History Main / ThrowingTheFight

* In ''Theatre/TheTwentyFifthAnnualPutnamCountySpellingBee'', BrokenAce Marcy Park, who went to Nationals the previous year and reflects on how VictoryIsBoring in her solo number "I Speak Six Languages", has a literal come-to-Jesus moment over the word "camouflage" and purposely misspells the word so she can be free of the expectations of constant perfection.

* {{Averted|Trope}} by the Oakland Raiders in the penultimate week of the 1976 season. It starts with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After beating the Raiders in three playoff games in three seasons, in '76 they needed a MiracleRally in the second half of the season - ''plus a loss by the division rival Cincinnati Bengals'' - to even ''make'' the postseason. The Bengals were playing the Raiders that night, and it was believed by the media that Oakland '''would''' throw the game in order to avoid meeting the Steelers in the playoffs again. Instead, they gave it all their effort and beat the Bengals 35-20. The Raiders capped the awesomeness by ''finally'' beating the Steelers in the AFC Championship, and then [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolishing]] [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut the Minnesota Vikings]] in UsefulNotes/SuperBowl XI to capture the Raiders' first championship.

* The Creator/MrT detective series ''Series/TAndT'' had an episode with a young boxer accused of throwing a fight. Turned out his teeth protector was laced with drugs.

* The 1992 USA Basketball DreamTeam lost one game ''ever'': their first practice against a group of college all-stars led by Chris Webber, Grant Hill, and Penny Hardaway. Assistant coach Mike Krzyzewski claims that head coach Chuck Daly deliberately threw that game by doing things like limiting UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan's playing time, not making any strategic adjustments, and making non-optimal substitutions in order to prove to his team that they ''could'' be beaten and couldn't slack off. The Dreamers demanded a rematch the next day and crushed the college guys.

However, this is one trope that is {{Defied}} more often than it's played straight. Our hero decides that he's not going to be anyone's UnwittingPawn anymore, that the OnlyInItForTheMoney / MoneyDearBoy is no longer worth the loss of dignity. This of course costs a lot of dangerous people a lot of money, which they're not likely to be very happy about.

* [[{{Kayfabe}} Kayfabe-wise]], {{Wrestling/Undertaker}} was suspected to have done this with {{Wrestling/Kane}} during the tag-team champions match with Austin. For weeks leading up to the match, it was hinted Kane & Taker had joined forces. Vince & Austin each asked Taker about it but he only told them to go to Hell. [[https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/daydreaming2020/86542361/39887/39887_900.gif The match ends with Kane chokeslamming Taker, which didn't look very forceful, and Taker sitting back up just after Kane gets the pinfall]]. Lawler says he knew Taker would screw Austin out of the title, meanwhile [[https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/daydreaming2020/86542361/40173/40173_900.gif Austin stares at Taker in a state of disbelief.]] Ross argued that Taker didn't screw Austin but got chokeslammed & Lawler fires back that Taker is not hurt.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Scarecrow was drugging star athletes with fear chemicals so that they'd lose key games, allowing him to make money wagering on their opponents to fund his research.

* Don King attempts this in ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'', having bet against himself. Unfortunately, you can't really ''throw'' a ''death''match…[[note]]Well, technically you can. You just can't get your money afterwards.[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/LoveDeathAndRobots''. In "Sonnie's Edge", the title character remote-operates a bioengineered monster for gladiator fights. The promoter offers her half a million to throw the match, only to get rudely refused. He doesn't take it well and sends his assassin after her. [[spoiler:The assassin kills Sonnie, only to discover too late that it's a remote body and the real Sonnie is inside the monster, her brain having been transplanted there by her crew after a vicious gang rape and beating. The reason she didn't throw the match is that she's literally fighting for her life every time she gets in the ring.]]
* This comes up twice in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode "Escaping Expulsion":

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" has Lisa competing in the "Spellympics", until the host, George Plimpton, asks her to take a dive in order for her competitor to win, promising her a free scholarship to any college (and a free George Plimpton hot plate) if she does. When Lisa is about to do it, Homer arrives to cheer her on, and she confesses she was told to take a dive- only to accidentally misspell the word.

** In the episode "Damien", Jesus and Satan are scheduled to have a boxing match. Everyone in town is sure that Jesus will win and place bets on him until Satan appears and everyone sees how huge he is, so they all change their bets to Satan. Even Jesus doesn't think he can win and plans on forfeiting, until the boys tell him that there is one person in town who didn't change their bet and still believes in him, [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly which restores his confidence]]. It turns out that the one person still betting on Jesus was ''Satan'', who threw the fight (very unconvincingly) and walked off with everyone's money.
** In "The Losing Edge", the entire South Park Little League baseball team ''hates'' playing baseball and tries to throw all their games and get knocked out of the series so that they won't have to waste their entire summer playing. Unfortunately, every team they go up against ''also'' hates baseball, and are all better at throwing games.

