After witnessing John Cena’s nose broken in gruesome fashion by Seth Rollins throwing a jumping knee this past week on Raw, and seeing U.F.C Dana Whites recent comments that wrestling is fake. I decided to make a list of some of wrestling’s most horrific incidents.
Though it is true that matches are predetermined in professional wrestling and that wrestlers often do not legitimately assault their opponents, it is nevertheless one of the most dangerous disciplines in the world. Wrestling is not fake. The events on a pro wrestling show are scripted in advance, but even one mistake can lead to severe or permanent injury, or even death. If you’re squeamish or find pain hard to watch, then i suggest you stop reading at this point.
(If you decide to continue reading, please read the message below.)
WARNING ! ! !
SOME OF THESE VIDEOS HAVE GRAPHIC IMAGES. VIEWERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED
Vince Mcmahon Tears Both Quads
McMahon slid into the ring and attempted to stand up, but he quickly fell to the ground.
Vince sat, leaning against the ropes, and ordered the match to continue.
It was later discovered that McMahon tore both quadriceps muscles when his knees impacted the ring as he slid to the inside. Granted, this isn’t terribly gruesome or anything, but it’s undeniably hilarious, and it’s also Vince McMahon.
Droz
Not many casual fans know Darren Drozdov. He competed in mid-card matches in the WWE (WWF) in the late 1990s. During a match with fellow wrestler D’ Lo Brown on the company’s weekly show SmackDown. During a SmackDown taping Droz’ wrestling under the ring name of Puke, was wrestling a match against D’Lo Brown. Brown was going to execute one of his signature moves, a running power-bomb.
During the move, D’Lo slipped on some type of drink that was thrown into the ring. Puke was dropped on his head, breaking two bones in his neck.
Droz admits that he failed to leap properly into the move and the shirt he was wearing was too loose.
Sid Vicious
WCW felt that Sid needed to add some moves off the top rope. Sid was reluctant, but he decided to give it a shot anyway. Wrestler of his size and type wasn’t equipped to attempt the high-flying techniques that they wanted. He turned out to be right.
Sid went up to the top rope, jumped off and gave Steiner a boot to the face.
When Sid landed, he suffered a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula.
A compound fracture is when the bones are broken so severely that they break through the skin.
Joey Mercury
Mercury and Nitro were involved in a fatal four way ladder match against London and Kendrick, Regal and Taylor and the Hardy Boyz at WWE Armageddon
Several ladders were brought into the ring and used as weapons during the course of the match. Midway through the bout, a ladder placed vertically upon another. There was a spot set up where two ladders were set up like a see-saw, and Jeff Hardy would leap off the top rope, landing on the ladder and forcing it upward into the faces of both Nitro and Mercury.
Mercury was not able to get his hands up to protect his face and suffered a direct impact of the ladder to his face.
It looked as if his face had exploded. Mercury was immediately removed from the match and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Hardcore Holy Slits His Back Open
After Holly suplexed RVD through a table, the table left a deep gash in Holly’s back, shedding blood all over the place. Of course, that didn’t stop Holly, as the wrestler would finish out the match and take the victory.
Lesnar Breaks Holly’s Neck
Later in his career, Holly would have his neck broken during a match with Brock Lesnar. Holly got a lot more than he bargained for when he and Lesnar went head-to-head. As their match unfolded, Holly eventually found himself on the wrong side of a powerbomb,
Rock Hits Mankind 14 Times With A Steel Chair
When you also consider that the guy delivering these blows was The Rock, your respect for Foley should double. Foley was eventually knocked unconscious by the hits.
Jesse Sorensen has his neck broken by Zema Ion.
Ion attempted a spring board moonsault off the second rope. The knees of Ion connected with the top of Sorensen’s head.
The impact compressed the cervical spine of Sorensen and resulted in a fracture of his C-1 vertebra. The scariest part about bad injuries in wrestling is that they often have to do with the neck,
Owen Hart Breaks Austins Neck
It was SummerSlam 97. During the match, Owen had Austin set up to land a pile-driver. Austin’s head was too low, and when Owen delivered the move, Austin’s head hit the mat, causing his neck to compress and break in the process. Austin was left with a broken neck and temporary paralysis. Amazingly, though, Hart stuck to the script, stalling for time so that Austin could move again, and letting Austin sneak in for a roll-up pin to win. Austin would go on to be become on of the most popular superstars and biggest draws in professional wrestling. However, the neck injury forced him to change his style.
