The battered ‘Icon’Whether it is in WWE or somewhere else in the world, there are people off all ages taking wrestling bumps or spots. Even if those people are not properly trained.WWE and every other major company tell people to not try things at home, and while most of us follow those instructions, not everyone does. There are some who have no need to be in a wrestling ring while others have reached a limit.A lot of the time, WWE and especially Indy companies allow older wrestlers the opportunity to wrestle a match. This is okay at times, but a lot of the time a wrestler has no idea when the time is up on their career. WWE is nice enough to retire certain people or tell them they will not longer allow them to perform. Meanwhile, your average Indy worker isn’t as nice when a top star wants to come in and perform.Whoever makes the money, right?In this list, we decided to find moments in time that people worked a match over the age of 50 and did something crazy or very scary in a wrestling ring. Many wrestlers do crazy bumps that surprise us. Some of them do bumps that no one should do. However, veterans always think they can do these moves. They aren’t always right. Enjoy as we count down the top 5 times a WWE wrestler took a scary bump.
#1 Terry Funk can\'t say No
ECW made a comeback to WWE when WWE saw the potential it had in 2005. They decided to do a PPV called ECW One Night Stand where older ECW stars would have a chance to perform in an ECW ring.
WWE saw the potential in ECW was still there and decided in 2006 to give it the group it’s own brand to play with. While the old ECW was there for a while, it was nothing like the old and fans were eventually turned off by it. However the One Night Stand PPVs with ECW were beloved by ECW fans. Everyone knew that in order to have a proper ECW show, we would need to have hardcore legends and ECW’s top stars on the show. in 2006, it was WWE vs ECW.
This PPV was terrific, but had one match that scared the hell out of wrestling fans everywhere. Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer faced off with the unlikely alliance of Edge and Mick Foley at One Night Stand 2006. Funk was in his 60’s at the time.
It was felt that since Edge was one of the best and safest men to work with, he would work with Funk a lot. On top of this, both Dreamer and Funk trusted Foley. This made what the men did to each other a thing that wouldn’t be held against them.
Everyone got beaten up in this match. However, the entire match was as hardcore as it got. Funk ended up going into barbwire tables on a number of occasions and taking moves no man should take today....even those in their prime. The match eventually turned into a 3 on 3 intergender match with Lita helping Edge and Foley take on Funk and Dreamer with Beulah Mcgillicutty who also happened to be Dreamer’s real life wife.
A memorable spot in the match was Lita taking a Death Valley Driver and Edge spearing Beulah. The match got way out of hand and it was capped off with Edge pinning Beulah in a miliary sex position to end the night for all 6 competitors.
#2 Ric Flair gets a TLC Edgucation
In 2006, very few wrestlers in the world were as hot as WWE Superstar Edge. He began a heel run the year before for the first time as a solo performer and eventually aligned himself with WWE Diva Lita.
The two were terrific together. Edge was a brilliant worker, and at times, his promo ability outdid his in-ring work. As a heel, Edge became a major star for WWE as a singles worker. Everyone knew that if Edge could become a good bad guy, they could pair him up with top babyfaces like John Cena for years to come and create magic.
They were right, as Edge ended up having an amazing career and spent the majority of his time with WWE as a heel for years to come. He became an 11 World Champion due to his amazing ability.
One man thought Edge wasn’t as good as he thought he was and the two would end up battling it out in 2006 on WWE RAW in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. That man was WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.
Flair had rarely been in ladder matches and was never known for his great gimmick martches with random objects. Flair played dirty and he didn’t mind letting you know it. Edge in the prime of his career while a near 60 year old Ric Flair was in the last stage of his career and should have already retired.
Things got very scary when Edge decided he would suplex Ric off the top of a ladder onto the ring below.
Later on Flair commented on the bump he took, saying that the match was a drea come true for him and he would only ever allow one man to do that sort of thing to him in that type of match. Edge was that man. Flair went on to wrestle regularly for about 5 more years. He never seemed to get seriously injured, but many times you thought he could have been. Especially on this night.
#3 Vinny Mac is insane
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was known for asking his wrestlers to do some very sketchy things over the years. Some spots were allowed that probably shouldn’t have been. Matches were invented that could be defined as absolutely nuts.
