"His body is poisoning himself" - Real reason former WWE star left the company revealed by family member (Exclusive)

Professional wrestling is a dangerous sport that has seen many former WWE wrestlers head towards retirement due to one injury or the other. Wrestlers like Edge, Bryan Danielson, and Paige are fortunate enough to return from career-ending injuries, but not everyone has the same story.

Former WWE star Harley Race is also among the wrestlers who had to retire after suffering injuries. Before retiring from the business entirely, Race would be forced to leave WWE after suffering a major injury in a clash against Hulk Hogan, as revealed by his son, Justin Race.

He was speaking on the latest episode of UnSKrpited on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, where he revealed the gruesome injury that led to his father's WWE exit. He revealed that Harley Race blew his intestines during a match with Hulk Hogan after landing directly on a table while trying to perform a diving headbutt on the Hulkster.

"He laid Hogan out on a table, and he was gonna do a flying headbutt off the apron of the ring. Hogan moved, and this was back in the day, when they didn't have the tables like they do now, they break away. This was a real table with a real metal band around the bottom, whatever, and dad went through the table, but the metal band, it strapped back and hit him on the guts. Moral of the story is, he ended up having several surgeries on his abdomen, several feet of his large intestines removed, basically blew his large intestines out," Race said.

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He continued,

"He finished the match and wrestled for a couple more weeks until WrestleMania 4, and I came home, and he was in my apartment, he was lying on the floor in a fetal position. The doctor said you're lucky you got him here, cause his body is poisoning himself. All the holes in his large intestines are just poison leaking out in his body," Race added.

Following this incident, Race would remain on the shelf for several months before leaving the company shortly after making his return. He would eventually retire from in-ring wrestling in 1990, after suffering a shoulder injury while working a house show in WCW.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed