharp criticism for WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Although Styles quitting was clearly scripted due to events prior to the incident, most, if not all of his speech is considered to be a worked shoot, since this reflected many actual views within the internet wrestling community, and the exact content was reportedly written by Styles himself.