Times You Were Worked...

[sungod2020]

For most of pro wrestling's history, kayfabe was the backbone of the business. Promoters and wrestlers alike would go out of their way(even if it means risking their lives) to protect the business. Weather it's the general public, wrestling fans, or even their own families(such as Grizzly Smith), they lived, breathed, and even died by their characters.

Yes, we all know it's real and for decades, the fixed nature of the business was the worst kept secret however even the biggest, seemingly fool-proof marks can be worked. So what are times when the wrestling business, be it through storyline or a certain character got you into believing it was real?

Sgt. Slaughter Never Serving in The Military - This happened two years ago when I discovered the shocking truth that the real life G.I. Joe never was in the Marines himself. Okay, maybe Sgt. Slaughter, the character was, but Robert Remus, the man behind the character never fought for the country he claimed to embodied. 

I myself never put much thought into it, as I always assumed he had some sort of military background before lacing his pair of boots for a different purpose, and that's in the squared circle. Giving his physical appearance, mannerisms, and all around patriotism, I was far from the only one who thought that. My friends dad, who claimed to live in the same neighborhood as the Hall of Famer at some point, even saluted him as a sign of respect for serving his country.

It also dosen't help that he's given "shoot" interviews about his days on the battlefield back in 'Nam. Slaughter/Remus straddles the line so much between kayfabe and reality that it even pissed off the Department of The Navy issued this letter for his stolen valor.

twitter.com/socaluncensored/status/1217182949390446592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1217182949390446592%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwwfoldschool.com%2Fu-s-navy-responds-to-reports-of-sgt-slaughter-never-serving-in-military%2F

Next thing you're going to tell me is Kamala isn't really a Ugandan Savage or that Jerry Lawler isn't really a King.

Scott Hall/Razor Ramon isn't Really Latino - When he debuted in the WWF in 1992, Scott Hall packaged himself as "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon. From the mean streets of Miami, the (supposed) Cubano reeked machismo. When he went to WCW, he reverted back to his real name Scott Hall, but kept the Razor Ramon mannerisms, including his accent. Given I had no prior knowledge of the four time IC champ pre-WWF, I just accepted him as Hispanic, even if he didn't have a Spanish surname. 

I've come to find out he was a non-Hispanic white guy all along and was almost sidetracked when I saw older videos of him in AWA using his real voice, which sounded as a typical American accent.

The Koloffs Were Not Russian - Both Ivan(real name Oreal Donald Perras) and Nikita(real name Nelson Scott Simpson) only PLAYED guys from there. The former was French Canadian and the later was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Given Ivan wrestled before my time, and Nikita wrestled in NWA(while I was mainly raised on WWF), I might've not been worked that hard but I was still mildly surprised to find out they weren't from the country they represented.

In Nikita's case it would be more understandable since to sell his character, he actually learned Russian and spoke with an accent in front of fans. I think heard someone that he kayfabed himself so hard that he couldn't shake off the accent until two years after he retired. That's some mighty character work if there ever was.

Any examples of you being worked?

[MolotovMocktail]

When it comes to ethnicities, Kato from the Orient Express, finding out that under the mask, he was plain old Paul Diamond, and while he had the Japanese ancestry, Pat Tanaka was born and raised in the US.

When Bret Hart came back in 2007, I knew anything with Vince was going to be a work, but my heart was genuinely pounding when he called out Shawn Michaels at the beginning of the night, as I wasn’t sure what they would say to each other. And when Bret called for a truce and Shawn accepted, I still wasn’t sure if it was sincere or something they were made to say.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

I believed Scott Steiner’s fake retirement in WCW.

I believed Arn and Ole Anderson were actually related for a long time.

[CubsFan71]

Apr 12, 2022 20:16:35 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

I believed Arn and Ole Anderson were actually related for a long time.