* An involuntary variant is part of Ken's backstory in ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' -- he was a J-League goalie and was drugged without his knowledge to fix a game, then blamed for throwing it. His efforts at finding out who was responsible ultimately lead him to join Weiss.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000:'' In the short film "Cheating", there's a very brief quip where Tom Servo accuses Johnny of shaving points during football games. (This fits with the overall theme of Mike's and the bots' quipping that cheating is SeriousBusiness, and therefore Johnny must be Pure Evil because he cheated.)

* The ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk Takes a Punch" has Monk investigating an attempted assassination on professional boxer Ray Regis. During one questioning with Regis and Regis's trainer Louie Flynn; Monk, Stottlemeyer, and Disher learn that Louie's daughter died of surgical complications a few years ago. But at the same time, Monk also discovers that Louie has an unconscious habit of tucking his crucifix in whenever he's lying. Monk eventually figures out that Regis and Louie had bet against themselves to raise money for these experimental surgeries, and believes one possible motive could be that someone figured out that Regis threw the fight and wanted to get payback.
* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "TKO", boxer Walker Smith has a defied version of this in his backstory--he refused to take a dive in his upcoming bout against the champion, so the people in charge tampered with his drug test results, ruining his boxing career.

* The Mr T detective series ''Series/TAndT'' had an episode with a young boxer accused of throwing a fight. Turned out his teeth protector was laced with drugs.

People who take a dive may be doing so entirely for the paycheck, but they also may be getting their arms twisted by TheMafia with threats of physical harm, either to themselves or to a loved one. In that case, it's not uncommon to see the athlete back out of the deal, thus making them some powerful enemies (and sometimes not escaping them). In RealLife, those who get caught doing this can suffer some serious repercussions, most notably during the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_Scandal Black Sox scandal of 1919]].

However, this is one trope which is {{Defied}} more often than it's played straight. Our hero decides that he's not going to be anyone's UnwittingPawn any more, that the OnlyInItForTheMoney / MoneyDearBoy is no longer worth the loss of dignity. This of course costs a lot of dangerous people a lot of money, which they're not likely to be very happy about.

* Some matches have been thrown during the events of the ''Anime/BakutenShootBeyblade'' trilogy. The first is done by Rei in his match against Takao during the Japanese Tournament. Rei participated expecting no actual challenge and, indeed, he breezed through the tournament up until the second round against Takao. Takao beat him there. And needing nothing more than knowing there's still challenges for him out there, Rei walked away from the third round. The second thrown match was done by Steve, who had orders to stretch his battle against Takao during the American Finals so the PPB could gather data on him. Steve lost that match -- it wasn't necessarily supposed to happen, but it did as a consequence of him holding back and the PPB were fine with it, because they wrongly expected they'd win the rest. And the third thrown match was Kai's doing when he went up against Daichi during the tag team round-robin in the third season. He shot Dranzer out of the stadium, giving the BBA Revolution one point by default. The reason? He had been expecting to go up against Takao, but the latter was put on the bench.

* Malcolm Gedo from ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'' makes it a habit to throw fights, but not without asking his opponents for an substantial fee, which the opponents understandably see as an insult.

* In a storyline in the ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' manga series, the assistant for a popular restaurant owner and chef requests to Sasami that she throw her match against the man's son, telling her that the man's been pressuring him to win three "Ferrous Chef" matches (think ''Series/IronChef'') and that this would be his third and the kid could finally be free. However, Sasami ends up refusing, saying that she wouldn't feel right if she didn't give her all. Others attempt to stop her in the process, but she ends up coming out on top. However, the boy's impressed with Sasami's cheerfulness over cooking and is determined to try again, impressing his father.

** In a Season 1 episode, Kaiser Ryo chooses not to activate his facedown card to save himself from a direct attack by Camula, since Camula arranged things that if Ryo won, his little brother would lose his soul.
** In a Season 1 episode, the ancient pharaoh Abidos the Third had a reputation for being undefeated in duels, so the bad guys resurrect him and send him against the heroes. Judai gets the upper hand, and it is revealed that the reason why Abidos was undefeated was because everyone who faced him before lost on purpose because they were scared he would punish them if he lost. Abidos was mortified to learn this; he sincerely believed his victories had been a result of his own skill.
** In the first episode of Season 2, Edo Phoenix purposely loses to Judai after being told to by [[BigBad Saiou]], using a makeshift deck made of forty cards from eight booster packs. Much later, after Edo has won once and lost once against Judai using his actual deck, Judai tells him the first time doesn't count, seeing as Edo let him win, which means they're even now. (Naturally, he's offering a "tie breaker" later, but they never get around to it.)
** In a Season 2 episode, Kenzan and Sho have a duel to determine which of them is a more worthy friend to Judai. At the end, Kenzan is about to lose, but can end the game in a draw if he uses his facedown card. He chooses not to play it after seeing Sho's devotion to Judai.

