Best for business

Over time you realise that anything you thought was real in wrestling, could have been a work. We know the matches themselves are works and we know the fueds that build them up are works. What we sometimes get told about is some shoot that supposedly happened. Some backstage bust up. Something that one wrestler said about another in the ring that was real. Truth is, these incidents might not be shoots or they might not even have happened. For years people used to think that wrestling was real. When it was revealed that it wasn't and some fans got upset, the WWE simply said 'hey, we never said it was real.' That's right folks. Even though they passed it off as real, because they never officially said 'This is real', the notion that it was real was just that, a notion, an assumption, a theory. That would be like finding out that athletics is not real, it's scripted, but because there was never a statement made about athletics being real, they're not lying to us. Now we hear internet rumours about supposed shoots that have happened, but once again, if we found out one day that they were not shoots, we would be in no position to question the WWE or any other wrestling organization about it, since they have openly said that anything is a shoot, even if they implied it.

Let's forget the questions briefly and look at some past events that are most likely to be shoots. When Stone Cold left the WWE in mid 2002, that was real. It was not part of a storyline. He was gone for over half a year and it didn't look like he was coming back. Eventually the business side won. WWE felt they needed him to get ratings and he was offered the right amount of money and the type of position in the company that suited him.

Ric Flair spoke ill of TNA numerous times while working for WWE. After retiring and leaving the WWE, where did he go? Straight to TNA. Why did TNA hire him? Did TNA know about the comments he made? He said it on television, so you'd think they would have. If Flair disliked TNA so much, why did he go there? The answer to all those questions is the same. Business. They felt his presence would bring in ratings and he was out of a job so he went over to them.

Jeff Hardy turned up to the main event of a TNA PPV, high on some recreational drug or another. Did they get rid of him for this? Of course not. What is his role in the company now? Well, he's the TNA champion as it happens.

Mick Foley left the WWE a few years ago after a bust up with Vince McMahon. He went to WWE's rival TNA, but has since made appearances in the WWE.

Bret Hart famously left the WWE in 1997 after he was cheated out of a title match. It was not part of the booking [as far as we know]. He was supposed to win but ended up losing after the referee rung the bell to a sharpshooter that he had not tapped out to. He had spoken about his hatred for Vince McMahon on many occasions since then, yet decided to call Vince just over 3 years ago and ask if he play some role in the WWE. Vince took him back with open arms, because he knew it would be great for business.

The morale of the story here is that if you're a wrestler who has a big enough name in the business, it doesn't matter if you go AWOL, take drugs, speak badly about a company, get in to an argument with the owner of even attack the owner and speak badly of him for years. If you bring in ratings, you might get a call one day, asking you to return. What you did or said in the past will have no meaning.