The fact that they look like they’re related probably didn’t help

[Mozenrath]

Remus/Slaughter is sort of a grey area. I am not sure what he does would technically be stolen valor in that I think he's certainly been misleading, but I don't recall him ever claiming Robert Remus served, just the fictional character of Sgt. Slaughter. It's not like, say, Brian Dennehy who outright just lied to people about serving in Vietnam, I think. I also don't recall of ever hearing of Remus collecting benefits or making use of discounts, etc, which yeah, would also be in poor taste at best.

But enough pedantic points, hmm, here's one:

Ronnie Garvin and Jimmy Garvin are related, sorta, but not as brothers like kayfabe. Ronnie's Jimmy's stepfather, if I recall.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Apr 13, 2022 7:16:09 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Remus/Slaughter is sort of a grey area. I am not sure what he does would technically be stolen valor in that I think he's certainly been misleading, but I don't recall him ever claiming Robert Remus served, just the fictional character of Sgt. Slaughter. It's not like, say, Brian Dennehy who outright just lied to people about serving in Vietnam, I think. I also don't recall of ever hearing of Remus collecting benefits or making use of discounts, etc, which yeah, would also be in poor taste at best.

But enough pedantic points, hmm, here's one:

Ronnie Garvin and Jimmy Garvin are related, sorta, but not as brothers like kayfabe. Ronnie's Jimmy's stepfather, if I recall.

Last I knew, Manny Fernandez was still claiming to have served in Vietnam. I don’t know if he only does it in wrestling related interviews or if it extends to his personal life.

[chronocross]

I believed as a kid that Kamala was a Ugandan headhunter and my mind was blown when I heard him do a shoot interview years ago.

[noobeast]

I went to a small indie show back around 2014 that did THE most perfect fake wedding wrestling had ever seen. And it involved Vordell Walker, of all people.

I was suspicious about a wrestling wedding, of course, but they played it so straight to the point that I genuinely started to think that I was just watching 2 people get married. They let the ceremony drag on for long enough with absolutely nothing seeming even kinda suspect that I really thought "Wow. These guys are actually just having their wedding at the wrestling show."

Finally, the best man (Walker) blasted the groom with something and it was on. But it was seriously probably the most worked I have ever been.

[thecrusherwi]

Apr 12, 2022 20:05:55 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

When it comes to ethnicities, Kato from the Orient Express, finding out that under the mask, he was plain old Paul Diamond, and while he had the Japanese ancestry, Pat Tanaka was born and raised in the US.

The first time I heard Pat Tanaka speak in perfect English, I was blown away. My child mind never questioned the alleged Japanese heritage of all those Hawaiians and natives of various Pacific island nations who were presented as Japanese over the years - most notably Mr Fuji and Yokozuna.


As a kid, I took everything at face value. I remember renting Survivor Series 1997 from the video store so I could watch the Montreal Screwjob and being underwhelmed. "So the ref and Vince called for the bell even though Bret didn't submit. That's it? Bret won the belt because the ref hit the Undertaker with a chair. He's in no position to complain!"

[sungod2020]

Apr 13, 2022 8:36:47 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

Apr 12, 2022 20:05:55 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

When it comes to ethnicities, Kato from the Orient Express, finding out that under the mask, he was plain old Paul Diamond, and while he had the Japanese ancestry, Pat Tanaka was born and raised in the US.

The first time I heard Pat Tanaka speak in perfect English, I was blown away. My child mind never questioned the alleged Japanese heritage of all those Hawaiians and natives of various Pacific island nations who were presented as Japanese over the years - most notably Mr Fuji and Yokozuna.


As a kid, I took everything at face value. I remember renting Survivor Series 1997 from the video store so I could watch the Montreal Screwjob and being underwhelmed. "So the ref and Vince called for the bell even though Bret didn't submit. That's it? Bret won the belt because the ref hit the Undertaker with a chair. He's in no position to complain!"

Mr. Fuji had Japanese ancestry, he was just born in Hawaii, which would've him Japanese-Hawaiian or Japanese American. I think Yokozuna's Pacific Island ancestry was brought up in the very beginning of his run, but he represented Japan which many real-life Sumos do.

