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WWE Superstars go through years of training to ensure that they can perform with each and every move in the ring safely. Without safety, the Superstars could suffer career-threatening injuries, something that no one wants to see on their television screens.
We've seen WWE relieve a few Superstars from their contracts following complaints by their colleagues that they are not safe workers in the ring. On the other hand, several wrestlers are praised for being extremely safe workers.
However, many of the top Superstars have suffered in-ring injuries in WWE after being hit by moves from other wrestlers that are usually considered safe. While WWE Superstars take the utmost care of each other in the ring, some mishaps can cause severe injuries that can take out the Superstars for several months or, in some cases, cost someone their career.
Most of these moves have been considered extremely safe and have been performed thousands of times by professional wrestlers.
In this article, we will look at the eight wrestling moves that have led to legitimate injuries for WWE Superstars in the ring.
#8 WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd's career came to an end after a Muscle Buster
During a dark match on RAW in June 2015, disaster struck for Tyson Kidd. Kidd was asked to work with Samoa Joe at the last minute, and he wasn't prepared to face the WWE Superstar.
While the entire match went well, it was the final moment that led to the end of Kidd's wrestling career. Joe lifted Kidd for the Muscle Buster and went ahead with the move just like he'd done for years. However, Kidd did not land well and ended up breaking his neck in the process.
"The night of injury, it was just one of those days where the show was being changed -- up to the last minute -- but the show was being changed and the next thing I know it's me against Joe in a dark match," Kidd said. "I'd never worked Joe before. I'd of course seen him. I'm a student of the game, I've seen everybody. But I'd never physically worked him. When we landed on the Muscle Buster, I saw the whitest light I've ever seen. I thought it was a concussion for a second. I remember thinking, 'Man, I did this whole match, completely on the fly, I pulled it off and then I get rocked at the end.'"
Kidd tweeted that only 5% of people survive his injury and that he had 16 staples, four screws, and a rod inserted in his neck. WWE reported that he would be out of action for over a year. But given the severity of the injury, Kidd decided to hang up his wrestling boots.
Joe hasn't used the Muscle Buster much since then, even though it is one of the biggest moves in his arsenal.
#7 Former WWE Superstar Marty Garner suffered a nasty injury from The Pedigree
Triple H’s finisher, The Pedigree, is one of the most exclusive and iconic moves in WWE. Apart from Seth Rollins, we haven’t seen many WWE Superstars use the move.
While Triple H has mastered the move over the decades, he botched it early in his career during a match against Marty Garner in 1996.
During the match against Garner, Hunter Hearst Helmsley went for the Pedigree. Garner, who had never taken the move before, thought it was an attempt at a powerbomb or suplex and did not position himself correctly. He jumped too high and attempted to flip out as Triple H went with the move as usual.
The result wasn’t too pretty as Garner landed on his head and suffered a neck injury in the process. Even though the move badly injured a WWE Superstar, the company continued to air it repeatedly.
Garner was out for three months due to the injury, but thankfully he did not permanently damage his neck. Triple H continued to use the move and has performed it relatively safely ever since.
#6 RVD's Five Star Frog Splash injured WWE Superstar Triple H
Rob Van Dam is known as one of the best high-flyers the wrestling industry has ever seen. While many high-flyers in WWE perform the Frog Splash maneuver off the top rope, RVD is known for the Five Star Frog Splash, where he sometimes changes direction mid-air before landing on his opponent.
During the first-ever Elimination Chamber match at WWE Survivor Series 2002, RVD tried to perform the move on Triple H. However, the height of the structure restricted RVD from gathering enough momentum before hitting the move.
RVD's knee connected with Triple H's throat, leading to Triple H's larynx getting crushed. Over the years, we've seen Triple H take the blame off RVD for the botch.
RVD explained to the WWE Universe what led to the Five Star Frog Splash missing its target:
“I had to alter my five-star frog splash because of the structure. When I looked down on him, I thought everything was going to be fine. I mean, I knew he was in a little bit close, but I thought that I'd just be able to drop right down on him.”
Triple H has also spoken about how a WWE doctor was sent into the ring, but he wanted to continue the match:
“Van Dam lands on my throat -- completely crazy, random moment in time. He was at an awkward angle, and he couldn't stand up straight.”
“They sent a doctor into the ring, who was talking to me through the grates, and I was like "Do not stop this, I got it." But I couldn't talk.”
RVD's iconic Five Star Frog Splash is still a treat to watch, but there is always a chance of the move going wrong as it is performed from the top turnbuckle.
#5 WWE Cruiserweight Brian Kendrick took a GTS to the face
While we’ve seen several Superstars perform the Go To Sleep (GTS) finisher, it was CM Punk who made the move famous in WWE. However, several other Superstars, including Hideo Itami, have used the move generously during their careers.
In late 2017 during an episode of 205 Live, Itami connected with the GTS on Brian Kendrick. However, the move wasn’t pulled off to perfection as Kendrick hit his face right on Itami’s knee.
The WWE Superstar was struck in the left eye and nose, and his orbital bone and nasal bridge were fractured in the process.
WWE revealed the following information regarding Kendrick’s health following the match:
“During a match between The Brian Kendrick and Hideo Itami, Itami performed the GTS and during that maneuver, Kendrick was struck in the left eye and the inner aspect of the nose,” WWE Senior Ringside Physician Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.com. “A fracture was suspected, and he was taken to a local emergency care facility in Chicago where a CT scan confirmed a diagnosis of an orbital wall fracture and a minimally displaced nasal bridge fracture.”
Thankfully, Kendrick made a speedy recovery and was back in the ring just two months later.
#4 WWE Superstar John Cena injured Sami Zayn with a Back Suplex
Sami Zayn had a very successful run in WWE NXT, and he was introduced to RAW in early 2015 when he answered a United States Championship Open Challenge set up by John Cena.
Zayn was excited walking into the match in his hometown, and his entrance shenanigans led to his shoulder popping out. However, he was able to pop it back into place.
After the match began on WWE RAW, Cena Suplexed The Great Liberator, which led to his shoulder dislocating once again.
Zayn continued the match and came close to winning the WWE US Championship, but he ended up losing to Cena. Zayn spoke about his injury recently:
“I didn’t know what happened at the time because it happened so fast. It popped out and popped in right away. It happened so fast that I was in denial wondering if that just happened or did it just pop? Was it a crack or a pop? I didn’t even know what it was, but it scared me a little bit. When my arm went down, it was back in and everything seemed fine. It was my debut against John Cena, maybe the biggest star ever, in my hometown and I’m getting this amazing hero’s welcome. I get in the ring and I tell the ref and John Cena that I think my shoulder popped. At this point, I feel fine and we wrestle for about a minute. He gives me a back suplex and that’s when it’s out and it’s not getting back in. My arm was dead and I couldn’t roll and I think when I finally did roll, it went back in place.”
The Great Liberator competed against Kevin Owens a few nights later in WWE NXT, following which he was on the shelf for seven months due to the injury.
#3 The Bucklebomb has injured multiple WWE Superstars
Seth Rollins has used The Bucklebomb quite often in his career, but WWE recently pulled the plug on the move. This is because the move has injured several stars in the ring and taken out a few top WWE Superstars for a long time.
During a match against Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Championship, Rollins performed the move on the outside onto the barricade. It ended up separating Balor’s shoulder, forcing him to relinquish his title the next night.
Sting also suffered a neck injury when he took The Bucklebomb from Rollins during a match in 2015. It led to Sting taking a break from wrestling and ultimately retiring.
Sting spoke about the injury and what he felt during the match during an interview with WWE:
“Bottom line, I had tingling, numbness down both arms, all the way to my fingertips. And then, later in the match, I just fell wrong, whatever it was, and this time [the tingling and numbness] went down both arms and into my legs, and I couldn’t feel my legs too well. They just felt like rubber."
Arn Anderson also spoke about The Bucklebomb and the spot on the ARN Podcast:
“The key is – and this is entirely up to the guy giving it you – you need to hit that buckle like right above your shoulder blades. Not with your neck. And I think Sting hit it with his neck, and that’s one of those things where there’s not that much margin for error. ”
Former WWE Superstar Kairi Sane also suffered an injury when she took the move from Nia Jax during a match on WWE RAW. The Bucklebomb has proven to be a dangerous move to pull off in the wrestling ring and it has to be said that WWE have done the right thing by banning the move.
#2 WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin suffered an injury after receiving a Piledriver
The Piledriver is always seen as one of the most lethal moves in WWE, and currently, only a few top stars are allowed to use the move. However, Superstars could use the move regularly before WWE decided to ban the move, and this led to some serious botches.
Stone Cold Steve Austin was on the receiving end of a botched piledriver attempt from Owen Hart at WWE SummerSlam 1997. Hart went for the move on Austin, but Austin’s head was too low and as soon as his head hit the mat, he suffered a neck injury.
Austin suffered a career-threatening injury due to the botched move. He reflected on the moment he hit the mat and the first thing that came to his mind following the move.
“I remember we went into the piledriver deal…I picked him up, and then we reversed that, and he picked me up… “
“My head was about, I dunno, six or eight inches below the bottom of his legs, and he jumped up and spiked me.”
“As soon as my head hit that mat, I was thinking Christopher Reeve. Cause I thought I was never gonna walk again, ever. I couldn’t feel anything from my neck down…”
Thankfully, Austin was able to recover from the injury but was forced into early retirement due to the complications in his neck.
#1 WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar injured himself while performing the Shooting Star Press
Brock Lesnar has always been seen as one of WWE’s largest athlete. Known for his strength and brutality, Lesnar is often referred to as the greatest athlete in combat sports history.
Even though Lesnar has never had to rely on high flying moves, he decided to pull off a Shooting Star Press on Kurt Angle during their match at WWE WrestleMania 19. He was unable to pull off the Shooting Star Press to perfection as Angle was further away from him and landed on his neck and head.
During an interview with Wrestlinginc.com, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle revealed whose idea it was to have The Beast pull off a high-flying move:
“That was my idea, I will take responsibility for Brock doing that. At the time I had to leave (WWE), it really wasn’t in the plans for me to drop the title at WrestleMania. I had suffered a broken neck and was going to have surgery, so I wanted to do something that people would remember. I asked Brock to do the Shooting Star Press, which he had done many times in OVW. I just thought it would be a great way to end the show.”
“Unfortunately Brock came up short. I think I was a little too far away, and Brock kinda double guessed before he went. If you ever watched the tape, you’ll see he goes, then he kinda stops, then he says screw it. So that hesitation caused him to land on his head. But that was my call. I know that Brock didn’t necessarily want to do it, but we did practice it earlier in the week and he was doing it perfectly well; he just got in a situation in the match where he kinda slipped a little bit and that was it.”
The Beast Incarnate ended up with a concussion and was furious backstage after the incident. Thankfully, he managed to recover well following the match.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
