History Main / RiggedSpectacleFight

** When Luffy is trapped in the Udon Prison Mine and gets on the bad side of the wardens, Queen the Plague decides to put Luffy and TheOldCon Hyo through a "Sumo Inferno"; Luffy and Hyo are outfitted with special collars that will cut off their heads if they leave the arena, and have to fight an endless wave of mooks who are allowed weapons. Thankfully, Luffy is allowed to fight without the Sea Prism Stone chains that negate his Gum-Gum Fruit powers, and treats the whole event as a means to practice his [[KiAttack Haki mastery]]. Queen doesn't mind Luffy steamrolling his opposition as he [[PassThePopcorn enjoys the spectacle.]] [[spoiler: Though unsurprisingly this would come back to haunt him later when Luffy comes to invade Onigahsima along with his crew and the Samurai Alliance later. The whole thing having strengthen Luffy's Haki technique.]] The whole thing gets broken up by [[LargeAndInCharge Big]] [[OneBadMother Mom]] invading the mines.

** When Luffy is trapped in the Udon Prison Mine and gets on the bad side of the wardens, Queen the Plague decides to put Luffy and TheOldCon Hyo through a "Sumo Inferno"; Luffy and Hyo are outfitted with special collars that will cut off their heads if they leave the arena, and have to fight an endless wave of mooks who are allowed weapons. Thankfully, Luffy is allowed to fight without the Sea Prism Stone chains that negate his Gum-Gum Fruit powers, and treats the whole event as a means to practice his [[KiAttack Haki mastery]]. Queen doesn't mind Luffy steamrolling his opposition as he [[PassThePopcorn enjoys the spectacle.]] The whole thing gets broken up by [[LargeAndInCharge Big]] [[OneBadMother Mom]] invading the mines.

* The climax of ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' sees a rare AntiHero moment of this from the Hulk himself. Hulk returns to the Earth after [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Illuminati]] trapped him in a rocket and send him hurtling through space in a misguided effort to prevent more destruction. Understandably furious, Hulk captures four of the Illuminati--Iron Man, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Mister Fantastic--and straps them with "obedience disks" that prevent them from using their powers (the other two members are spared this fate--Namor because he [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe voted against sending Hulk away]] and Professor X because Hulk decides that after the events of M-Day, [[EveryoneHasStandards he's suffered enough]]). He then pits the four in a globally broadcast gladiator-style match against both a giant alien and each other, the latter apparently to the death. Hulk eventually stops the fight, though, and announces that he doesn't want anyone to die--he just wanted to utterly humiliate the Illuminati for their cruelty.

* ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'':
** The Wolf's every duel against his targets would already be a CurbStompBattle (he's described as being even bigger than the Mountain), but he also has a Chaos-given ability to insult his enemies into attacking in blind fury (including a NonActionGuy like Petyr Baelish). Even those threatening him with arrows see their shots go wild just as they're loosed.
** While fighting Euron, he arranges for both crews to be present and watch, the Silence's crew making no move to support their captain. For extra humiliation, the Wolf has his crew chant his name then asks Euron's (tongueless) crew to do the same.
** {{Subverted|Trope}} after Daenerys returns to King's Landing and the Iron Fleet is sighted at the entrance to Blackwater Bay: The Wolf participates in planning the defense when the reader knows the fleet now follows his orders, but then it sails away without fighting. Once reunited with them, he tells the Ironborn captains that if they'd disobeyed him and attacked the city, he would have attacked them without hesitation (and what with the wall defenses, Daenerys' fleet, and Drogon, they would have stood no chance anyway).

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': Overlapping with ComeToGawk. The villains plan to use Michael Jordan as an attraction where customers will play against him in a one-on-one basketball match [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78GiehoqhrQ as he's chained to an iron ball and there are stairs leading to the basket]], allowing the tiny monster to dunk the ball effortlessly.
* ''Film/MrNiceGuy'': Towards the second half of the movie, Jackie is captured by the mob boss, who fancies himself a fighter. He has his goons tie ropes to Jackie's arms and legs, and ''then'' challenges him to a fight, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j3cyfofqkE Jackie still manages to put up a decent fight.]]
* ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'': After Joe is found guilty of causing the economy to collapse due to him convincing the presidential cabinet to irrigate crops with water instead of Brawndo, a sports drink, he's sentenced to [[NotSoHarmlessPunishment Monday Night Rehabilitation]], a PublicExecution. Joe's punishment is to face off in a crowded stadium against two monster trucks armed with a giant drill and a jackhammer, while chained to a big rock and riding in subcompact car.

* ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'': After Joe is found guilty of causing the economy to collapse doe to him convincing the presidential cabinet to irrigate crops with water instead of Brawndo, a sports drink, he's sentenced to [[NotSoHarmlessPunishment Monday Night Rehabilitation]], a PublicExecution. Joe's punishment is to face off in a crowded stadium against two monster trucks armed with a giant drill and a jackhammer, while chained to a big rock and ridding in subcompact car.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riggedfight.png]]]]

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': During the grand magic games, Laxus is set to fight Raven Tail's Alexi in a one-on-one match. While the audience watches an epic fight between the two, in reality, the fight is nothing more than an illusion rigged to give either one the victory while Alexi reveals himself to be Ivan (who is the guild master and not allowed to partake in the games) and the entire Raven Guild prepares to either get Laxus to give them Fairy Tail's secrets or gang up on him and have Ivan win the fight as Alexi. However, Laxus manages to overpower the entire guild on his own, break the illusion, and expose them of their cheating, resulting in Raven Tail being disqualified.

Dramatic tension comes from how the fight actually goes, as the villain's foe may be able to win through a combination of the villain's overconfidence, sheer grit, or outside circumstances. Even if they fail, they may be able to put up enough of a struggle to give the villain pause.

** When Luffy is trapped in the Udon Prison Mine and gets on the bad side of the wardens, Queen the Plague decides to put Luffy and TheOldCon Hyo through a "Sumo Inferno"; Luffy and Hyo are outfitted with special collars that will cut off their heads if they leave the arena, and have to fight an endless wave of mooks who are allowed weapons. Thankfully, Luffy is allowed to fight without the Sea Prism Stone chains that negate his Gum-Gum Fruit powers, and treats the whole event as a means to practice his [[KiAttack Haki mastery]]. Queen doesn't mind Luffy steamrolling his opposition as he [[PassTjePopcorn enjoys the spectacle.]] The whole thing gets broken up by [[LargeAndInCharge Big]] [[OneBadMother Mom]] invading the mines.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E12And13WarWorld War World]]", Superman is captured and forced to participate in gladiatorial deathmatches for the entertainment of Mongul's subjects. The hero's overwhelming popularity soon weakens the tyrant's public support, forcing the latter to personally engage the Kryptonian in combat. However, Mongul arranges for a death ray to be fired at an inhabited planet should he be defeated, leaving Superman with no choice but to be brutally beaten up by him.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': During the Dark Tournament arc, Team Urameshi, having been forced to participate in the tournament, end up running into rigged fights in their second and third matches due to noticing they're the only team scheduled for back to back fights due to the crooked human higher ups running the show. At first they figured they get a respite after winning their second match, but are immediately forced to fight another group of opponents while most of the team is wounded and exhausted with Hiei and the Masked Fighter trapped in a barrier that their opponents constructed beforehand to prevent them from participating. What's more, Yusuke ends up losing a match because a human committee member used technical mumbo jumbo to have the fight's results tossed out; however, Togoro and Sakyo disapproved of this and had the committee member killed, allowing the next match to go on fair and square.

* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': During the Dark Tournament arc, Team Urameshi, having been forced to participate in the tournament, end up running into rigged fights in their third matches. Immediately after they win the second match, they have to fight another group of opponents while most of the team is wounded, exhausted, and with Hiei and the Masked Fighter trapped in a barrier that their opponents constructed beforehand. Yusuke ends up losing a match because a human committee member used technical mumbo jumbo to have the fight's results tossed out; however, Togoro and Sakyo disapproved of this and had him killed, allowing the next match to go on fair and square.

%%* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': During the Dark Tournament arc, Team Urameshi, having been forced to participate in the tournament, end up running into rigged fights in their second and third matches:
%%** The second match is against a doctor who uses brainwashed humans to fight for him. Since the heroes don't want to kill innocents, they manage to get around it due to a power the Masked Fighter uses to free their opponents before confronting and defeating the doctor.
%%** Immediately after, they have to fight another group of opponents while most of the team is wounded, exhausted, and with Hiei and the Masked Fighter trapped in a barrier that their opponents constructed beforehand. Yusuke ends up losing a match because a human committee member used technical mumbo jumbo to have the fight's results tossed out; however, Togoro and Sakyo disapproved of this and had him killed, allowing the next match to go on fair and square.

* ''Manga/MobPsycho100'': When the (LOL) Cult finds out Mob is immune to their (psychically amplified) peer pressure to laugh, its leader Lord Dimple challenges him in front of the cultists to a series of milk-drinking duels and whoever laughs first loses. Mob's last milk has something mixed in, making him spit it out.

