History Main / LightHeartedRematch

** Bret Hart and Mr. Perfect had a heated rivalry going into SummerSlam 1991, which saw Hart win Perfect's Intercontinental Title despite rampant foul play from the latter. The two met again at King of the Ring 1993, but due to a HeelFaceTurn Mr. Perfect refrained from cheating flagrantly. Hart won again.

* "Free Match" mode in all ''InazumaEleven'' games. After you beat opponent teams during the main game in a SeriousBusiness sense, you can play exhibition matches with them just for fun and [[HundredPercentCompletion ranks.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' sends up the ''Film/RockyIII'' ending with a friendly boxing match between Cleveland and Quagmire... after Quagmire slept with Cleveland's wife and ended their marriage (Long story short, his wife started it after getting tired of Cleveland, who then tried to kill Quagmire in a chase, and is probably giving Quagmire a chance to fight back).

* While in a fighting ring in a recent episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Bart and Lisa decide to have what is apparently one of these, complete with a FreezeFrame ending. Until the credits roll and Lisa downs Bart with one punch.

* In ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' and ''Film/RockyII'', Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed fight in high-profile boxing matches with the world heavyweight championship at stake, each winning one. Apollo does a HeelFaceTurn in ''Film/RockyIII'', taking over as Rocky's trainer after Mickey dies, in exchange for a favor. That favor turns out to be a friendly rematch in an empty gym, just to settle it once and for all.

** It is implied during The Flash: Rebirth that [[spoiler:In an all out race, Superman doesn't actually stand a chance]], at least against Barry, and that [[spoiler:the only reason it always ends in a draw or one of them winning by inches is that Barry allows Superman to keep up since they're usually for charity.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'': [[Series/TheFlash2014 Barry Allen]] and [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver Queen]] have one at the end of one of their crossover episodes. The episode [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome cuts out before the fight starts.]]

* This received a CallBack in ''Film/{{Creed}}'', where Apollo's son Adonis asks Rocky who won their legendary secret rematch. Apollo did.

* The {{DCAU}} is quite fond of this one:

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' sends up the ''Film/RockyIII'' ending with a friendly boxing match between Cleveland and Quagmire... after Quagmire slept with Cleveland's wife and ended their marriage.

The LightheartedRematch is most commonly a {{Superhero}} trope. For one reason or another, two heroes are at odds against each other with high stakes resting on the right one winning. Which of course, happens, even if the "right" hero has to cheat to win. Then the two heroes team up to fight the evil, save the day, yada yada.

** This received a CallBack in ''Film/{{Creed}}'', where Apollo's son Adonis asks Rocky who won their legendary secret rematch. Apollo did.

* [[Series/TheFlash2014 Barry Allen]] and [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver Queen]] have one at the end of one of their crossover episodes. The episode [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome cuts out before the fight starts.]]

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* The ''VideoGame/PokeparkWii'' series is all about befriending Pokémon, and some of them can only be convinced after an all-out battle. Afterward, the majority of them will be willing to challenge you again whenever you feel like it, though in much nicer terms. The sequel even lets you do this with [[spoiler:the main villain, Darkrai, after you revive him in the postgame. Leading to the odd sight of a nightmare Pokémon growing to giant size and smashing down the walls during a battle that he thanks you for afterward]].

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** Later still, after Negi's TournamentArc fight with [[{{Badass}} Jack Rakan]], Rakan declares him the winner and they have a friendly slugfest to end the match.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': The writers of Pokemon love to do this all the time. It was especially common in Johto and Hoenn. The way it generally would work is that Ash or one of his friends would meet a one or a group of {{One Shot Character}}s that would have to battle seriously, be it for pride or some sort of wager. But then after the episode's conflict is resolved, they are able to have a less tense rematch with no strings attached. A good example is the episode ''Go Go Ludicolo''. In the episode, Corphish is extremely jealous of Ash's Grovyle and [[BloodKnight demands to fight Ludicolo to redeem itself.]] The battle over Brock's sandwichs, and Corphish loses due to being to impatient. But after Corphish saves Ludicolo and its trainer from Team Rocket, Ash agrees to have a rematch with the guy but with his Torkoal. While the battle is ultimately an EvasiveFightThreadEpisode, it's heavily implied that Ash won.

