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WWE Superstars are professionals, yet they are prone to injury. Countless Superstars, in the past, have spoken about the results of wrestling tirelessly for years during their WWE career. Most of them are now unable to operate properly in their day-to-day life and some of them, now, have chronic injuries as well.
Despite this, WWE Superstars try to bring the best out of their bodies. While wrestling, even the slightest misstep could potentially injure someone and leave them on the sidelines for weeks, or even months, sometimes.
In this article, we are going to list 10 WWE Superstars who legitimately hurt themselves during their match. As always, let us know which of these injuries you think hurt these Superstars the most.
#10 Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey fought her final WWE match at WrestleMania 35 against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. The RAW Women’s Championship was on the line which was later won by Lynch when she pinned Rousey.
Since then, The Rowdy One hasn’t appeared on WWE Television for multiple reasons. During the main event of ‘Mania 35, Rousey injured her hands. Yet she was able to finish the match without any problem.
A few months later, she once again hurt herself - this time on the TV set. Currently, Becky Lynch is feuding with Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey’s name has been brought several times in their rivalry. Does that mean she will return soon? Perhaps, at WrestleMania 36? Fans are excited to know if this will happen.
Could WWE shock the world by turning Ronda Rousey on her friend, so that she could focus on winning the RAW Women's Championship from Lynch as a revenge (since she lost it to her)?
#9 John Cena
On the July 25, 2015, edition of Monday Night RAW, John Cena faced Seth Rollins in a one-on-one match to defend his United States Championship. This was a good match until Rollins hit a knee strike to Cena, which broke his nose.
However, the former US Champion was still able to finish the match. Then, Cena was rushed to the local emergency room to treat his nasal fracture. He missed several weeks of in-ring action.
Several fans criticized Rollins for being unsafe in the ring, but he received support from WWE and they didn’t punish him in any way. Although Bret Hart, whom the Monday Night Messiah considers to be one of his growing idols, made some critical comments about him.
Both Cena and Rollins have moved from this incident and the 16-time WWE Champion doesn’t hold any grudges against the latter. Since this accident took place, WWE has been careful with Cena. He’s a famous Hollywood personality now and can’t afford to injure himself in the ring as this might cost millions of dollars to the production.
#8 Goldberg
The Undertaker and Goldberg headlined Super ShowDown 2019. This was one of the most promoted matches of that night. But it ended up disappointing a plethora of fans. The Undertaker won that match, but what happened during the fight was something WWE didn't expect.
Both Superstars were struggling to finish their match and many believe that it shouldn’t have gone that long. We know that Goldberg hasn’t had many matches that were beyond the 5-minute mark and perhaps this and his age were the reason why this match didn’t turn out as expected.
Goldberg was hurt during the match and was also bleeding through his face. We even saw a botched tombstone where the current Universal Champion’s head touched the canvas. These types of mistakes could seriously injure someone and even leave them paralyzed for life. Goldberg collapsed after the match and has only wrestled in shorter matches and against young talents since.
In a few weeks time, the WCW Icon will defend his title against Roman Reigns, at WrestleMania 36.
#7 Triple H
Nobody could argue when we say that Triple H loves the wrestling business. The amount of energy he has put in building WWE as a global company (including his work at NXT) is enormous. Even though The Game doesn’t wrestle as often as he used to do, his passion for wrestling will probably never die.
At Crown Jewel 2018, we saw the historic return of Shawn Michaels after 8 long years of staying in retirement. He and Triple H teamed up to take on The Undertaker and Kane. The match ended with D-Generation X winning it, but this victory didn’t please Triple H much as he injured himself during the fight.
After tearing his right pectoral muscle, fans thought that the King of Kings may not perform at WrestleMania 35. But it was Vince McMahon who convinced him to wrestle at the show, and he ended up retiring his real-life friend, Batista. Since then, Triple H hasn't had a match on live television. He isn't scheduled to perform at WrestleMania this year but WWE should use him in some capacity at least.
#6 Bray Wyatt
'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt faced Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship at Hell in a Cell 2019. When the fans wanted him to win the most, he didn’t. The match ended in a no-contest. Because it was the theme of the pay-per-view, both Superstars competed inside the cell.
According to POSTWrestling, Bray Wyatt was legitimately injured after the match. Fans knew that he was hurt, by the manner of which the match was concluded.. Another Superstar who suffered an injury was Sasha Banks, who faced Becky Lynch at the show. Both didn’t compete on RAW the night later but soon recovered from their injuries.
