Pro Wrestling and the bait and switch
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You can’t always get what you were told you were going to get.
Professional Wrestling has an accepted habit of not delivering what they promised. It’s a common occurrence for a billed match to be altered or just plain not delivered.
WWE, the largest wrestling company in the world, will often advertise matches for the next weeks show that get extra participants added or just get plain forgotten. The reason usually comes from a sudden change of plans. In wrestling, plans are like the wind. However it’s usually a relatively unimportant match, one that’s only been planned for a week and that the crowd isn’t salivating to see.
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That was not the case this Saturday for CZW. The American indy had been pushing their August fifth show as one of their biggest ever, made so by a rare stateside appearance by hardcore legend Atsushi Onita, the man who popularized deathmatch wrestling in Japan and worldwide. He would face Matt Tremont in an explosion match, Onita’s specialty.
Except the match didn’t happen. Onita and Tremont brawled briefly before four men were added, two from CZW and two from Onita’s famed FMW to make a six man match.
Sometime in the month leading up to the match, Onita and CZW owner DJ Hype had a disagreement about money. A common occurrence when dealing with Onita. CZW wouldn’t or couldn’t pay for the singles match, so it was decided that the match would become a multi man match. Meanwhile the company still promoted the match as being one on one, and continued to do so throughout the whole show.
This being the modern age of leaks, twitter had been abuzz for weeks with the rumors that the main event would be changed. Perhaps this helped soften the blow, as when the match was altered there was no great outrage in the building. Some people groaned, and others cheered at the run ins. Pro wrestling fans are typically very addicted and very forgiving towards their chosen companies.
Perhaps that’s why bait and switches happen so often in wrestling. Typically, they get away with it.
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