* It may be worth it to note that ComicBook/{{Superman}} and various [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flashes]] have raced no less than seven times in the comics, almost always ending ambiguously, or on a tie, with the promise of a future rematch. [[spoiler:Flash won both the clear ones: in the first, Flash (Barry Allen) won by a couple feet, after they crawled across the desert without the use of their legs. It's implied that Superman is less used to running as compared to flying, while running is what the Scarlet Speedster does all the time. In the second, Flash (Wally West) won by mere inches, and Superman confirmed that Wally was The Fastest Man Alive.]]

* Franchise/LyricalNanoha:
** Fate and Signum at the end of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'''s second season. After the entire incident was resolved, Signum mentions that they still hadn't settled their duel, and Fate agrees, they'll definitely settle it fair and square... as many times as they want. The [[AllThereInTheManual Sound Stage]] set after the second season mentioned that Signum won the majority of these lighthearted rematches, though Fate might have finally caught up after the TimeSkip.

** Inverted with [[spoiler:Subaru and her older sister Ginga in ''Striker S''. They have a mock battle in Episode 15 that Subaru seems to enjoy, but loses despite putting up a good effort. In the final battle, Subaru faces Ginga, who has been captured and brainwashed, in a life-or-death battle in order to bring her to her senses. She ultimately manages to defeat Ginga this time]].

* Fate and Signum at the end of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'''s second season. After the entire incident was resolved, Signum mentions that they still hadn't settled their duel, and Fate agrees, they'll definitely settle it fair and square... as many times as they want. The [[AllThereInTheManual Sound Stage]] set after the second season mentioned that Signum won the majority of these lighthearted rematches, though Fate might have finally caught up after the TimeSkip.

* Kazuki and Papillon end up having one of these in the final episode of ''BusouRenkin'', after [[spoiler: Papillon saves Kazuki's life for the purpose of having such a rematch. In return, Kazuki spares Papillon's life.]]

* In the finale of ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'', Wataru and Taiga, who [[spoiler:have been trying to have a fight to the death that Bishop kept interrupting for several episodes, have already made up and become loving half-brothers again. But they still want to fight, if only to fully get rid of their stress and bring them a bit closer together. Of course, how "close" they become is anyone's guess.]]

** The [[YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Abridged Series]] plays this for laughs, noting how Joey actually managed to beat the king of games in a duel but no one ever brings it up again.

* Negi and Kotaro of ''MahouSenseiNegima'' become training partners after beating the bad guys. As of yet, they still haven't figured out who is stronger.

->''Film/RockyIII [[ShoutOut Freeze Frame Ending!!]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' sends up the ''RockyIII'' ending with a friendly boxing match between Cleveland and Quagmire... after Quagmire slept with Cleveland's wife and ended their marriage.

* While in a fighting ring in a recent episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Bart and Lisa decide to have what is apparently one of these, complete with a freezeframe ending. Until the credits roll and Lisa downs Bart with one punch.

* In ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' and ''RockyII'', Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed fight in high-profile boxing matches with the world heavyweight championship at stake, each winning one. Apollo does a HeelFaceTurn in ''RockyIII'', taking over as Rocky's trainer after Mickey dies, in exchange for a favor. That favor turns out to be a friendly rematch in an empty gym, just to settle it once and for all.

* ''Manga/MedakaBox'' has [[spoiler:the very last chapter, where at their 10-year reunion, Zenkichi challenges Medaka to one last fight. We don't see the end, but given that each of them said [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "If I win, you have to marry me!"]], it's obviously unnecessary.]]