** Rudger duels Yusei with their lives on the line. When Rudger realizes he may actually be in danger of losing, he flees, but forces Yusei's friend Rally to take his place, with the same stakes. Not wanting to hurt Yusei, Rally loses on purpose.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', in the Champa arc, Goku eventually forfeits his match with Hit because he didn't think it was fair that the tournament's rules prevented Hit from fighting at his full potential. To repay his debt, Hit pretends that his next opponent, [[spoiler:the uber weak Monaka]], was able to defeat him with a single punch.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Tenya Iida and Mei Hatsume find themselves in a one-on-one fight during the Sports Festival. However, Mei ends up giving him special support gear to help give it his all, which Iida accepts graciously. What he doesn't realize is that the entire thing is just a ''ten minute advertisement to get companies biting towards her gear''. Once she's certain they've bitten and want more, she promptly throws the match. Iida is vastly upset at this.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Josh Slicker tries to pay Rita to lose a race, and when she refuses he pays most of the other drivers to run into her causing a collision which would have killed multiple audience members had Wonder Woman not intervened.

* In ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'' [[spoiler:Ace Swift, a star flyer, forced many of his competitors to do this by blackmailing them in some form or another with the help of his assistant Sonata. However when he tried to use it on Rainbow Dash, she just spit in his face and told him where to stick his offer.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'': Toad Gangster Bufo tries to have Nod [[EatenAlive fed to something (preferably a snake)]] when he wins a race that they had previously agreed he would lose, but is prevented from doing so by Ronin, who needs Nod's help.

* ''Film/EightMenOut'': Based on the real life 1919 Black Sox

* ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', Mickey is told to take the dive, but refuses. Everyone thinks this is just him being deliberately contrary, [[spoiler: but it turns out to be a thoroughly-planned revenge plot which includes placing a huge bet on himself.]]

* Jamal Wallace in ''Film/FindingForrester'' misses a pair of free-throws at the end of a game on purpose because he's tired of the way he's being treated by the administrators of his school.

* A plot point in the sequel ''Film/TheSting II''. Hooker, the con man who is ''not'' a boxer gets into the ring with a professional, but as he plans to take a dive, it doesn't matter much. Until his partner figures the mark double crossed them, and Hooker has to win the bout! He does, to his own surprise, but learns later that his partner had paid off the professional to take the dive.

* In ''Film/TheReplacements2000'', Nigel "The Leg" Gruff has racked up significant debts, and is told if he doesn't shank the game-tying field goal against Dallas some mobsters will take his pub. Falco prevents Gruff from making the kick by pulling the ball away. Nigel's leg is broken as a result, but he thanks Falco for saving his life.

* In ''Film/TheMilkyWay'' everyone gets the mistaken impression that wimpy milkman Burleigh Sullivan knocked out boxing champion Speed [=McFarland=] on a public sidewalk (ItMakesSenseInContext). In fact Burleigh didn't punch Speed and has no boxing talent, but Speed's weaselly manager Gabby Sloan comes up with the idea to make Burleigh into a fake contender by arranging a series of bouts with palookas who will take dives. Then Burleigh will fight Speed, who will get an easy victory. (Unsurprisingly, the plan goes wrong.)
* A key point of the 1994 film ''Blue Chips'' is college basketball coach Pete Bell ignoring stories of how boosters have been bribing his players. One booster mocks Bell on being so naive and boasts he "bought" one of his players three years earlier. Bell doesn't believe it as the student, Tony, is one of his favorites. He gets out a video tape of the game, watching it with some fellow coaches. They also don't believe it, citing things like Tony being ill that week and such. But as they watch the game, they see Tony missing plays he should easily be making and constantly checking the scoreboard and realize he did indeed shave points to help gamblers beat the spread.
* The plot of ''Film/{{Safe}}'' is kicked off when Luke wins a boxing match he was supposed to throw. In a very rare twist on this trope he had every intention of throwing it. He only hit his much weaker opponent once to make it look good and promptly knocked him out.

* ''Film/SplitDecisions'' is about two brothers from a working class family with a passion for boxing. The older one is forced by a bunch of gangsters to take a dive in his next fight against their new champion, then gets murdered when he refuses. This is what gets his younger brother to face the new champion himself in the ring.

* ''OGPU Prison'' by Creator/SvenHassel. The ex-con soldiers of the 27 Penal Panzer Regiment arrange for a Germany vs. Russia boxing match. The early fights are rigged so Germany will win, while the main event is rigged for the German to lose so they'll make a killing when everyone bets against the Russian in a patriotic fervor. Unfortunately the two boxers start mauling each other so hard they lose their temper and forget the arrangement (fortunately the Russian wins anyway).

