History ScrewThisImOuttaHere / ProfessionalWrestling

* Many old-time wrestling fans remember the famous confrontation between Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon and UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli. But before Ali entered the ring and the legendary exchange took place (Monsoon picking up Ali and putting him in an airplane spin before throwing him to the mat), Monsoon had a match, against stalwart Baron Mikel Scicluna. Monsoon was dominating Scicluna and was knocked from the ring after taking a heavy "Manchurian" chop ... before Ali stepped into the ring to taunt Monsoon. Scicluna regained his senses and threw up his arms in disgust as he left ringside, as if to say the trope's name.
* "The Big Cat" Ernie Ladd may not have been the first wrestler to do this, but he was the first one to make an art form of it. If he was in a match he didn't consider important and it started to go poorly for him, he'd just leave the ring and walk to the back. He did it so often that for a time the whole act was called 'pulling an Ernie Ladd.'
* This was the end result of Tracy Smothers wrestling a bear at a Continental Championship wrestling show. To his credit he did successfully get the bear in a couple of headlock and take it to the mat a couple of times but the wild eyed southern boy eventually lost his nerve.
* EMLL ditched the Wrestling/{{N|ational Wrestling Alliance}}WA rather than help them deal with the Wrestling/{{WW|E}}F, although Wrestling/{{CMLL}} would return to help the NWA later. Disgruntled talent packing up and leaving EMLL lead to the birth of both Lucha Libre Internacional (and by extension, the Mexican UWA) and Wrestling/{{AAA}}.
* Wrestlers departing from JWA lead to the birth of Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling and Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, who would in turn be deserted by disinters who would form Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH and The Wrestling/UniversalWrestlingFederation.
* It's not uncommon for the {{Heel}}s to fall back on this if they're losing the match, especially if they're defending championships (since you can't lose a title by being counted out). Often this plan will be foiled by 1) the {{Face}} grabbing the Heel and dragging him back into the ring; 2) an authority figure intercepting the Heel and telling him to get back in the ring; or 3) the authority figure declaring losing this match in this manner would count as a forfeit (which ''does'' allow the title changing hands). Occasionally the reverse will happen, with a Heel ''trying to win a title from a defending Face'' just giving up and walking away, like Wrestling/{{Test}} did in his ECW title match with Wrestling/BobbyLashley.
* Bobby Lashley tried to do this himself, wanting to leave TNA. The official reason in real life was to focus on Mixed Martial Arts, but in-story, he was really frustrated with TNA's failure to protect his wife from Wrestling/ScottSteiner and ''she'' wanted him to ditch wrestling for MMA.
* In 2002, when WWE wanted him to put over Wrestling/BrockLesnar on Raw with no buildup, Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "took his ball and went home".
* Also common amongst tag-team partners turned enemies. Examples:
** Wrestling/{{Edge}} had his StartOfDarkness by abandoning Wrestling/ChrisBenoit to be pinned by La Résistance.
** At ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 5'', when Wrestling/TitoSantana accidentally hit his own tag team partner, Wrestling/RickMartel, Martel left him mid-match.
** At The Main Event in 1989, Wrestling/HulkHogan abandoned Wrestling/RandySavage during their tag team match against the Twin Towers ([[Wrestling/TheOneManGang Akeem]] and the Wrestling/BigBossman) to take Elizabeth to the locker room for medical attention. When Hogan returned to the ring, Savage smacked him in the face and left him alone to face them, returning only briefly to get his WWF World title belt.
* In 1988, Wrestling/ThePowersOfPain did this to WCW. They were slated to be in a series of scaffold matches (wrestlers fight on a scaffold several feet above the ring, the object being to knock their opponent off the scaffold down to the ring below) against Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors, and they were booked to lose. Not wanting to risk their careers on this, they walked and went to the WWF.
* A rare non-villainous, purely comedic example had Wrestling/JackieGayda attempting to ditch Wrestling/StacyKeibler just before their Evening Gown Tag Team Match against Wrestling/TorrieWilson and Wrestling/{{Sable}} at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XX''. All four Divas had to strip down to their bras and panties before the match began, and Miss Jackie decided at the last minute that she didn't want everyone to see her in her underwear. She tried to leave - but Torrie and Sable would have none of it, grabbing Jackie and ripping off her gown so that she'd ''have'' to wrestle in her underwear. Although, to be fair, Jackie didn't know about the "wrestling in underwear" stipulation until just a few minutes before the match; she thought that the winners would strip the losers, like in a traditional Evening Gown Match (the match originally was to be a traditional bra & panties match, but one of Sable's breast implants burst a few days before the match, meaning she couldn't get as physical as they had planned). [[FridgeLogic Oddly, the match happened because Stacy and Jackie wanted to pose in Playboy instead of Sable and Torrie.]]
* In a behind-the-scenes example, Wrestling/MollyHolly asked the WWE management in 2005 to let her do a HeelFaceTurn. When they denied her request on the grounds that it would never work, she asked for her release and retired from wrestling.
