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This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Botchamania | |
|---|---|
 The original Botchamania logo/wordmark/title card, as used in the early 2010s | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | TheOriginalMikey |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 537 |
| Production | |
| Editor | Matthew "Maffew" Gregg |
| Running time | Typically 20 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network |
|
| Release | 2006 (KiKrusher99 edit) 2007 (Maffew edit) |
| Part of a series on |
| Professional wrestling |
|---|
 |
Botchamania is a web series, primarily hosted on YouTube, that focuses on compiling and showcasing mistakes, blunders, and embarrassing moments from the world of professional wrestling, known as "botches".[1][2][3] The term "botch" in wrestling jargon refers to any unintentional or poorly executed manoeuvre or action during a match. These can include missed moves, awkward falls, audible communications, and other instances where the scripted nature of wrestling is momentarily broken, revealing the staged nature of the performance.[1][2]
Although he did not create the series, it is most commonly associated with British video editor Matthew "Maffew" Gregg, who took control in 2007 and has continued it into the present day, despite several lengthy disputes with many wrestling promotions over copyright and fair use. The show typically features montages of various wrestling botches, set to a soundtrack of video game music and filled with humorous captions and commentary. While the primary focus is on showcasing these mistakes, Botchamania often incorporates other humorous content from behind-the-scenes of professional wrestling as well as offering its own commentary on various incidents within wrestling.
In the mid-2000s, a user named "TheOriginalMikey" uploaded a wrestling bloopers video (set to the album version of Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started") to a number of web forums. With the formation of YouTube in 2005, a user named "KiKrusher99" uploaded a re-edited version of the video, and renamed it, giving it its iconic name, Botchamania. Maffew has described this video as "more of a Botchamania Redux". A third video in the series was uploaded by a user named "JoeyNightHeat" in 2007. After watching the video, Maffew felt that he could do a better job, and uploaded his own, becoming the fourth in the series. When he realised he had some leftover clips, he uploaded another video and ended up continuing the series. Eventually, Maffew would remake the first three videos in his own distinct style.[4]
Botchamania focuses mainly on showcasing obvious mistakes and mishaps which take place during the course of professional wrestling shows, however, other forms of content on the show include matching "shoot" (out-of-character) commentary from professional wrestlers themselves and overlaying the audio over the incident they are discussing.[5] Content on Botchamania encompasses the entire industry, ranging from experienced veteran professional wrestlers performing for major international promotions such as WWE, AEW, NJPW and CMLL to rookie wrestlers performing for local independent circuit shows.
Some recurring segments in Botchamania are named after songs or song lyrics, for example, "You talk too much", which covers incidents of wrestlers audibly communicating instructions to one another ("calling spots") during the match. Another segment is named "I am the table", which centres on instances of wrestlers failing to break through tables. One segment that isn't named after a song or lyrics is called "Insipid Taz commentary", focusing on the often unintentional comedic moments created by commentator Taz.[2]
Initial reactions to Botchamania by professional wrestling performers were generally negative, as many performers who were unfamiliar with the content of the show mistakenly assumed that it celebrated clips of the wrestlers being injured. However, as awareness of Botchamania and its light-hearted tone developed, many wrestlers have either publicly played along with jokes from the show or directly praised it.[1] As relations between Botchamania and professional wrestlers thawed, the show began to feature personalised introductions to the show by various wrestlers themselves,[1] while Maffew would occasionally share a stage with wrestling performers at fan conventions such as Starrcast.[6]
By 2015, Botchamania had developed a more positive image within wrestling, with stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dolph Ziggler making public reference to it.[1] In 2022, Shotzi Blackheart commented that after being involved in a botch at WWE's Money in the Bank event in 2022, she couldn't "wait to see that spot on Botchamania" and laugh at it, while Mace has favourably recalled a poorly reviewed match from Hell in a Cell "going viral" because of Botchamania.[7] During AEW's All In pay-per-view event in 2023, lead announcer Excalibur referenced a long-running joke from Botchamania during a botch in the Sting/Allin vs. Strickland/Cage match.[8]
Fans of Botchamania regularly bring signs to professional wrestling shows that reference back to the web show,[5] while a particularly egregious botch occurring on a show can prompt the fans in attendance to chant "Botch-a-mania!".[9][10]
In December 2018, WWE created their own in-house version of Botchamania for their WWE Network, entitled The Botch Club, hosted by Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. However, the show was cancelled after just a handful of episodes had aired.[11]
Since its creation, Botchamania has faced issues with copyright infringement and content takedowns. By 2015, Botchamania had experienced at least nine YouTube accounts made for the show being banned by the platform, primarily due to content strikes generated by WWE material.[1]
In March 2021, All Elite Wrestling issued a number of copyright strikes against Botchamania after it featured content from Blood & Guts, in which cameras filming Chris Jericho performing a stunt in which he fell from the top of a cage showed him landing safely onto crash pads. Because there were multiple strikes, this automatically caused YouTube's system to suspend the Botchamania YouTube channel. As part of AEW's claim to YouTube, their legal team attempted to argue that AEW footage was not eligible for fair use as they had exclusive legal rights to AEW footage. However, following a backlash on social media, AEW withdrew the copyright strikes and the Botchamania channel was restored.[12]
In simple terms, Maffew's Botchamania compilations are blooper reels, collections of mistakes drawn from various professional wrestling events, edited into twelve- to fifteen-minute-long videos. The bloopers include botched moves, clips of wrestlers stumbling over their dialogue or breaking character onscreen, illogical or particularly ridiculous narrative events (which are all too common in professional wrestling), and excerpts of wrestlers audibly calling spots.
