Loser Leaves Town: Difference between revisions

 

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 [[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}}

 

* For the last eight months or so of his career, [[Ric Flair]] wrestled under a stipulation that should he lose a single match, he would be forced to retire—thus turning all of his matches into Loser Leaves Town matches. He finally lost at Wrestlemania and did indeed retire, making this the rare example of the wrestler actually quitting wrestling when he lost: Flair's real life intent to retire was what sparked the storyline in the first place. It was the WWE's way of giving him a big sendoff.

** Then, after that amazing sendoff at Wrestlemania, he wrestles in a tour of Australia, and started performing for TNA. It became just another [[Ten-Minute Retirement]].

** 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.

* One particularly egregious example from [[WCW]] featured [[Curt Hennig]] losing to Buff Bagwell in a Retirement Match, only to return to the ring THE NEXT DAY. Needless to say, this was booked by [[Vince Russo]].

* [[Shawn Michaels]] was so desperate to end [[The Undertaker]]'s Wrestlemania win streak, he agreed to put his career on the line at ''Wrestlemania XXVI''. Unfortunately for him, he failed to end 'Taker's streak. Michaels has made a point to make the stipulation stick, though he still appears for WWE from time to time.

** Anyone else find it ironic that HBK was the one who ended [[Ric Flair]]'s career(or was supposed to have) at Wrestlemania 26 only to lose his career to [[The Undertaker]] and [[WM 26]] two years later. Makes you wonder how much longer before Taker retires.

** Considering his fight in [[WM 27]] with [[Triple H|HHH]], he could be nearing the end. After all HHH did point out that that was the first time [[The Undertaker]] could not actually leave on his own and had to be helped out of the arena. If [[The Undertaker]] comes back for [[WM 28]], he will either come back and get one more win and retire at 20-0 or will finally lose and thus end the same way [[Ric Flair]] and HBK has.

* This angle becomes [[Serious Business]] in Mexico's wrestling circuit, where if a wrestler loses one such match, the result is ''actually enforced''. Much like losing one's mask, a wrestler better think twice about getting involved in this type of match in Mexico, because should they lose, they ''won't'' get a chance to go all "Hahaha, just kidding, here I am back for more action!". They'll be kicked out of that town for real, never to return.

* At ''Wrestlemania VII'' the long-running fued between the [[Ultimate Warrior]] and [[Randy Savage|Randy "Macho Man" Savage]] culminated in a "Retirement Match" where the loser had to retire from the WWF (now WWE). Savage lost and retired from wrestling for an entire year, instead working as a commentator. He was eventually reinstated so that he could wrestle against [[Jake Roberts|Jake "The Snake" Roberts]], who had been trash-talking Savage on the air, and attacked Savage and his wife (during a Summer Slam wedding portion) Elizabeth with a snake.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Professional Wrestling]]