* Subverted when Wrestling/TripleH apparently abandoned Wrestling/ShawnMichaels in the middle of a "weapons" match against Wrestling/CodyRhodes and Wrestling/{{Ted DiBiase|Jr}}. Turns out, he was just running to fetch his trusty sledgehammer. ([[FridgeLogic One wonders]] why he didn't bring it to the ring to begin with, or just stash it ''under'' the ring before the match.)
* The 10/3/11 episode of ''Monday Night Raw'' ended with this - by about half of the WWE Roster, as well as the announcers, the refs, the cameramen...[[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and the guy that rings the bell.]]
* Wrestling/{{Fandango}} used to be known for refusing to wrestle until someone pronounced his name correctly, which didn't happened until he was introduced by Wrestling/JerryLawler.
* The 6/18/12 edition of ''Raw'' featured a 3-on-1 Handicap Match of Wrestling/JohnCena versus the team of Wrestling/TheBigShow, Wrestling/DavidOtunga, and (former) General Manager of both Raw & [=SmackDown=] Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis, which essentially dwindled down to a mere one-on-one match. This came thanks to both Big Show and Otunga ditching Laurinaitis during the match, leaving the People Power proponent to have to fight Cena alone. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck It went about as well as you might expect for him]].
* On the Labor Day 2012 edition, Wrestling/CMPunk decided to take a "personal day" instead of facing Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}. Subverted at the end of the show when he came back to cost John Cena his match with Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio. On the same show, Wrestling/JackSwagger decided to go on leave. Subverted again a week later when Punk tried this again with Wrestling/RandyOrton, only for Orton to [[YouWillNotEvadeMe chase him and bring him back to the ring]]. In early-2014, Punk had another one. After being passed over to be in the main event of Wrestling/WrestleMania for the third year in a row, he walked out and has not been heard from since.
* Tyler Reks was already tired of being a rarely utilized jobber-to-the-stars when he and tag partner Curt Hawkins got assigned a male stripper gimmick. One ''week'' later he quit pro wrestling. To be fair, he had already been battling with the decision for a while, as he had a newborn at home, and decided to leave wrestling before the gimmick went any further.
* In a battle royal, Wrestling/SantinoMarella sees that he doesn't have a prayer of eliminating Triple H and John Cena, and decides to eliminate the one guy he knows he can: ''[[Funny/SantinoMarella himself!]]''
* Wrestling/GailKim did this at her last appearance in WWE. Upset with the way she had been booked and realizing she wasn't going to be doing anything there, Gail gave her notice that she quit when at a Battle Royal she eliminated herself as soon as the match began. Apparently she was told to be eliminated from it in under a minute they just didn't expect her to eliminate herself. A few months later she had made her return to [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]].
* At Wrestling/SurvivorSeries it's not uncommon for a Heel to decide to do this, whether it's being outnumbered or an argument with his teammates he walks out on them and heads to the back. [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown]] did this two years in a row because he accidently got hit by his teammates, and was named [[http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-survivor-series/page-2 the worst teammate ever]] in Survivor Series history.
* One of the rumors surrounding [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson the Rock]]'s departure from WWE after Wrestlemania 29 is this due to the way WWE booked his match with John Cena. His open dissatisfaction with Cena's [[SarcasmMode storytelling skills]] and the fact that Cena's non-athleticism during the match led to the Rock's ''legitimate'' injuries as well have done nothing to quell the rumors. Cena fans, on the other hand, have [[FlameWar tried very hard]] to shove down people's throats the idea that the Rock walked out simply to spite the pro-wrestling fandom, [[KnowNothingKnowItAll under the assumption that the pro-wrestling fandom and John Cena fandom are one and the same]].
* The night after WWE Payback 2014, Batista had had enough of being denied a match for the WWE championship since Triple H and Randy Orton were focused on ending the Shield. He then left the ring, leaving Triple H screaming at him.
* Nearly any time during Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan's Intercontinental Title run where he was in a fight he knew he couldn't win, he typically just grabbed his belt and left. He would lose the match by count-out, but he would keep the title.
* The Omega Isaac Zercher's reaction to Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson trying to get him to side with either of them during the hardcore match between Havoc and Robinson at Wrestling/{{Progress Wrestling}} Chapter 21.
* Wrestling/TheNaturalDisasters ([[Wrestling/JohnTenta Earthquake]] and [[Wrestling/FredOttman Typhoon]]) teamed with [[Wrestling/MikeRotunda Irwin R. Schyster]] against [[Wrestling/BigBossman The Big Bossman]] and [[Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors The Legion of Doom]] at ''Wrestling/{{WWE}} Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 1991'', November 27, 1991. I.R.S.' interference led to Bossman being the first one eliminated. I.R.S. tried again, and this time it led to Typhoon getting eliminated. The Disasters abandoned the match, leading to the [=LOD=] easily eliminating I.R.S for the win.
* After the MontrealScrewjob, both Earl Hebner (who had rang the bell) and Jim Cornette (who had pitched the screwjob in a creative meeting but believed that it had been vetoed), quickly drove out of the arena fearing retribution.