** In "The Mystery Knight", a hedge knight deliberately loses an easy tourney victory against a lord who's still hungover. He trained the lord when he was a boy, and plans to flatter his skill so he can enter his service again. Instead the lord doesn't even remember him, and refuses to employ such an apparently inept knight.
** In the same novel Ser Uthor Underleaf suggests that he does this all the time. He's an incredible jouster, but never wins any tourneys because he bets on himself (with long odds) until he decides to lose (and then he bets on the other guy). If he actually won, he'd become more famous, and he'd never get those long odds again. This trope backfires on him as well when he finds himself up against a genuinely dangerous opponent in his last joust. Unaware that Ser Uthor was planning to lose, some other contestants decided to take him out of the running.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': In Season 5's "Try, Try Again," done by her siblings when Jan is allowed to win at TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}, darts, ping pong and basketball -- all to boost her confidence after a series of disappointments (e.g., being dismissed from dance class for continued poor performance).

* Toyed with in ''Series/{{Copper}}''. Local rich boy Robert Morehouse sponsors a boxing match between 'Irish' Jake [=McGinnis=] and black man Jasper Longfield. If 'Irish' Jake loses, best case scenario only Jasper will be lynched, worst case scenario there will be a massive riot that causes hundreds of deaths. Morehouse was assured that Jasper would follow the trope, but Jasper was in NO mood to take a dive. Lucky for all involved, Morehouse had a plan B. [[spoiler: He has the ref lay Jasper out when it looks like 'Irish' Jake may not answer the bell. None of the white people in attendance bat an eye at the extremely obvious cheating: they all had money riding on Jake. The black people watching outside are all pissed, but, Civil War era New York City being Civil War era New York City, no one cares what they think.]]

* The ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk Takes a Punch" has Monk investigating an attempted assassination on professional boxer Ray Regis. During one questioning with Regis and Regis's trainer Louie Flynn; Monk, Stottlemeyer and Disher learn that Louie's daughter died of surgical complications a few years ago. But at the same time, Monk also discovers that Louie has an unconscious habit of tucking his crucifix in whenever he's lying. Monk eventually figures out that Regis and Louie had bet against themselves to raise money for these experimental surgeries, and believes one possible motive could be that someone figured out that Regis threw the fight and wanted to get pay back.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' Will does this against a high school rival in a basketball tournament as he has a son and needs the attention of a NBA scout more than Will does. Said rival [[DontYouDarePityMe calls Will out on it]] after the game and they decide to settle it for real in a private one on one match. Though the audience doesn't see the outcome.

* ''Series/GeneralHospital'': Local mobster Sonny tries to bully Jagger into throwing a upcoming boxing match by threatening to harm Jagger's ex, Karen (who he knows Jagger is still in love with). Jagger initially takes the fall, but realizes that doing so will let Sonny control his life. He jumps up, wins the fight, then punches out Sonny as well and runs off with Karen.
* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'': As in the source material, Matt Murdock's father "Battlin' Jack" agrees to take a dive in a fight against Carl "The Crusher" Creel, but changes his mind at the last moment and gets gunned down in an alleyway for it. The scene is a direct reference to the ''Film/PulpFiction'' scene (as the mobsters who solicit the offer tell him to agree to go down in the fifth, and repeat that instruction). Unlike in the comic book (and like in ''Pulp Fiction''), Jack bets on himself to ''win'' by knockout--and arranges for the money to be held safely for young Matt, since he doesn't expect to survive this double-cross.
* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': In "Split Decision", Earl Dent agrees to throw his comeback so he can get enough money to regain custody of his daughter. When he changes his mind (at Mac's urging), the bookies kidnap his daughter to force to go through with the fix.

* ''Series/FamilyTies'': Alex is thrilled at the chance to play chess against a Soviet chess prodigy, until he learns that his rival plans to throw the game so he can be allowed to return to Russia and live a quiet life away from the glare of the spotlight. Not wanting to see his opponent disgrace himself, Alex ends up trying to play a worse game than his opponent. HilarityEnsues.

* ''Series/{{Porridge}}'' has an inter-wing boxing competition in the prison. Fletcher tries to convince Gobber to take a dive in the fifth round for [[TheDon Harry Grout]]. Problem is he's already agreed to throw the match in the fourth for a rival gangster. So they have to get the other guy to take a dive. In the end only Fletcher bets on a tie, and wins when both fighters fall down simultaneously.

* On ''Series/{{Legacies}}'', the Salvatore School has an annual flag football game with a school from Mystic Falls. Given the Salvatore student body is comprised of vampires, witches and werewolves, they can easily wipe the floor with the humans. However, the headmasters order the kids to always lose so outsiders won't find anything suspicious about a bunch of inhumanly gifted athletic kids. Naturally, the Salvatore students hate having to hold back their true abilities and lose.

