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Luck is one of the most important things to have if one is to succeed in wrestling. You can have all the talent in the world, but without a bit of luck, you could find yourself struggling.
Just look at Roman Reigns. He achieved so much in WWE, and just when it looked like things were finally starting to go his way, his leukemia returned and he had to go fight for his life.
Reigns wasn't the only person in WWE to experience bad luck. Many people involved in the wrestling business have experienced such bad luck that it had severe consequences on their careers and even their lives.
Here we’ll look at eight instances where wrestling personalities have suffered from the worst luck imaginable.
#8 Batista got injured 24 hours after winning the world title
In 2009, the WWE title picture on RAW focused on two people: John Cena and Randy Orton. WWE was desperately trying to sell to everyone that these two were the best RAW had to offer. However, some of their feuds and matches weren’t all that good, so WWE made the surprise decision to add someone else to the mix: Batista.
"The Animal" defeated Randy Orton in a steel cage match at Extreme Rules 2009 to win the WWE Championship, marking his first reign with that world title. Sadly, Batista’s luck ran out a day later as he tore his bicep in the match. The injury forced him to vacate the WWE title and exit the title picture until the following year.
What made this injury disappointing was that it was rumored to be the start of a feud between Batista and John Cena. The two men were two of WWE’s top stars and a rivalry between them would’ve been exciting. However, WWE had to go back to their original plan of Cena versus Orton, which didn’t seem as exciting.
Although Cena and Batista did feud eventually, it was lackluster and didn’t have as much excitement as it could've had if their rivalry had started earlier, and had more time to develop organically. Sometimes, all one needs is a little bit of luck. Without it, stuff like this happens.
Batista never quite reached the potential of what was expected of him and this injury was a key contributor to that. He eventually faded out of the business and switched industries.
#7 Shawn Michaels gets injured right before the Austin Era begins
In 1997, Shawn Michaels was notorious for his bad behavior backstage. He allegedly acted like a prima donna and at one point supposedly faked a knee injury. That injury derailed WWE’s plans at the time and was one of the many factors that led to the Montreal Screwjob.
A year later, this behavior would haunt Shawn as he got injured for real. At the 1998 Royal Rumble, he landed badly on a casket, injuring his back so badly he had to stop wrestling for four years. At the time, most people believed that Shawn would never wrestle again, and that his performance at WrestleMania XIV was his last.
But Shawn was a pioneer of the Attitude Era and his work with D-Generation X was critical to WWE becoming an interesting show. Yet, because of this poorly-timed injury, Shawn missed out on the Attitude Era. He only appeared on rare occasions, and never wrestled in any major capacity.
Because of that, fans never got to see HBK wrestling some of the Attitude Era’s biggest stars. And worse for him, Shawn likely missed out on some of the enormous paydays that came with those sold-out venues and record-breaking TV ratings. Had Shawn’s injury never occurred, there’s a good chance he’d have made more money by being a key player during WWE’s best ever period.
Superstars like The Rock, Triple H and Stone Cold made the most of Shawn's absence, cementing a legacy for themselves during the heydays of the attitude era.
#6 Rob Van Dam got busted for drug possession
Rob Van Dam was one of the most popular WWE Superstars in his prime. People loved his athleticism, unique look, personality, and what he stood for. His stock in WWE rose to the point where he eventually reached the world title picture.
Few people ever thought he’d ever win given the political nature of WWE’s backstage environment but he did, by defeating John Cena at ECW One Night Stand. It was a monumental win for RVD, and many people hoped he’d achieve great success on RAW as a firm member of that show’s main event card.
Sadly, all that came crashing down when RVD and his close friend Sabu were arrested for drug possession. While many previous WWE Champions were able to enjoy the ‘rockstar’ lifestyle, RVD could not. This was because RVD’s arrest was in 2006 and WWE was desperately trying to clean up its image following the death of Eddie Guerrero. Their recently-introduced Wellness Policy included a clause that any drug-related arrest could lead to dismissal from the company.
At the time, RVD was a double-world-champion, holding both the WWE and ECW World Heavyweight titles. To discipline him, WWE booked him to lose the WWE title on the earliest possible episode of RAW, and then the ECW world title the following night. Since then, RVD has never achieved anything remotely close to the same success despite returning a few times and challenging for world titles in WWE.
The ECW was just revamped and WWE pinned high hopes Van Dam to lead the charge on the show. Unfortunately, RVD failed to raise to the task.
#5 Steve Austin gets a monster push but breaks his neck
Stone Cold Steve Austin is the most financially-successful wrestler ever. WWE made a fortune off his character, rivalries, star power, matches, and merchandise. He was easily the best character WWE had during the 1990s, but all of it was on borrowed time.
In 1996, Austin won the King of the Ring tournament and began his rise following the ‘Austin 3:16’ speech. About a year later, Austin was still rising to the top when he crossed paths with Owen Hart.
At SummerSlam 1997, Hart executed a sit-out Tombstone Piledriver on Austin and broke his neck. Austin couldn’t move at all for a few seconds, and would later need time off for a critical neck surgery.
