Joe Gacy explains how ‘the most illegal move in the history of wrestling’ was planned
Before signing with WWE, Joe Gacy competed in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and left behind a viral wrestling moment in the early 2010s. The events in the tag team match was jokingly dubbed ‘the most illegal move in the history of wrestling’.
Gacy talked about planning and preparation for the tag team match with Ryan Slater against Osirian Portal (Amasis and Ophidian) with Chris Van Vliet. The comedic sequence featured Gacy being ‘hypnotized’ and doing bizarre spots in the match.
“Okay, well, this is a good story. So, it all started. The other tag team in that clip is the Osirian Portal. Two guys I actually used to backyard wrestle with. All four guys in that match, we all were a part of the same backyard wrestling promotion. So they did the hypnosis thing already,” explained Gacy. “That was something they’ve done in their matches, and me and the Ophidian, the snake, were kind of talking because as those two tag teams, we had kind of a feud in different indie companies, and we were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome if you hypnotized us, and we did a dance off?’”
“So my partner at the time, a guy named Ryan Slater, was mad about it. He was like, ‘I don’t want to do it. I think if we just have a wrestling match…’ Then the three of us kind of were like, ‘No, I think we should do it.’ So we forced them to do it. The best part about it is, this is probably not the most professional way to go about this. The promoter had no idea that we were doing this. He apparently was not too happy. But then when it went viral, I guess he was like, ‘Okay.’”
During the dance-off in the match, “Rapper’s Delight” played in the background after the wrestlers had discussed the song with the sound technician, adding to the comical elements of the bout.
“So we just told the music guy. Yeah, the music guy was in on it. So yeah, then we did that, and I think the Osirian Portal guys, I think they were excited because they knew I had, not like a background in dancing, but I could do some dancing.”
D.J. Hyde, the owner of CZW was unaware of Gacy and the other wrestlers’ tactics for the internally planned spot and was not at all pleased.
“He (Hyde) was just like, ‘Why’d you do that?’ We were like, ‘I don’t know. Thought it’d be good?’ That’s about it.”
Gacy signed with WWE in 2020 and kicked off competing on the NXT brand. Four years later he transitioned to the main roster as a part of Wyatt Sicks before being released in April this year.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.