* On an episode of ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' Rob is the boxing champion of a small unit of the Army, when he is scheduled to fight a man who later (in-show) became the world middleweight champion. Laura, worried about him being injured, tells him to fall down as soon he is hit:

* In another infamous WCW example, at ''Bash at the Beach'' 2000 Wrestling/JeffJarrett laid down for Hulk Hogan to be pinned for the world championship. This was ''not'' the planned ending and Hogan was visibly upset & left the building with the championship belt. Meanwhile Wrestling/VinceRusso (who had orchestrated the events) nullified the match, fired Hogan on air, and Jarrett & Wrestling/BookerT had the "real" championship bout.

* [[{{Kayfabe}} Kayfabe-wise]], {{Wrestling/Undertaker}} was suspected to have done this with {{Wrestling/Kane}} during the tag-team champions match with Austin. For weeks leading up to the match, it was hinted Kane & Taker had joined forces. Vince & Austin each asked Taker about it but he only told them to go to Hell. [[https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/daydreaming2020/86542361/39887/39887_900.gif The match ends with Kane chokeslaming Taker, which didn't look very forceful, and Taker sitting back up just after Kane gets the pinfall]]. Lawler says he knew Taker would screw Austin out of the title, meanwhile [[https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/daydreaming2020/86542361/40173/40173_900.gif Austin stares at Taker in a state of disbelief.]] Ross argued that Taker didn't screw Austin but got chokeslammed & Lawler fires back that Taker is not hurt.

* In its spiritual predecessor, ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', a number of characters (Jam most notably) had to throw fights to get different routes in Story mode. This made getting Dizzy's third ending in ''XX'' an absolute chore, since she had to defeat Boss I-No on ''one try'' (if she lost, she got a different ending).

* In many of scenarios in the [=PokéStar=] Studios movies in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', getting the good ending or the GainaxEnding requires losing on purpose, which isn't easy, especially with the rental Pokémon you have to use before you can use one of yours.

** This has came back to bite him in the ass during an episode of their ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterGrandTheftAutoSeries Let's Play Grand Theft Auto]]'' series. During their "Cops 'n Crooks" games in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', Gavin ends up screwing up many of Team Lads' (comprised of himself, Creator/MichaelJones and Creator/RayNarvaezJr) attempts to stop Team Gents (comprised of Jack Pattillo, Geoff Ramsey and Ryan Haywood) that, at the beginning of their "Cannonball Run" episode, Michael (temporarily) threw Gavin out of Team Lads.

** In another episode, Bender enters a robot pro wrestling league. While he's playing the role of a Face, he's happy enough to let his opponents take the dive for him. Then management recasts Bender as a Heel and orders him to starting throwing fights. Bender refuses, until management schedules his next match against a giant kill-bot, programmed to destroy Bender if he goes off-script.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': In "Bensonhurst", a flashback revealed that when Harley was a teen, her father asked her to throw a gymnastics competition because he bet against her to cover his debts to the mafia, and if he can't pay up, they'll take his fingers. She reluctantly took the dive, but afterwards beat him up and never forgave him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Luanne becomes a boxer and gets a huge winning streak, but she and Hank eventually find out all her opponents were people Buck Strickland hired to take a dive, because he didn't want her pretty face messed up. Angry that he didn't believe in her, she challenges Freeda Foreman to a match. Luanne lost but proved she was a true fighter.

* ''WesternAnimation/LoveDeathAndRobots''. In "Sonnie's Edge", the title character remote-operates a bioengineered monster for gladiator fights. The promoter offers her half a million to throw the match, only to get rudely refused. He doesn't take it well and sends his assassin after her. [[spoiler:The assassin kills Sonnie, only to discover too late that it's a remote body and the real Sonnie is inside the monster, her brain having been transplanted there by her crew after a vicious gang rape and beating. The reason she didn't throw the match is because she's literally fighting for her life every time she gets in the ring.]]

** During the climax, Amity and Luz are facing off against the upgraded Abomi-ton 2.0 and are more or less at a stalemate with Amity slowly overtaking it. Amity takes the opportunity to force her mother into letting Luz, Willow, and Gus back into Hexside, threatening to win the fight and destroy the Abomi-ton in front of her mother's precious investors. Once Odalia agrees to the terms, they stops fighting and allow themselves to be "crushed" by the Abomi-ton's (hollow) hammer arm.

** In the episode "Damien", Jesus and Satan are scheduled to have a boxing match. Everyone in town is sure that Jesus will win and place bets on him, until Satan appears and everyone sees how huge he is, so they all change their bets to Satan. Even Jesus doesn't think he can win and plans on forfeiting, until the boys tell him that there is one person in town who didn't change their bet and still believes in him, [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly which restores his confidence]]. It turns out that the one person still betting on Jesus was ''Satan'', who threw the fight (very unconvincingly) and walked off with everyone's money.

