10 Wrestling Matches Turned Shoots

Stanislaus Zbyszko

---

We go way back in time again for another one of pro wrestling’s historic shoot matches. Munn was a big boy as legend has it, wrestled for Strangler Lewis’ group, college athlete, but had no real shoot wrestling experience in his background. Legend has it that Zbysko was paid off by rival Lewis’ rival Joe Stecher to take the world title from Munn the hard way. Munn was scheduled to keep the world title but that didn’t happen. The match according to legend saw Zbysko refuse to cooperate with Munn and pin him over and over again until a surprised referee counted to three and Zbysko left with the world title in another one of wrestling’s biggest screw jobs.

Stanislaus Zbysko vs. Wayne Munn:

Muhammad Ali

---

Antonio Inoki

This is arguably most historic MMA match in history. The story has been told many times, so much that an entire Wiki page exists on the match. The basic gist is that in the days leading up to the match Ali tried to renegotiate the rules and put limitations on Inoki. Inoki wasn’t allowed to throw, tackle, grapple, or land kicks on Ali. Ali’s team wanted the rules private for those reasons. According to journalist Jim Murphy, the plan was for Inoki to win. The finish was supposed to involve a ref bump with the ref waking up and counting the pin on Ali. Ali reportedly refused as the match got closer and that is where it all came apart. The match itself was boring, yet incredibly intense. Inoki laid on the ground most of the early part of the match kicking at Ali. Some punches were thrown but in the end they went to a fifteen round decision in one of the most disappointing MMA matches of all-time.

Antonio Inoki vs Muhammad Ali

Andre The Giant

---

Akira Maeda

Big can be more inviting than intimidating depending upon who you are standing across the ring from. There are mixed opinions of this match over the years with some claiming that this was a worked shoot. One version is that neither man wanted to lose the match. Another version was that Antonio Inoki booked Andre to “teach Maeda a lesson.” This is more plausible. Maeda returned to NJPW from UWF with a ton of heat for mocking the “fake” NJPW style. Regardless, Andre showed Maeda early that he wasn’t playing ball and no-sold Maeda. In turn, Maeda began kicking him in the legs. Maeda wasn’t as gutsy to get on the ground with Andre. Antonio Inoki wound up coming out and stopping the match after it came to a standstill long enough.

Akira Maeda vs Andre The Giant