Shoot (professional Wrestling) - Shoot Fighting

Shoot Fighting

Drawing from this related term, a shooter or shoot-fighter is not a wrestler with a reputation for being uncooperative but one who uses legit hooking skills as a gimmick. A prime example of this tactic is Dean Malenko, who used "The Shooter" as a nickname. These wrestlers often gain their skills from martial arts (Ken Shamrock, Josh Barnett), or amateur wrestling (Kurt Angle). These kinds of shooters are sometimes referred to as stretchers (from their ability to use legit holds on their opponents to stretch them).

Despite the worked nature of the spectacle, shooters have been around since the beginning. Originally, the NWA World Champion was typically a shooter or "hooker" (Lou Thesz is the most famous example), in an effort to keep regional champions and other contenders from attempting to shoot on them and win the title when they were not scheduled to do so.

The use of the term "shoot" to describe a single or double-leg takedown attempt (in legit fighting situations such as mixed martial arts) is inspired by early professional wrestling shooters, who would often utilize these basic wrestling moves when shooting on an opponent (as opposed to the flashier takedowns used in worked matches, such as suplexes).

An example of shoot fighting happened on November 4, 2004, episode of SmackDown!, taped in St. Louis, Missouri, during an unscripted segment of Tough Enough, Kurt Angle, a former American amateur wrestler and 1996 Olympic gold medalist, challenged the finalists through a squat thrust competition. Chris Nawrocki won the competition, and the prize Nawrocki won was a match against Angle. Angle quickly took Nawrocki down, breaking his ribs, then made him tap out with a neck crank. After Angle defeated Nawrocki, Angle challenged the other finalists. Daniel Puder, an American professional mixed martial artist, accepted Angle's challenge. Angle and Puder wrestled for position, with Angle taking Puder down, however, in the process, Puder locked Angle in a kimura lock. With Puder on his back and Angle's arm locked in the kimura, Angle attempted a pin, one of two referees in the ring, Jim Korderas, quickly counted three to end the bout, despite the fact that Puder's shoulders weren't fully down on the mat, bridging up at two. Puder later claimed he would have snapped Angle's arm, thus making Angle tap out on national television, if Korderas had not ended the match. Dave Meltzer and Dave Scherer gave these following comments:

"It was real. If you don't follow fighting, Puder had Angle locked in the Kimura, or keylock as Tazz called it, although Tazz didn't let on the move was fully executed. Not only was Angle not getting out of the move, but most MMA fighters would have tapped already. Angle couldn't tap for obvious reasons. The ref counted a three even though Puder's shoulders weren't fully down, trying to end the thing, because the reality was Angle would have been in surgery had it gone a few seconds longer or had Puder not given up the hold." ― Dave Meltzer "As you would expect, Kurt Angle was less than happy backstage at Smackdown after almost being forced to tap out to Tough Enough contestant Daniel Puder. Downright ticked off would probably be the best way to describe his mood. The unscripted nature of the contest was the main reason that Angle was made to look so bad since Puder just reacted to the situation and could have forced Angle to submit had the referees not thought quickly and counted a pin that wasn’t there on Puder." ― Dave Scherer