* In a general context, sometimes parents, teachers and others in charge of things such as youth programs will ask kids to back off and not play so well on purpose if they see that a kid is, despite trying his darndest, failing to come even close to winning or achieving some modicum of success. So they'll say, "Let him win once or twice," as though to boost their confidence and encourage him/her.

* The most famous example is the 1919 Black Sox scandal, where eight members of the Chicago White Sox were paid to lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, and were subsequently banned from baseball a year later.
** It was actually not uncommon for players to throw games before the Black Sox scandal, to supplement their low pay. The owners knew about this, but allowed it to happen to keep the players from organizing and forcing the owners to pay them more. What was unusual about the Black Sox was that no one had attempted to throw a Championship Series before, and which would involve throwing five games (it was a best-of-nine series at the time).

** A [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Mist_Scandal_(Japanese_baseball) very similar scandal]] happened in 1969-71 which almost destroyed baseball in Japan. It started when pitcher Masayuki Nagayasu of the Nishitetsu Lions was caught taking bribes from the Main/{{Yakuza}} to throw games. After he was released from the Lions, Nagasayu implicated six other Lions players of game-fixing. Soon the scandal spread to other teams such as the Toei Flyers and Kiniketsu Buffaloes, with around a dozen players being slapped with penalties ranging from "stern warnings" to lifetime bans. The scandal also resulted in the Lions and the Flyers being sold to new owners.
* This isn't limited to players only, as referees have also been implicated in match fixing. The German Bundesliga, Brazilian Series A and the NBA have all experienced corrupted refs who have thrown games. Given player salaries in the top leagues, its more economical to bribe the lower paid sports officials.

** For bad teams in a given year, there is an existing incentive to tank in North American sports (especially if there is a really good player that will enter the league next season) since teams which perform poorly are generally awarded high draft picks (ask [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_sports_league_organization why this doesn't come up in European leagues]]). Accusations in hockey include the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84 (to secure the first pick over the New Jersey Devils and get Mario Lemieux) and the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93 (for Alexandre Daigle).
** The poor play of the Houston Rockets basketball team in 1982-83, which enabled it to choose Ralph Sampson first in the following year's NBA draft, drew enough suspicion to be parodied in the newspaper comic ''[[ComicStrip/TankMcNamara Tank McNamara]]'' (one strip showed a fan holding a sign that read "We're No. 26!"). For this reason, the NBA and later the NHL have instituted lotteries whereby teams at the bottom are not guaranteed the first pick in the following year's draft. However, the odds are still heavily weighted towards the worst teams, and in any case teams are still sometimes accused of "playing for ping-pong balls."

** There were also accusations of NFL teams intentionally doing bad in their final weeks of the season in order to gain an easier schedule next year. This was more prominent before 2002, when NFL divisions had five or six teams and more games on a team's schedule were determined by how well they did the previous season; nowadays only three games out of seventeen are determined by how well a team did, not much of an incentive and most likely not worth the rage the team's fans would have for shelling out hundreds or even thousands of dollars to watch crap.
** With most such strategic use of losing, though, the verdict may depend on whether you believe the ends justify the means. The Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 2000s were in dire financial straits, as their previous years' success had come at a massive financial cost (their filing for bankruptcy and how to handle them was one of the biggest points that led to the 2004-05 Lockout). The Penguins were terrible during this time, but were able to use the high draft picks their poor records year in and year out granted them on star players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This in turn eventually led to new success (and the income that goes with it), a Stanley Cup victory in 2009, and a brand new arena a couple of years later.

** The 2006 Los Angeles Clippers allegedly tanked to get the sixth seed (of eight) in the NBA Western Conference in order to both avoid the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (who had the better record that year and thus would have had home-court advantage) and delay facing the powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers until the third round of the playoffs (since the NBA Playoffs is a straight-up bracket). In addition, finishing sixth meant they faced the Denver Nuggets, who were only the third seed by virtue of winning their division: the Clippers actually had a better record, which meant ''they'' got home-court advantage. The NBA changed the rules following the season to prevent that occurring again.
** [[http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/12371147/2-prep-girls-teams-caught-tanking-banned-postseason This 2015 girls' basketball game in Tennessee]], a consolation game of a Nashville-area high school district tournament. Because of the way the regional was bracketed, the winner of the game would face the defending state champion[[note]]which had already beaten both teams that season[[/note]] in its regional semifinal, while the loser would avoid that team until the regional final, with both teams in ''that'' game going on to the sectional tournament (one step short of the state tournament). Given the incentives, ''both'' teams blatantly tanked the game until the officials called them out on it (the final straw came when one player was about to score in her own basket, but was stopped because her team had already committed ''another'' violation). The state association [[HoistByHisOwnPetard banned both teams from the postseason]].
*** This isn't even limited to North America: Sweden's ice hockey team allegedly lost on purpose to Slovakia in the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics in order to avoid both the Czech Republic and Canada (both powerhouses) in the opening knockout rounds (there was even a Swedish 5-on-3 power play where five NHL stars were on the ice and none of them put a shot anywhere near the goal). They faced Switzerland instead, and later went on to win the gold.

