Botch (professional wrestling)

To botch in professional wrestling means to fail in attempting a scripted move or spoken line by mistake, miscalculation, or an error in judgment.

Many botches are harmless, such as a wrestler simply flubbing a line, missing a cue, or falling before his or her opponent's move actually connects.

Jackie Gayda, winner of the Tough Enough 2 competition, in one of her first televised matches (a tag team match with Christopher Nowinski against Trish Stratus and Bradshaw on the July 8, 2002 edition of Raw from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), botched nearly every move that she tried or attempted to sell, the most infamous of which was a second-rope-bulldog by Stratus, which Gayda sold two seconds too late.

Japanese wrestler Hayabusa botched a springboard moonsault in a match against Mammoth Sasaki when his foot slipped on the second rope and he landed on his head, causing damage to his spine and neck and paralyzing him, although he regained feeling in his legs before his death in 2016.

Hart was forced to improvise an extended taunt sequence until Austin was able regain his composure and roll him up in a schoolboy pin, ending the match earlier than planned but with the desired winner.

[8] Toshiaki Kawada inadvertently invented the Ganso bomb, one of the most dangerous moves in wrestling, after he failed to execute a powerbomb on Mitsuharu Misawa due to breaking his arm earlier in the match and instead dropped his head unprotected.

Drew McIntyre has stated that his running kick finishing move, The Claymore, was accidentally invented as he slipped while delivering an attempted Big Boot, with the tight leather pants he was wearing at the time forcing him to fall to the mat.

During the ensuing Raw vs. SmackDown melee, Nia Jax botched a punch, resulting in a broken nose and concussion for Lynch.