History Main / FakeAFight

To the people watching the moment, it looks like they really are fighting as they cheer for one of the fighters to succeed. That being said, there are times when the two fighter end up being [[BadBadActing pretty obvious that they are acting]], yet [[KayFabe their audience still ends up buying it]]. In a few of these staged battles (but not all of them), the two have a designated victor for their fight while the other [[ThrowingTheFight takes the fall]].

Whatever the reason, the fight is faked for the benefit of one or both of the people involved. However, there are also moments where their staged fight will accidentally break out into a real fight (such as when one of them hits the other too hard, or one of them didn't realize it's meant to be fake), or even reveal to have been a real fight all along. When this happens, one or both characters may find themselves in a panic over the fact that they have to start fighting for real.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': For the final round of the the martial arts tournament in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', [[FakeUltimateHero Mr. Satan]] is set to face off against Android 18, whom he realizes he has no chance of beating after seeing her fight Goten and Trunks who snuck into the tournament as [[TotemPoleTrench Mighty Mask]]. However, 18 agrees to stage the fight into [[ThrowingTheFight giving him the win]] in exchange for double the prize money. Mr Satan agrees and the two fight to make it look realistic to the audience with 18 having upper-hand moments to make the fight more interesting.
* ''Manga/DragonGoesHouseHunting'' features a GladiatorGames where ''all'' the fights are staged in order to ensure maximum profits for the Arena's owner, Margrave.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'': Hercules is asked by some Asgardians to dress up as ComicBook/TheMightyThor and defeat Alfyse, Queen of the Dark Elves, because Thor is the only person Alfyse will yield to. However, Alfyse is also [[FemmeFatale absolutely gorgeous]], and she and "Thor" begin flirting, leading to the two of them sleeping together. In the morning, this backfires as Alfyse uses this to [[AccidentalMarriage declare herself Thor's wife by ancient rite]], and thus she can now invade Asgard and declare herself queen legitimately. To rectify this, the Asgardians find the ''real'' Thor, dress him as "Hercules" and have him fight Alfyse's husband "Thor" to thwart the invasion. The two men being {{Friendly Rival|ry}}s, "Hercules" makes an offhand insult that he "won't hurt" his friend, but an insulted "Thor" suckerpunches him and their fight becomes a hilarious farce filled with both men trying to overpower the other using schoolyard tactics like a [[GroinAttack kick to the groin]], [[BreastAttack purple nurple]], and other silliness. Eventually, "Hercules" gets frustrated that "Thor" isn't taking a dive as promised, but "Thor" says that unless his opponent stops holding back, the elves won't buy it. After the fight finally ends, it turns out that Hercules (the real one) set this up so that from now on, ''everyone'' would know that [[ExactWords "Hercules defeated Thor, once and for all"]].

* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': Jason and Alexander fake a fight to distract the guards and surprise them by suddenly attacking them instead of each other. Played with straight afterwards however, since they accuse each other of not pulling their punches and using the "fight" to vent their personal frustrations with each other.

* ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'': One story has Sally fall for a geeky type who speaks in rhyme. At one point a big bully insults her, so the geek puts his glasses in his shirt pocket before gig off to defend her honor. When he emerges victorious from the fistfight, Encyclopedia whispers a few words to Sally, who promptly decks the geek and stalks off in a temper. [[spoiler:He told her to look at the guy's glasses, had it been a real fight they would have been broken from the bully's punches to the chest]].

** In "[[Recap/LeverageS02E08TheIceManJob The Ice Man Job]]," Eliot poses as a guard and Hardison pretends to knock him out during a fake fistfight to not only impress some diamond-stealing Russian goons, but to also buy Parker time to break into the vault where the diamonds are and help set up all the bad guys involved before the real police arrive.

* In ''Music/{{PSY}}'''s That That mv feat. Suga from Music/{{BTS}}, he and Suga take turns in fake fist fighting each other along the beat and the lyrics.

* The second misson of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'', starts off with Mason and Reznov pretending to fight in order to trick a guard.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'''s ''Mothership Zeta'' {{DLC}}, Somah's plan to escape the aliens' prison is to fake a fistfight then jump the aliens when they come to break it up. The [[PlayerCharacter Lone Wanderer]] can call it cliché, but it's the only plan they have, and thankfully it works.