While Austin enjoyed spectacular success as the face of WWE, it was much shorter than it could’ve been if that neck injury never happened. It was terrible luck for Austin to suffer such a bad injury right in the middle of his main event push, given that he’d have to take time off later on just as things were getting really hot for WWE.
Worse, the injury effectively cut his in-ring career short, with Austin wrestling his last match in 2003. The year before that (2002) wasn’t that good either, as Austin was dealing with so many problems (many of which stemmed from this neck injury) that he walked out on WWE in mid-2002.
Certainly, things would’ve been much better for Austin had that unfortunate neck injury never occurred.
#4 Kevin Nash is cleared to wrestle, tears quad immediately
A wrestler getting injured is a sad thing and an announcement of such is usually accompanied by well wishes. But in Kevin Nash's case, the circumstances were shocking.
Nash wrestled his first match for WWE in three months, having been off recovering after suffering a torn bicep. His entire "comeback" consisted of one big boot, and then he ran over to the opponents’ corner and crumpled to the mat. He then clasped his left leg and writhed in pain, before the referee made the dreaded ‘X’ sign indicating a wrestler is hurt for real.
It was later announced that Kevin Nash had torn his quad at that moment and would be out of action. In other words, Kevin Nash tore his quad…walking. All this screams of bad timing and worse luck. There was so much hype around the NWO coming to WWE, and most of it was wasted.
Some people call it bad luck. Others have argued it's karma for his bad behavior in WWE and in WCW during the 1990s. What do you think about this interesting set of events?
#3 Daniel Bryan wins WWE World title, relinquishes it a month later
Daniel Bryan’s world title win at Wrestlemania XXX was one of the most emotionally satisfying stories in wrestling history. Bryan was the perfect underdog who kept defying the authority without ever giving up despite having so many bigger opponents.
He had won the WWE Championship twice before, but neither came close to his ‘Mania victory. He had proven to everyone that he was capable of being ‘the guy,’ and after winning the title he had to defend it to prove his win wasn’t a fluke.
Sadly, Bryan soon suffered a serious neck injury. It forced Bryan to vacate the WWE title and undergo surgery, cutting his fairy tale story abruptly. Bryan – the unconventional maverick small guy that proved he was more than a ‘B+ player’ – was shelved indefinitely and later had to retire from wrestling for two years.
In his place as WWE Champions were guys like John Cena and Brock Lesnar – two jacked-up musclemen that were more about being ‘superstars’ than ‘wrestlers’.
Who knows how well Bryan’s third world title reign would’ve gone if he'd never suffered that neck injury? It could've led to some refreshing matches and feuds and would’ve been much more entertaining than seeing the same faces in the world title picture as the ones that were there before.
#2 Vince McMahon loses $350 million in one day
Though not a wrestler, Vince McMahon is inextricably tied to the wrestling business. He has wrestled in matches, been in the ring many times, and has devoted a lot of time to his WWE product both on-screen and off-screen. Yet sometimes, even someone like Vince suffers from serious bad luck.
In May 2014, Vince was negotiating a new TV deal with NBC Universal. He and his team were hoping for a huge and lucrative deal but were given something far worse. The deal was significantly worse than anything WWE had expected, and when news broke, it sent WWE’s stock price crashing.
Investors panicked, rumors swirled, and many people lost a lot of money. But none of them lost more than Vince himself, who was reported to have lost around $350 million in a single day. THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS. That is more wealth than the entire value of some developing countries.
It's hard to imagine what was going through Vince’s mind on that day. The man had long desired to be a billionaire, and one bad TV deal had effectively kicked him out of that most exclusive of clubs. Though he has since regained that fortune, one shudders at the thought of what Vince said or did to anyone foolish enough to cross him that day.
#1 Akitoshi Saito literally kills Mitsuharu Misawa
By 2009, the body of AJPW and NOAH ace Mitsuharu Misawa was in terrible shape. Years of wrestling in the taxing and dangerous King’s Road style had taken their toll on him. To the point that many people begged him to retire from in-ring competition.
But Misawa was NOAH’s biggest draw and the company was basically built around him. Without him wrestling, there were fears that the promotion would fold. So he kept wrestling despite severe neck problems and allegedly needing a cane to walk.
All these problems came to a head on June 13th, 2009. Misawa took a backdrop suplex from Saito, but the execution went terribly wrong. Misawa landed on his head, and in doing so severed his C1 and C2 vertebrae. He lost consciousness soon after and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Although the exact cause of death was never officially released, some diehard fans blamed Saito directly, alleging his suplex killed one of the greatest wrestlers in Japanese history. These angry fans allegedly found Saito’s home and harassed him for some time afterwards, and it wasn’t until Misawa's tribute show that Saito was basically ‘forgiven’.
There are repeated call outs in wrestling television programming that the stunts are performed by trained professionals and the same are not to be repeated at home. It is purely owing to the risk at stake here that has ended more careers than it has created.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