* Wrestling/TheNaturalDisasters ([[Wrestling/JohnTenta Earthquake]] and [[Wrestling/FredOttman Typhoon]]) teamed with [[Wrestling/MikeRotunda Irwin R. Schyster]] against [[Wrestling/BigBossman The Big Bossman]] and [[Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors The Legion of Doom]] at ''Wrestling/{{WWE}} Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 1991'', November 27, 1991. I.R.S.' interference led to Bossman being the first one eliminated. I.R.S. tried again, and this time it led to Typhoon getting eliminated. The Disasters abandoned the match, leading to the [=LOD=] easily eliminating I.R.S for the win.

* In 1988, the Powers Of Pain did this to WCW. They were slated to be in a series of scaffold matches (wrestlers fight on a scaffold several feet above the ring, the object being to knock their opponent off the scaffold down to the ring below) against Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors, and they were booked to lose. Not wanting to risk their careers on this, they walked and went to the WWF.
* A rare non-villainous, purely comedic example had Jackie Gayda attempting to ditch Wrestling/StacyKeibler just before their Evening Gown Tag Team Match against Wrestling/TorrieWilson and Wrestling/{{Sable}} at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XX''. All four Divas had to strip down to their bras and panties before the match began, and Miss Jackie decided at the last minute that she didn't want everyone to see her in her underwear. She tried to leave - but Torrie and Sable would have none of it, grabbing Jackie and ripping off her gown so that she'd ''have'' to wrestle in her underwear. Although, to be fair, Jackie didn't know about the "wrestling in underwear" stipulation until just a few minutes before the match; she thought that the winners would strip the losers, like in a traditional Evening Gown Match (the match originally was to be a traditional bra & panties match, but one of Sable's breast implants burst a few days before the match, meaning she couldn't get as physical as they had planned). [[FridgeLogic Oddly, the match happened because Stacy and Jackie wanted to pose in Playboy instead of Sable and Torrie.]]

* EMLL ditched the Wrestling/{{N|ational Wrestling Alliance}}WA rather than help them deal with the Wrestling/{{W|orld Wrestling Federation}}WF, although Wrestling/{{CMLL}} would return to help the NWA later. Disgruntled talent packing up and leaving EMLL lead to the birth of both Lucha Libre Internacional (and by extension, the Mexican UWA) and Wrestling/{{AAA}}.

* Wrestling/GailKim did this at her last appearance in WWE. Upset with the way she had been booked and realizing she wasn't going to be doing anything there, Gail gave her notice that she quit when at a Battle Royal she eliminated herself as soon as the match began. Apparently she was told to be eliminated from it in under a minute they just didn't expect her to eliminate herself. A few months later she had made her return to Wrestling/{{TNA}}.

* The Omega Isaac Zercher's reaction to Jimmy Havoc and Paul Robinson trying to get him to side with either of them during the hardcore match between Havoc and Robinson at Wrestling/{{Progress Wrestling}} Chapter 21.

* In 1988, the Powers Of Pain did this to WCW. They were slated to be in a series of scaffold matches (wrestlers fight on a scaffold several feet above the ring, the object being to knock their opponent off the scaffold down to the ring below) against the Wrestling/RoadWarriors, and they were booked to lose. Not wanting to risk their careers on this, they walked and went to the WWF.

* The 6/18/12 edition of ''Raw'' featured a 3-on-1 Handicap Match of Wrestling/JohnCena versus the team of Wrestling/TheBigShow, David Otunga, and (former) General Manager of both Raw & [=SmackDown=] Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis, which essentially dwindled down to a mere one-on-one match. This came thanks to both Big Show and Otunga ditching Laurinaitis during the match, leaving the People Power proponent to have to fight Cena alone. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck It went about as well as you might expect for him]].