As far as fake heritage/ancestry goes, I was surprised to learn that Nikolai Volkoff not only wasn't Russian, but his real birth country Croatia was never even part of the Soviet Union, so his character was a complete lie. 

Also, I don't know if this counts as being worked, but I was genuinely concerned during their match in AEW when Cody Rhodes busted his brother Dustin up. I screamed out "can somebody please stop the damn match!?" I was relieved to learn he was fine as early as the next day.

[MiLB Fan]

When I saw the show for the first time, I thought Randy Savage and Elizabeth really did get married at SummerSlam. Now keep in mind that I started following wrestling a year later, so anything from before then I watched from renting tapes at Blockbuster Video. I had no idea that Randy and Liz were a real-life couple long before then, and that the Match Made in Heaven was all storyline. I suppose what happened at the reception should have tipped me off that this wasn’t a legitimate marriage but again, I was still learning about this whole wrestling thing.

Remember when Gorilla Monsoon or Vince McMahon would speak ill of a heel, and Bobby Heenan replied with “I’m gonna tell him you said that”? I thought The Brain was being serious, and in my mind I had this image of a heel confronting one of them and saying “hey, I heard what you said about me!”

[Jindrak Mark]

I bought the first 5-10 minutes of Mark Henry's retirement promo. He was getting up there in age and every push they tried to give him was always disrupted by injury so it was believable to me that he had decided to retire. It was a little weird that Cena was out there but I even convinced myself that that was simply so they could have the nice moment when he gives Henry the WWE title belt to pose with.

[salz4life]

Apr 14, 2022 12:58:26 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

I bought the first 5-10 minutes of Mark Henry's retirement promo. He was getting up there in age and every push they tried to give him was always disrupted by injury so it was believable to me that he had decided to retire. It was a little weird that Cena was out there but I even convinced myself that that was simply so they could have the nice moment when he gives Henry the WWE title belt to pose with.

I bought this too..... which is what made it brilliant.

[Aceorton]

I absolutely fell for HBK's collapse on RAW in 1995. The absence of commentary through a couple of commercial breaks, combined with Owen and Lawler's reactions, sold it for me. Fortunately, the infant IWC was there to explain otherwise.

[Bo Rida]

I believed Regal's real fighting background for ages.
Still can't be 100% sure Wade Barrett's bare Knuckle fighting is complete lies, exaggerated or true. He does have a very real scar and good reason not to talk about it much. I doubt any man would ever lie about how he got a scar. The perfect work.

[Deleted]

Even as a kid around 1989, I got into pro wrestling thinking that every bit of it was fake, so it was kind of the other way around for me.

I was surprised to find out that anything actually hurt, the blood was real, the mat wasn't soft, every single move wasn't planned, etc.

[The Ichi]

When I worked a work and worked myself into a shoot.

[cassonova]

Ian Rotten used to try and get me to buy DVD's while he was bleeding and had a dollar bill stapled to his forehead.

One day I bought one.

[Deleted]

Apr 14, 2022 12:58:26 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

I bought the first 5-10 minutes of Mark Henry's retirement promo. He was getting up there in age and every push they tried to give him was always disrupted by injury so it was believable to me that he had decided to retire. It was a little weird that Cena was out there but I even convinced myself that that was simply so they could have the nice moment when he gives Henry the WWE title belt to pose with.

A SMALL TOWN SILSBEE TEXAS BOY DONE PROUD! BABY, I'M COMING HOME!

Yeah that whole angle was fantastic. Shame it resulted in yet another CENAWINSLOL moment but what can you do?

[Limity (BLM)]

Apr 14, 2022 17:37:08 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I believed Regal's real fighting background for ages.
Still can't be 100% sure Wade Barrett's bare Knuckle fighting is complete lies, exaggerated or true. He does have a very real scar and good reason not to talk about it much. I doubt any man would ever lie about how he got a scar. The perfect work.

Something about the UK lends itself to tough guy personas. Even with Finlay and Dave Taylor.