** Other times, teams might tank in order to stop someone else from getting into the playoffs: In 1988, the San Francisco 49ers lost their final game of the regular season to the Los Angeles Rams, which prevented the New York Giants (who had beaten them a couple of times in previous years) from getting in the playoffs. Phil Simms was not happy.[[note]]Of course, that part could have been avoided had the Giants held on to win their regular-season finale against their Giants Stadium co-tenant New York Jets. Had the Giants' won; instead of needing help to get in the playoffs as a wild-card, the Giants would have won the NFC East division with an 11-5 record. As it happened, the Giants' loss coupled with the Philadelphia Eagles defeating the Dallas Cowboys (in what turned out to be Tom Landry's swan song as the team's head coach before new owner Jerry Jones took over and decided to start over from scratch in Dallas) left both teams with 10-6 records; with the Eagles winning the division thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker, having swept the Giants in their two meetings that season.[[/note]]

*** There was a similar event in the final match of the season-ending play-offs in the English football league in 1898. Stoke needed a draw or better to remain in the First Division the next season, and Burnley needed the same result to be promoted. The match finished 0-0, with neither side even pretending to try to score. The league responded by replacing the "test match" system with automatic promotion and relegation. It also increased the top flight to 18 teams, with the victims of Stoke's and Burnley's alleged manipulation, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, joining the top flight.

** A strange version of this occurred in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_4-2_Grenada Caribbean Cup in 1994]], due to an unusual rule that meant a win in extra time was considered a two-goal win. Barbados had to beat Grenada by two goals in order to progress. Barbados were 2-0 up when, in the 83rd minute, Grenada pulled a goal back. Deciding that seven minutes wasn't enough time to restore their two-goal lead, Barbados instead scored an own goal to tie the game at 2-2 and try and force extra time, where they would have thirty minutes to try and score again and earn the necessary two-goal win. Grenada realized what they were doing and tried to score an own goal of their own, resulting in the last few minutes of normal time becoming a spectacle where Grenada tried to score in either goal while Barbados were defending ''both'' goals! Barbados would eventually win in extra time.

** A second scandal erupted in 2015 when high-ranking ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' players, including 2014 world champion Life, were found to have fixed matches. All gamers and coaches involved were banned from [=KeSPA=] (the Korea eSports Association) for ever, and Life had his WCS championship voided.

* The UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity strongly discourages this in tournaments.

** For bad teams in a given year, there is an existing incentive to tank in North American sports (especially if there is a really good player that will enter the league next season) since teams which perform poorly are generally awarded high draft picks (ask [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_sports_league_organization why this doesn't come up in European leagues]]). Accusations in hockey include the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84 (to secure the first pick over the New Jersey Devils and get Mario Lemieux) and the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93 (for Alexandre Daigle).

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII''[='s=] InevitableTournament, one of your opponents (a magician who's about to face you in an arena where magic is sealed) tries to guilt trip your team into throwing the fight, so he can claim the prize money and get a cure for his [[IllGirl deathly sick daughter]]. Sadly, since one of the player character's allies is being held hostage, your team is unable to oblige. [[spoiler:Turns out it's a sham; his daughter wasn't really sick at all, of course]].

** There was a scandal in the ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' leagues where a number of players, including the previously dominant Savior, were found to have deliberately lost matches for money.
** A much [[PlayedForLaughs funnier example]] happened at the 2011 ASUS ROG ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' Tournament [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X3nS8GmGQI during a match between BratOK and Stephano]]. Neither of the players wanted to win, because that would mean going up against a crazy good player called Sen. Not wanting to simply RageQuit immediately and have the fans turn on them for wasting their time, [[HilarityEnsues both players do impossibly funny implausible builds in attempts to lose]], while [[Creator/TheCynicalBrit TotalBiscuit]] and co-commentator Apollo try not to lose their composure at [[StylisticSuck what they were seeing.]]

* Many of the races are fixed in ''Film/SpeedRacer''.

* * ''WesternAnimation/LoveDeathAndRobots''. In "Sonnie's Edge", the title character remote-operates a bioengineered monster for gladiator fights. The promoter offers her half a million to throw the match, only to get rudely refused. He doesn't take it well and sends his assassin after her. [[spoiler:The assassin kills Sonnie, only to discover too late that it's a remote body and the real Sonnie is inside the monster, her brain having been transplanted there by her crew after a vicious gang rape and beating. The reason she didn't throw the match is because she's literally fighting for her life every time she gets in the ring.]]