** After Commodus learns Maximus is alive and is the gladiator known as "The Spaniard" he arranges for a match that he does his best to rig without being completely obvious; he hires a [[RetiredBadass retired champion]] gladiator to return to the arena for the fight, then has numerous tigers stationed around the arena, with their handlers having been given orders to sometimes let the tigers come close enough to Maximus to distract him or let the tigers take a swipe at him. Maximus barely manages to win the match.

* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'': Just before the climactic fight in the Colosseum between Commodus and Maximus, [[InTheBack Commodus stabs Maximus in the side]]. It's clear from the get-go that Maximus is dazed from shock and blood loss, even hallucinating the door to Elysium at one point, but he still pulls himself together enough to fend off Commodus' attacks and eventually kills Commodus with his own dagger.

Some villains love to make a spectacle of their foes, and there's not many better ways than beating them down in front of an audience. To make the process even faster, and/or to highlight their loathsomeness, these fights are often done with the villain having some advantage over their opponent, their opponent being given some disadvantage, or a combination of the two. This (dis)advantage is sometimes very obvious, but more often than not it's done in secret so the villain can look that much better; if it's obvious, it's likely been done to demoralize the opponent or make it clear that the fight is not even remotely fair.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Wolverine}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/riggedfight.png]]]]

* Franchise/{{Wolverine}}: His first solo series' first issue opens with a fight between the leader of a pirate gang and the captain of a plane that the pirates have captured, with the other pirates and the surviving passengers watching. It's immediately obvious that the fight is meant to be bloodsport, as the pirate is wielding a machete while the captain's arms have been tied behind his back. The captain manages to put up enough of a fight to impress some of the other pirates, but he's eventually overpowered and decapitated by the pirate leader, who makes it clear to some of the female captives that this was done as an example of what could happen [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty if they displease him]].

Related to EngineeredHeroics, where a fight is scripted to make the "hero" look good.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''{{ComicBook/Asterix}}'': In ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBigFight'', the Romans learn that Getafix has gone mad and can't prepare any more [[SuperSerum magic potion]] (taking a menhir to the head will do that), so they send the [[TheQuisling Gallo-Roman chieftain]] Cassius Ceramix to challenge Vitalstatistix to a one-on-one fight for leadership of his village. Vitalstatistix can't refuse despite being nowhere near as strong as Cassius without the potion, so he accepts and starts training under Asterix, and the entire thing is hyped up as the match of the century by the Romans (intending to get rid of the Gauls once and for all). On the day of the match, Vitalstatistix starts running around the ring instead of trying to fight Cassius, who exhausts himself running after Vitalstatistix. And once Asterix tells Vitalstatistix that Getafix is back to normal, it motivates him enough to send Cassius out of the ring in a single punch.

--->duels of that sort happen fairly regularly in his honour, and are great public spectacles
--->[...]
--->magic used during the battle is mirrored. Beneficial enchantments are applied to each combatant. Aggressive spells hit both the target and the caster."
--->[...]
--->she had learned that Azzathra's challenge was most likely a sham intended to humiliate and kill her

--->"Oh, and there's another tactic we have to scratch. In one fight, a captured elderly hero wizard developed a spell to turn himself into an exact replica of himself so that the duplication effect would bring his heavily-armoured opponent down to his level. Azzathra was furious and turned his opponent back into his true form, then copied him, thus turning the fight even more one-sided than it previously was."

[[folder:Film]]

* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mojo's]] debut in ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' sees him teleporting several of the heroes into his own personal dimension, where he traps them in rigged scenarios that they must try to escape, all before a screaming studio audience (in the Mojoverse, everyone is [[NewMediaAreEvil hopelessly addicted to television]]. Although the tests are specifically designed to defeat them, Jean Grey eventually realizes that she can psychically manipulate the broadcast signals Mojo is using and turns the tables on him.

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Index(es): ADishonorableIndex, ThisIndexFightsDirty

* ''{{ComicBook/Asterix}}'': In ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBigFight'', the Romans learn that Getafix has gone mad and can't prepare anymore [[SuperSerum magic potion]] (taking a menhir to the head will do that), so they send the [[TheQuisling gallo-roman chieftain]] Cassius Ceramix to challenge Vitalstatistix to a one-on-one fight for leadership of his village. Vitalstatistix can't refuse despite being nowhere near as strong as Cassius without the potion, so he accepts and starts training under Asterix, and the entire thing is hyped up as the match of the century by the Romans (intending to get rid of the Guals once and for all). On the day of the match, Vitalstatistix starts running around the ring instead of trying to fight Cassius, who exhausts himself running after Vitalstatistix. And once Asterix tells Vitalstatistix that Getafix is back to normal, it motivates him enough to send Cassius out of the ring in a single punch.