While being the most dedicated of fans, they can also be the harshest critics, looking for mistakes and "botches" (or glimpses into reality) at every opportunity. The appeal of this is evidenced by the widespread popularity of Botchamania, a Youtube series.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Botchamania is a web series, primarily hosted on YouTube, that focuses on compiling and showcasing mistakes, blunders, and embarrassing moments from the world of professional wrestling, known as "botches". The term "botch" in wrestling jargon refers to any unintentional or poorly executed manoeuvre or action during a match. These can include missed moves, awkward falls, audible communications, and other instances where the scripted nature of wrestling is momentarily broken, revealing the staged nature of the performance. Although he did not create the series, it is most commonly associated with British video editor Matthew "Maffew" Gregg, who took control in 2007 and has continued it into the present day, despite several lengthy disputes with many wrestling promotions over copyright and fair use. The show typically features montages of various wrestling botches, set to a soundtrack of video game music and filled with humorous captions and commentary. While the primary focus is on showcasing these mistakes, Botchamania often incorporates other humorous content from behind-the-scenes of professional wrestling as well as offering its own commentary on various incidents within wrestling.
OSW Review (full name Old School Wrestling Review) is an Irish video podcast which reviews professional wrestling events and movies. Founded by Jay Hunter, the podcast is independent but syndicated to professional wrestling critic video series Botchamania. The podcast was founded in 2008 with a panel of three hosts, Hunter, Steve "V1" Roe and "Mr. OOC" (abbreviation of "Out Of Character," a term from online fantasy pro-wrestling promotions & forums, real first name Steve, surname unknown). A fourth host, "Neo"/Niall was also featured in early episodes, but has not been featured since. Botchamania creator Maffew Gregg has served as a guest host on some occasions. The show drew inspiration from the professional wrestling Review-a-Wai and video gaming Epic Battle Axe podcasts. Hunter also promoted a weekly radio show for Radio Dublin named Super OSW 64.
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name "the Rock", is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Johnson was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) during the Attitude Era. He wrestled for the WWF full-time for eight years before pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $11.4 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing actors of all time. He is a co-owner of the United Football League, a member of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings—the parent company of UFC and WWE—and co-founder of Seven Bucks Productions. After accepting an athletic scholarship to play football at the University of Miami as a defensive tackle, Johnson was a member of the 1991 national championship team but was largely a backup player. Despite aspirations to play professional football, he went undrafted in the 1995 NFL draft, and briefly signed with the Calgary Stampeders before being cut in his first season. In 1996, with assistance from his father in securing a contract, Johnson debuted in the WWF's New Generation Era as Rocky Maivia. The next year, Johnson adopted the more famous gimmick of The Rock, a charismatic trash talker, and soon rose to global prominence in the company's Attitude Era. Johnson left the WWE in 2004; he returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013 and made sporadic appearances until his retirement in 2019; in 2023, he returned once again on a part-time basis. A 10-time world champion—including the promotion's first of African descent—he is also a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time Tag Team Champion, the 2000 Royal Rumble winner, and WWE's sixth Triple Crown champion. Johnson headlined multiple pay-per-view events, including WWE's flagship event WrestleMania six times (15, 16, 17, 28, 29, and 40 – Night 1) which includes the most-bought professional wrestling pay-per-view (WrestleMania 28) and main evented the most-watched episodes of WWE's flagship television series (Raw and SmackDown). Johnson's first film role was in The Mummy Returns (2001). The next year, he played his first leading role in the action fantasy film The Scorpion King. He has since starred in family films The Game Plan (2007), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Tooth Fairy (2010), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and Jungle Cruise (2021), and the action films Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), Hercules (2014), Skyscraper (2018), San Andreas (2015), and Rampage (2018). He also starred in the action comedy films Get Smart (2008), Central Intelligence (2016), Baywatch (2017), and Red Notice (2021). His role as Luke Hobbs in the Fast & Furious films, beginning with Fast Five (2011), helped the franchise become one of the highest-grossing in film. He joined the DC Extended Universe by playing the title role in Black Adam (2022). He has also voiced Maui in the Disney animated film Moana (2016) and its sequel Moana 2 (2024), and reprised the role in the 2026 live-action remake. He received critical praise for his dramatic turn as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in the sports biopic The Smashing Machine (2025). Johnson produced and starred in the HBO comedy-drama series Ballers (2015–2019) and the autobiographical sitcom Young Rock (2021–2023). His autobiography, The Rock Says, was released in 2000 and was a New York Times bestseller. In 2016 and 2019, Time named him as one of the world's most influential people.
André René Roussimoff (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ʁəne ʁusimɔf]; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), known professionally as André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Dubbed "the Eighth Wonder of the World", Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess human growth hormone. Beginning his career in 1966, Roussimoff relocated to North America in 1971. From 1973 to the mid-1980s, Roussimoff was booked by World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) promoter Vincent J. McMahon as a roving "special attraction" who wrestled for promotions throughout the United States, as well as in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. During the 1980s wrestling boom, Roussimoff became a mainstay of the WWWF (by then renamed the World Wrestling Federation), being paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuding with Hulk Hogan. The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, his sole major world heavyweight championship, on the first episode of The Main Event. As his WWF career wound down after WrestleMania VI in 1990, Roussimoff wrestled primarily for All Japan Pro-Wrestling, usually alongside Giant Baba, until his sudden death. After his death in 1993, Roussimoff became the inaugural inductee into the newly created WWF Hall of Fame. He received a second induction when his WrestleMania III match with Hulk Hogan was inducted into the Immortal Moments category in 2026. He was also a charter member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame; the latter describes him as being "one of the most recognizable figures in the world both as a professional wrestler and as a pop culture icon." Outside of wrestling, Roussimoff is best known for appearing as Fezzik, the giant in the 1987 film The Princess Bride.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
