It is common knowledge that professional wrestling is dangerous. When MJF took to Twitter to vent about how a simple bodyslam can end a life, he wasn’t joking: Stan Hansen broke the legendary WWE Champion Bruno Sammartino’s neck that way. But taking a bodyslam pales in comparison to some of the risks the newer generation of wrestlers is taking. The last thirty years have seen a rise in high-risk stunts and falls that were previously unthinkable.
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Following are ten wrestlers that were lucky to be alive after taking a bump – whether they took a fall off a scaffold or something as simple as a suplex.
10 Mick Foley Falling Off The Cell – Twice
Mick Foley basically rang in a new era of risk-taking at the King of the Ring 1998. He began the match by climbing the cell and was quickly thrown off the structure and through the Spanish announce table. Just minutes later, Mick climbed up again – only to be chokeslammed through the cell and into the ring. What makes things more incredible is that the second fall wasn’t planned: the cell simply broke. To add insult to injury, Foley was hit in the head by a chair as he hit the mat, knocking him out for real.
As we all know, Mick not only survived but also went ahead with the scheduled match.
9 Droz Gets Paralyzed
Darren Drozdov – or Droz – was one of the young WWE talents in the late nineties. Although Droz was not considered a prodigy, he did quite well for himself and seemed to have found his gimmick alongside his piercing buddy Prince Albert. Unfortunately, that’s when tragedy struck. Droz worked with D-Lo Brown at a TV taping. During the match, D-Lo went for a powerbomb. Droz landed on his head and ended up permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Showing great character, Droz never blamed D-Lo for the injury.
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8 A Giant Botch
At Souled Out 1998, Kevin Nash faced The Giant in a battle of the Giants. At the end of the match, Nash was supposed to powerbomb the future Big Show for the win – a feat Nash had accomplished in a tag team match at Superbrawl the year prior. However, The Giant had gained some weight – not to mention that this was a longer singles match instead of a tag team match – and Nash lacked the strength to perform the move properly. The Giant fell on his head which could have ended in tragedy, especially considering his size and weight. Miraculously though, The Giant only suffered minor injuries.
7 Living Dangerously
ECW was known for spectacular (and often unnecessary) bumps. In the late nineties, New Jack especially made a name for jumping off balconies and scaffolds and landing on his opponents who lay on a table below. At Living Dangerously 2000, New Jack faced Vic Grimes. During the match, both men found themselves in the stands. As it happens, a table was waiting below. However, Vic Grimes got cold feet and wanted to back out of the spot. New Jack wasn’t happy and went on to drag Grimes off the stands with him. The two tumbled to the floor where Grimes landed with his full-weight on New Jack’s head. Although Jack somehow survived the bump, he suffered a fractured skull, a broken leg, brain damage, and was blinded permanently in his right eye.
6 Attempted Murder
As a result of the Living Dangerously spot, there was bad blood between New Jack and Vic Grimes. For some reason, XPW thought it was a good idea to book the two men in a scaffold match in February 2002. During the match, New Jack pulled a taser and began to legitimately tase Grimes. He then threw Grimes off the scaffold, aiming to drop Grimes head-first on the turnbuckle. Grimes missed the buckle narrowly and survived with relatively minor injuries. New Jack later admitted he was trying to kill Grimes.
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5 A Deadman Dive
At WrestleMania 25, the Undertaker faced Shawn Michaels in one of the best matches in WWE history. During the match, the Undertaker aimed to hit Shawn with his dive over the ropes to the outside, only for Shawn to avoid the Deadman by pulling a ‘cameraman’ (Sim Snuka) in the way to take the bump. Unfortunately for the Deadman, Snuka failed to catch the Undertaker who almost went head-first to the concrete floor. Luckily, the veteran was able to tuck his chin at the last moment and avoided disaster before finishing the match as planned.
4 The Fallen Angel
TNA’s X-Division was the spiritual successor of WCW’s cruiserweight division and Ultimate X was its signature match. At Bound for Glory 2009, six men competed for the X-Division title in just such a match. At one point, Christopher Daniels and Suicide found themselves at the top of the structure. They tried some sort of 'cutter' hanging head-first from the top. Never getting the positioning right, both men hung on to each other and fell head-first to the ring below. Somehow, both men avoided landing on their heads or necks and were able to finish the match.
3 Broken Matt
At All Out 2020, Matt Hardy faced Sammy Guevara in a Broken Rules Match. During the match, both men fought onto the platform of a forklift. Guevara then speared Hardy off the platform. Both men were supposed to fall through a table below but missed it and Hardy hit his head and neck on the concrete floor. Matt was legitimately knocked out and needed medical attention before somehow finishing the match as planned. Letting the match continue after Matt's fall is still one of the most controversial decisions in AEW history.
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2 More Than Muscles Busted
Tyson Kidd was considered one of the best wrestlers on the WWE roster in the early-to-mid 2010s. The husband of Natalya had won tag team gold with Cesaro and seemed to have a decent career going. On June 1, 2015, Kidd faced the newly hired Samoa Joe in a dark match before Monday Night Raw. Joe won with his muscle buster finisher. While the move was executed clean, Kidd suffered a spinal cord injury that, according to his own words, only about 5% of people survived. While the injury ended Kidd's career, it could have been much worse.
1 A Simple Suplex
The most recent example of a near-fatal wrestling accident came on the March 11, 2022 episode of Friday Night Smackdown. Ridge Holland performed an overhead belly to belly suplex on Big E outside the ring. It should have been a routine move as it is one of Ridge's signature spots. However, Big E didn't rotate fully and landed sideways on his head. Immediately, medical staff tended to Big E who has been out of action ever since. Thankfully, he is on his way to a full recovery although his future in wrestling is uncertain. Much like Droz, Big E doesn't blame Ridge for what happened.
