5 times WWE worked legitimate injuries into storylines

#4 Hardcore Holly's broken neck was worked into his WWE storyline with Brock Lesnar

In the fall of 2002, then-WWE Champion Brock Lesnar battled Hardcore Holly in a match on SmackDown. It was a hard-hitting battle, until Lesnar set Holly up for a powerbomb. It appeared there was a struggle to execute the move, and Lesnar ended up legitimately dropping Holly on his neck.

The former Hardcore Champion managed to complete the match, but he was on the sidelines for a number of months. Eventually, Hardcore Holly would return and face Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble event in 2004. Holly blamed Brock for taking away months off his career. In the end, Lesnar picked up the victory and both men moved on.

In an interview with Diamon Joe, Hardcore Holly detailed the incident:

"What happened was we had been wrestling for about 10 minutes. Brock, you know, he was sick, and we’re both blown up. And he went to pick me up to powerbomb me and I tried to come up. I tried to grab his head and I couldn’t quite reach it. And he ended up, you know, we ended up going back down and he tried to hold me and that was it," Hardcore Holly said. (h/t Essentially Sports)

Hardcore Holly is a tough cookie when it comes to WWE and thankfully he was able to make a comeback.