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Loser Leaves Town: Difference between revisions
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A Loser Leaves Town match originated in the old "territory" days of wrestling, where a common tactic would be to bring in a new wrestler, establish him as a monster heel through [[Squash Match]]es, then put him in a series of matches against the promotion's top [[Face]]. After the heel had served his purpose, the face would cap off the feud by defeating him in a Loser Leaves Town match. The heel would disappear forever (usually just to one of the many other wrestling territories that existed in that day) and the face would move onto the next contender.
The more modern version is often called the "Loser Leaves (the promotion)", "Retirement", "Pink Slip", or just "You're Fired" match
In fact, the "three-month rule" often came into effect for another variant of the "Loser Leaves Town" match. Sometimes, the defeated wrestler – almost always a face – wouldn't actually "leave town," but rather he'd return wearing a mask, come up with a crazy name, and often cause trouble for his villainous foe on the defeated wrestler's behalf. Invariably, the heel would complain that the masked wrestler was actually the face he defeated and that he was circumventing the rules, but the authority figures would plead ignorance and say the heel had no proof of who was causing the trouble. Finally, the heel and a few associates would corner the masked wrestler, beat him down to a bloody pulp, and pull off the mask. The "fired" wrestler would be reinstated and one final battle would take place. This storyline was most famously used for the Dusty Rhodes vs. Kevin Sullivan feud of the early 1980s.
So, why have a Loser Leaves Town match? Sometimes, it's to explain the absence of a wrestler who's left the promotion. Other times, it's to give a wrestler time off to heal an injury, film a movie, or spend time with his family. Still others, it can be used to set up a [[Charlie Brown From Outta Town]] angle. And yet still other times, it's simply the only way to end a feud that's just gone on entirely too long and consumed the characters of both wrestlers. In the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] world, with its three separate "brand" rosters, it can be used to move a wrestler from one brand to another. Rarely, if ever, does a '''Loser Leaves Town''' match result in the loser actually quitting wrestling; however, Gorilla Monsoon's last wrestling match was a '''Loser Leaves Town''' match that he lost.
{{examples}}
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== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' a witch that loses a duel will generally leave town. Being publicly defeated makes it hard to maintain authority, and most witches are proud enough not to want to stick around people who've seen them lose.
== Live-Action TV ==
* Robbie Rotten frequently employs this trope on ''[[LazyTown]]'' as a way to try to make Sportacus leave the titular town.<ref>It's worth noting that this rule only applied to Sportacus. If it applied to Robbie, then [[Failure Is the Only Option|the show would quickly lose its villain.]]</ref> It's so predictable that Sportacus [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it in an ''one of the earlier episodes.''▼
{{quote|'''Robbie:''' If I win, you have to leave Lazy Town ''forever.''▼
'''Sportacus:''' The usual, right? }}▼
== Professional Wrestling ==
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* William Regal also lost this kind of match. Regal failed a drug test and the WWE needed a kayfabe explanation for his suspension that followed said test.
** The reason for the match as opposed to simply taking him off TV was that Regal was in the middle of a ''major'' push at the time.
▲* Robbie Rotten frequently employs this trope on ''[[LazyTown]]'' as a way to try to make Sportacus leave the titular town.<ref>It's worth noting that this rule only applied to Sportacus. If it applied to Robbie, then [[Failure Is the Only Option|the show would quickly lose its villain.]]</ref> It's so predictable that Sportacus [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it in an ''one of the earlier episodes.''
▲{{quote|'''Robbie:''' If I win, you have to leave Lazy Town ''forever.''
▲'''Sportacus:''' The usual, right? }}
* [[Kevin Nash]] & [[Goldberg]] both lost Loser Leaves [[WCW]] matches to [[Scott Steiner]] in 2001, which actually stuck [[Real Life Writes the Plot|due to the company going out of business before they could be brought back]].
** This was actually part of Eric Bischoff's big plan to [[Continuity Reboot|reboot]] the company following his plans to purchase WCW. The original idea was to have Steiner wipe out every good guy on the roster on his way to [[The Bad Guy Wins|having complete dominance over the company]]. At around the point where this scenario had played out, the ownership transfer to Bischoff's consortium would be complete. In the inaugural Nitro of his regime, he would bring back all the [[Face]]s at once and kick the new company off with a fresh start. [[What Could Have Been|Unfortunately]], after WCW programming was taken off television in the wake of the AOL/Time Warner merger, the buyout was canceled and WCW itself was shut down shortly thereafter.
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