On top of this, some ideas for matches could be seen as crazy. However, the one thing Vince always had in his bag of tricks was that he would never ask a WWE Superstar or Diva to do something in a WWE ring that he wouldn’t do himself.
There are stories of Vince even showing former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly how to dance provocatively. In the 90’s, the hottest thing in pro-wrestling had to be Vince McMahon vs “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. It was laid out as the boss vs the blue collar worker.
Austin was insanely over during this time and he could do no wrong. It was the hottest thing going at the time and Vince was right in the middle of it. What was so funny about it all was that Vince was in matches when he certainly shouldn’t have been. At the height of the rivalry with Stone Cold, McMahon was in his mid to late 50’s.
The two ended up battling in 1999 in a steel cage match at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The match had Vince taking a ton of punishment. It is the one match that sticks out to many WWE Superstars and fans. It was there that Vince showed his talent that worked for him that he would lay everything he had out on the table for the company and would never ask anyone to do a spot he wouldn’t do hiimself.
He was followed in this thought by his even crazier son, Shane McMahon. He went on to do spots and bumps that no wrestler has ever done before and would never do after. The McMahon Family is beloved by WWE fans for legit reasons.
#4 Undertaker briefly meets Satan
This past year at WWE SummerSlam, a 50-year-old Undertaker took on a Beast known as Brock Lesnar. The two battled at WrestleMania 31, a year before, where Lesnar beat The Undertaker to end the legendary WrestleMania winning streak.
Needless to say, Taker was mad. So he decided to return at WWE Battleground this year and interfere in the WWE World Heavyweight Title match where Seth Rollins was defending the WWE World Title he took from Lesnar without actually beating him for the title.
The two would meet on WWE RAW shortly after and brawl. It was then announced that they would fight at WWE SummerSlam and did they ever. Everything about this match scared WWE fans. The last time they went at it, Taker was hospitalized. This time around, Undertaker took bumps that were arguably worse than the WrestleMania event before.
One spot was when Undertaker F-5ed Undertaker through the table on the outside. Not to mention the major amount of suplexes. There were times in the match were Undertaker’s eyes were glazed over and it felt that he was either out of it, hurt, or a brilliant actor. We can probably admit now that his acting is not that great.
Undertaker turned 50 this year and many feel that he should retire to save himself from more potential injuries. While fans love him, we worry about his health if he keeps up with this types of matches. WWE is said to be ending the rivalry with Lesnar and Undertaker next month at WWE Hell in a Cell where the two will battle inside the Cell for the second time.
This time, it will decide who is truly the better man. We can probably tell you that this match will be on the list in November of this year most likely.
#5 Bomb dropped on Sting
Pro-Wrestling Legend Sting has been known to have some terrific matches. He has also stayed very healthy in his career, rarely getting hurt in a match in his entire career. It made all the sense in the world for WWE to bring him in when they did and have him compete, even though he was over 50 years of age.
This past year at WrestleMania 31, he fought Triple H in his first match ever in a WWE ring. The two had a wonderful match where Sting took some big spots but nothing too serious. When Seth Rollins took on Sting at WWE Night of Champions just a few weeks ago, we could probably imagine that Sting escaped from serious injury.
The two had a great match, and few felt beforehand that Sting could pull off a memorable match with Rollins. However, Rollins is very well liked in WWE and legends have been high on him. Sting said after the match was over that it was an honor to work with him, which is possibly the highest praise Rollins has ever gotten.
In the match, Sting took some very scary spots. The first was when he was thrown onto the Spanish Announce Table, causing it to break with him going through it.
The second then third were scarier. Rollins did his patented turnbuckle powerbomb to Sting where it appeared Sting hit a bit too hard and was not right. The two fought a bit longer and Sting took the same move yet again. This time, it caused Sting to hit his knees and the referee called for medical attention. Sting was legit hurt here. He said after the match that the first powerbomb felt a bit off but the second was the worst one and he said, “I’ll never do it again.”
Sting didn’t want to call it quits with the match, so he and Rollins finished it up with the ending planned for a short while later. Sting did great in the match, but he may not be back in a WWE ring for some time if ever due to the injuries he sustained in the match.