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' "Doug's Big Brawl", Doug got into a fight with Larry and won. Neither Larry nor Doug want to fight again, but the other members of the AV club demand a rematch and threaten to kick out Larry if he backs down. Doug and Larry stage a fight on the school TV, conveniently knocking the camera to the side so that nobody can see the nonexistent fight, with Skeeter providing sound effects.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesCartoons'' short "Boarding Games", [[LittleGuyBigBuddy Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot]] get sent to a pet hotel where Pussyfoot wanders into the dog side which is of course full of [[AnimalJingoism cat hating dogs.]] When she finally gets discovered by the other dogs, Marc Anthony steps in and pretends he wants to get the first hit in and puts on a big show of Pussyfoot beating him up senselessly, making the other dogs back off out of fear.

** In "New Student Starfish", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick decide to have a fist fight in the halls over a disagreement, only to accidentally invoke this trope when neither of their hits connect.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', Buster Bunny and Dizzy Devil find themselves assigned an "antagonize the antagonist" project by their respective mentors. While they comply, reluctantly, at first, neither student really sees this as necessary given they're friends, and decide to teach their teachers a lesson by engaging in a bit of over the top mayhem that seemingly reduces them to atoms. While the distraught Bugs and Taz begin crying over seemingly getting their proteges killed, the two appear in a onscreen circle congratulating each other. Unfortunately Bugs and Taz being old pros means they're more than capable of noticing this and [[BreakingTheFourthWall nabbing their students in turn.]]
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado'', Tulio and Miguel stage a sword fight, complete with requisite {{Flynning}}, to get away from some irate gamblers who had just realized that Tulio was using loaded dice against them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Finale" Richard accidentally crashes a hijacked bus into Penny's backyard. Her father Patrick steps out to confront them and a crowd eggs them on to fight. They both agree to pretend to fight and act like Patrick is knocked out, but Richard accidentally knocks him out for real.

[[caption-width-right:343:The look on their face says it all.]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': Jason and Alexander fake a fight to distract the guards and surprise them by suddenly attacking them instead of each other. Played with straight afterwards however, since they accuse each other of not pulling their punches and using the "fight" to vent their personal frustrations with each other.
* Parodied in ''Film/AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest'' during a barfight the main character and his friend stand aside and just roll their hands toward each other while loudly proclaiming that they're already fighting each other in order to avoid being actually hit during the barfight. Their plan goes wrong when one of them does hit the other by accident.
* ''Film/FortyEightHrs'': Near the beginning of the film a man stops his car close to a crew of prison inmates doing roadside cleanup and starts yelling racial epithets at one of the crew, a Native American. The two soon start fighting and are soon rolling on the ground wrestling with each other. Then they both produce guns that the motorist had hidden under his shirt and shoot the two guards who had been guarding the work crew. The entire fight had been a trick to help the inmate escape.
* In ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', two prisoners staged a fight to distract the guards so that another group of prisoners could sneak aboard a truck or join a group of Soviet prisoners that was leaving the camp.

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'': In the film adaptation, Frodo and Sam, disguised as orcs, get forced into an army unit on the way to the Black Gate. When the unit is put up for inspection, Frodo realizes the inspector is suspicious of them, and they need to get away before they're found out. He tells Sam to start fighting with him. The sudden apparent violence riles up the orcs so much that Frodo and Sam are able to sneak away in the confusion.

** In "The Homecoming Job," Nate & Sophie wander around a shipping yard dressed as tourist just off a cruise ship arguing about where they parked their car in order to distract the guards so that the rest of the team can sneak in and set up the con needed to take down a Congressman who is trying to smuggle money he embezzled out of the country.
** In "The Ice Man Job," Eliot poses as a guard and Hardison pretends to knock him out during a fake fistfight to not only impress some diamond-stealing Russian goons, but to also buy Parker time to break into the vault where the diamonds are and help set up all the bad guys involved before the real police arrive.

* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': In "Steered Straight", Drake and Josh's parents hire a group of cops to pretend to convict them as a way to teach them a lesson after they get busted for using fake [=IDs=] to enter a prestigious nightclub. However, Blaze, a criminal on the run hijacks the police car, forcing the duo to help him and his crew rob their own home. Eventually, the pair decide to drive the goons away by pretending to get into a bloody fistfight over the specifics of a plan to kidnap [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger the governor of California]]. It works.

See also MonsterProtectionRacket. Not to be confused with LetsYouAndHimFight.

* ''Film/FortyEightHours'': Near the beginning of the film a man stops his car close to a crew of prison inmates doing roadside cleanup and starts yelling racial epithets at one of the crew, a Native American. The two soon start fighting and are soon rolling on the ground wrestling with each other. Then they both produce guns that the motorist had hidden under his shirt and shoot the two guards who had been guarding the work crew. The entire fight had been a trick to help the inmate escape.