Wyatt has recently lost the Universal Championship to Goldberg and now, he’s set to face John Cena at the Grandest Stage of Them All. We know that WWE damaged his character in Saudi Arabia. Will The Fiend be able to recover from his loss? We will just have to wait a few weeks to know the answer. A victory over Cena will ascend Bray Wyatt to the top once again.
#5 Braun Strowman
In 2019, Braun Strowman was said to be working with a knee injury. Despite this, he continued to wrestle for several weeks before taking a break. While we don’t know the extent of his injury, Strowman was seen struggling in the ring multiple times. When he teamed up with Seth Rollins to face Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode at Clash of Champions, his face got busted open. During the match, Strowman hurt his knees even more after a top rope splash.
The year before that, Strowman suffered a shattered elbow following a beatdown from Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and the former RAW Acting General Manager, King Corbin. Although he did return a few weeks later to face Corbin at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC), he won the match and granted himself a Universal Championship shot against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
If this wasn’t enough, Strowman nearly got knocked out during his match against Lesnar at Rumble 2018 when the current WWE Champion hit him hard to the head.
#4 Lars Sullivan
One Superstar WWE had huge plans for was Lars Sullivan. At first, his mental health issues delayed his main-roster debut and also cost him a match against John Cena at WrestleMania (where he could’ve won). When Sullivan finally arrived on RAW, he squashed several Superstars -- Kurt Angle, for instance.
It seemed like WWE didn't have a storyline ready for Sullivan because they added him in a feud against The Lucha House Party. He defeated them on RAW but hours later, rumors emerged that the former NXT Superstar suffered a knee injury.
Fans (and even WWE) expect him to return soon but his body is recovering much slower than thought. But he should be able to return soon. Here's what Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said about Sullivan's injury and his return.
“Another name who should be ready but whose future is uncertain is Lars Sullivan. Sullivan underwent knee reconstruction surgery in June, so should be ready fairly soon. His name hasn’t been mentioned at all of late.”
#3 Paige
Three years ago, Paige made her WWE return. She formed ‘Absolution’ with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville (who debuted alongside her). Fans were excited to see the former Divas Champion back in the ring, but only days before the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, she got hurt during a live event, so badly that it ended her in-ring career.
During the event, Absolution faced Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Mickie James and it was a stiff kick from Banks that snapped Paige’s neck. The Boss received criticism from the WWE Universe but Paige didn’t blame her for this.
Since this injury, we’ve heard countless rumors of the Anti-Diva returning to WWE as an in-ring performer once again, but Paige has made it clear that it’s not going to happen anytime soon.
"I think it is always a possibility one day, you can never say never. It's not going to be any time soon," said Paige recently.
Maybe, she could return in the future but even that would take a few more years. And we doubt that WWE will ever allow her to wrestle again since neck injuries are delicate and takes some time to recover from completely.
#2 Finn Balor
Finn Balor is one of the only Superstars to receive a main-event treatment from WWE right after joining the main roster. In 2016, Balor was one of the hottest things in pro-wrestling. He pinned Roman Reigns and earned himself a Universal Championship match against Seth Rollins and ended up becoming the inaugural champion of the company.
However, only a few fans noticed that Balor was actually hurt during the match. When Rollins powerbombed the current NXT Superstar, he landed on the barricade and dislocated his shoulder in the process. The frames went through the television screen so quickly that fans didn’t even notice that. What’s interesting is that Balor popped his shoulder back into the socket and went on to finish the match as planned. Unfortunately, he had to relinquish the belt a night later on RAW and hasn't won it since.
A few months ago, Balor rejoined NXT and fans couldn’t be happier with this decision. He works as a main-event talent and also has a lot of flexibility in his schedule.
#1 Becky Lynch
Everyone was upset when Nia Jax punched Becky Lynch to the face that busted her open. She was going to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series 2018, but the match didn’t happen because she was hurt.
WWE had done a wonderful job for the build-up but a single punch coerced them to change their plans. Although The Man did take her revenge months later when she punched Jax to the face, fans are still quite upset that they didn’t see Ronda Rousey vs Becky Lynch one-on-one in WWE.
Despite the bleeding from her face, Lynch finished her segment as planned. She felt the pain but entertaining us was her first priority. Perhaps this is why the WWE Universe is absolutely crazy about her. She's set to face Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania and some fans think that the RAW Women's Championship will change hands. It'll be interesting to see how this match will end.
Do you think Shayna Baszler will be able to defeat Becky Lynch? Have your say in the comments below.
