A
shoot in
professional wrestling is any unplanned, unscripted or real-life occurrence within a wrestling event. The name does not originate from "shooting in" for a
takedown, as in
amateur wrestling, but rather, it is a
carny term shortened from "straight shooting" which originally referred to a gun in a
carnival target shooting game which did
not have its sights fixed (terminology such as this reflecting the professional wrestling industry's roots in
traveling carnivals). This term has come to mean a
legit attack or fight in professional wrestling and its meaning has broadened to include unscripted events in general. The opposite of a shoot is a work.