** Taking this UpToEleven: [[http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/12371147/2-prep-girls-teams-caught-tanking-banned-postseason This 2015 girls' basketball game in Tennessee]], a consolation game of a Nashville-area high school district tournament. Because of the way the regional was bracketed, the winner of the game would face the defending state champion[[note]]which had already beaten both teams that season[[/note]] in its regional semifinal, while the loser would avoid that team until the regional final, with both teams in ''that'' game going on to the sectional tournament (one step short of the state tournament). Given the incentives, ''both'' teams blatantly tanked the game until the officials called them out on it (the final straw came when one player was about to score in her own basket, but was stopped because her team had already committed ''another'' violation). The state association [[HoistByHisOwnPetard banned both teams from the postseason]].

* In 1997, then-Commissioner Wrestling/SgtSlaughter tried to create tension in his arch-nemesis duo D-Generation X, by ordering Wrestling/ShawnMichaels to defend his European title against Wrestling/TripleH. Throughout the night, they became more and more antagonistic to each other, only to reveal that they'd been pulling one over on Slaughter the whole time. When the match started, Triple H pushed down Shawn and (eventually) gave him a big, clearly non-connecting splash and got the pin. Afterwards, Triple H gave an over-the-top emotional speech, and Shawn in turn was inconsolable for all of a minute or so.

* In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations]]'', Furio Tigre frames Maggie Byrde for a murder he committed, then disguises himself as Phoenix Wright and "defends" her in court, losing on purpose to get them found guilty.

* It is often considered good etiquette to, during an outing (e.g., a golf outing) with the boss, to let the boss win a round or two, even if his partners are clearly better than he is. As such, they may be asked to throw a round or two to stay in the good graces of their boss.

* In ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'', Eikichi is worried [[spoiler:Minamino]] will actually kill or permanently maim Ryuji, so he digs up some dirt (namely, [[spoiler:that Minamino is a [[PaedoHunt lolicon]]]]) and blackmails him into losing to Ryuji.

* This is part of Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'s backstory: his father was killed when he refused to take a dive. [[Film/{{Daredevil}} The film]] and [[Series/Daredevil2015 the Netflix show]] also use this variation.

** In a Bronze Age story Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} investigates the case of a football player who has been beaten up and threatened by a group of gamblers to throw several games. Fearing for his and his girlfriend's safety, he agrees to it.
* Before Comicbook/BoosterGold was a superhero, he was a college football player who was disgraced after he was caught betting on the other team and then losing on purpose.

* In ''ComicBook/AmazingSpiderMan'' #253, Ray Nesters is the star quarterback of an NFL team who is secretly taking payoffs to throw some games. He foolishly believes that this will end when he loses the final regular season game only to be informed that mob boss the Rose wants him to throw the playoffs as well. When he naturally refuses, the Rose has Ray's younger brother Tony kidnapped. When Ray goes on a rescue, Tony is [[BrokenPedestal heartbroken to realize the Rose has been telling the truth]] on his brother's actions. While ComicBook/SpiderMan is able to rescue them both, Ray knows the only way to get out from under the Rose's thumb is to confess the truth and accept his ruined career.

* In ''Amazing Spider-Man #253", Ray Nesters is the star quarterback of an NFL team who is secretly taking payoffs to throw some games. He foolishly believes that this will end when he loses the final regular season game only to be informed that mob boss the Rose wants him to throw the playoffs as well. When he naturally refuses, the Rose has Ray's younger brother Tony kidnapped. When Ray goes on a rescue, Tony is [[BrokenPedestal heartbroken to realize the Rose has been telling the truth]] on his brother's actions. While ComicBook/SpiderMan is able to rescue them both, Ray knows the only way to get out from under the Rose's thumb is to confess the truth and accept his ruined career.

** Sometimes teams play to a specific score which benefits both sides: take the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gijón 1982 World Cup match]] between West Germany and Austria, the last game in Group B. Due to tiebreaker rules at the time, a 1-0 or 2-0 West German win would have seen both teams through to the elimination rounds. A bigger West German win would eliminate Austria, whereas a tie or Austrian win would eliminate West Germany; in either case, Algeria would have gone through instead. West Germany scored after 10 minutes, and the two teams spent the remaining 80 minutes kicking the ball around aimlessly. Algerians weren't the only ones pissed off: a West German fan burned his own flag in protest, and both German and Austrian commentators were disgusted. This only happened because Algeria had played their final match the previous day, giving Austria and West Germany time to realise there was a result that benefitted them both; to prevent this from happening again, every World Cup since has had each group's final two matches take place at the same time. If you're asking what happened to Austria and West Germany later in the tournament, the former faltered in the second group stage while the latter went all the way to the final where they were ultimately battered 3-1 by Italy.