Austin Breaks Masahiros Neck
Steve Austin showed us what it looks like to be on the wrong end of a neck injury after Owen Hart drove his head into the mat. However, it was Austin who had dealt out that same punishment first, when he basically KO’d Masahiro Chono back in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1992.
Goldberg Sends Bret Hart Into Early Retirement
Bret was sent into the ropes and Goldberg landed a kick to Bret’s head.
At the time, Bret did not know he was injured. He would continue to compete in future matches. It was eventually learned Bret had post-concussion syndrome. Once it had been discovered that Bret had a serious concussion, he retired.
Cactus Jack Slices Ear Off
While trying to free himself from the ropes, Jack slid his head through the ropes, causing two-thirds of his ear to be removed from the side of his head.
WCW was known to use steel cables as their ropes, and also it appears in the video that the ropes were tighter than usual that night.
Those two factors are likely what led to Jack’s ear being ripped off. Lucky for him, he was able to keep hold of the cartilage and have it properly reattached later that day. Eventually it was fully reconstructed.
Mankind’s Fall From The Cell
You had to know that this would be on the list. Undertaker and Mick Foley decided to take this particular match a step further, climbing to the top of the tall cell. Undertaker then threw Foley off the cell and into the commentators’ table, nearly 20 feet below.
Surprisingly, Mankind was able to finish the match and go through another high-impact spot. He had two critical falls that night after The Undertaker then threw Mankind through the cell down to the mat onto a steel chair.
The injuries Mankind sustained that night were: two missing teeth, multiple stitches below his lip, dislocated jaw, concussion, bruised kidney and a dislocated shoulder.
Buff Bagwell
It was a diving bulldog gone wrong that did Buff Bagwell in. During his Thunder match with Rick Steiner, Bagwell ended up breaking several vertebrae and suffering from spinal shock syndrome in the aftermath of a risky maneuver. In a strange twist, the interference of Rick Steiner’s brother ended up winning Bagwell the match, but that did little to alleviate Bagwell’s pain.
New Jack incident
Somehow, after nearly getting their brains crushed, the two thought that it would be a good idea to go back up on a scaffold and fight again. However, this time around, things took a disturbing turn for the worst. New Jack—who apparently was taking his rivalry with Grimes too seriously—ended up tasing Grimes, and throwing him to the ground 40 feet below. The officials set 12 tables up in the ring, Vic Grimes manages to hit just one,
Vader Breaks Thurmans Back
You can’t help but pity Thurman and his teammate as they bounce off of the unstoppable girth of Vader. As the match progresses, Vader decides to just put Thurman out of his misery, and throws him down to the ground, breaking Thurman’s back with a paralyzing powerbomb.
Karma catches up with Vader when his eye falls out of it’s socket during a match, he pops it back in.
In 1990, he faced wrestling legend and the equally tough and intimidating Stan Hansen for the IWGP championship. At the beginning of the match, Stan Hansen swung the bullrope that he carried to his matches and hit Vader and broke his nose (it didn’t help that Stansen was blind without his glasses).
And after exchanging a couple of punches, Hansen accidentally poked Vader’s eye, causing the thing to pop out of it’s socket! What’s Vader to do? Manly man that he is, Vader pushed his eye back in its socket and actually finished the match.
Owen Hart dies in the ring.
Over the Edge. For this purpose, he was to be lowered into the ring through a harness and grapple line. The harness had a quick release mechanism because Owen being The Blue Blazer character at the time, was supposed to undo the harness as he neared the ring and fall flat on his face.
However, the stunt went horribly wrong. While Owen was being lowered into the ring, his harness apparently snapped, and he fell a distance of 78 feet into the ring, smashing his chest into the top ring rope. Though Hart was immediately rushed to a medical facility, he apparently died quite quickly.
