Game Breaking Injuries by the following pro wrestling legends

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

-1) Surfer Sting, age 30: Torn ACL, February 1990
-2) Scott Steiner (early era), age 28: Torn Biceps, June 1991
-3) "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, age 33: Broken Tailbone/Bulging Back Discs, -August 1991
-4) Owen Hart, age 28: Torn ACL, Summer of 1993
-5) Taz, age 28: Broken Neck, July 1995
-6) Crow Sting, age 37: Back Surgery leading to painkiller addictions, September 1996
-7) Marc Mero, age 36: Torn ACL, March 1997
-8) Bret "The Hitman" Hart, age 39: Knee Surgery, April 1997
-9) The Rock, age 24: Torn ACL, mid-1997
-10) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, age 32: Broken Neck, August 1997
-11) Ric Flair, age 48: Broken Ankle, November 1997
-12) Shawn Michaels, age 32: Herniated Disks, January 1998
-13) Paul Wight aka Giant/Big Show, age 25: Broken Neck, January 1998
-14) "Macho Man" Randy Savage, age 46: Torn ACL, 1998
-15) Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, age 28: Broken Neck, April 1998
-16) Scott Hall, age 39: Alcoholism, April 1998
-17) Rick Steiner, age 37: Shoulder Infection post-surgery, May 1998
-18) "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, age 35: Spinal Staph -Infection/Broken Back, September 1998
-19) Lex Luger, age 40: Torn Biceps Tendon, late-1998/early-1999
-20) Hulk Hogan, age 45: Torn Knee Cartilage, March/April 1999
-21) "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner, age 36: three Ruptured Back Discs, May 1999
-22) Triple H, age 31: Torn Quadriceps, May 2001
-23) "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, age 43/44: Torn Quadriceps, July 2002
-24) John "Bradshaw" Layfield, age 35: Torn Biceps, September 2002
-25) Edge, age 29: Broken Neck, February 2003
-26) Randy Orton, age 28: Broken Collarbone, June 2008
-27) Sheamus, age 35: Torn Shoulder Labrum, August 2013

Some of the aforementioned wrestlers either come back from their game breaking injuries (1) better than ever, (2) still hanging on to their pro wrestling careers by a thread but forced to change their way of working in the ring, never regaining their pre-injury forms and/or (3) never totally fully recovering from their loss of skills to serious injuries.

I'm not counting the wrestlers who had a career-ending injury, so I only included the ones who had serious injuries and made comebacks in different ways.

Example #1: Some people like Sting who tore his ACL in February 1990 but came back in better form despite questions clouding his future in professional wrestling as he was set to be the Face of WCW during the pre-Hogan years once Ric Flair got ousted from WCW by Jim Herd's orders in 1991 and once Sting's best friend Lex Luger packed it in at SuperBrawl II (2) on February 1992.

Example #2: Others like Scott Steiner who had three ruptured back disks, felt the effects in 1993 and finally diagnosed it as a severe injury in 1999. Steiner once was a wrestler who did cruiserweight moves like the Frankensteiner and some power moves like the Steiner Screwdriver and the Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker, plus his varying suplex throws, and don't forget the Steiner Recliner. Eventually, Steiner had a then-undiagnosed back injury that had come to make him change his in-ring style from an athletic college wrestler to a strict powerhouse grappler with a basic brawling moveset and a basic groin kick low blow. Steiner's singles career extended him for 10+ years so his longevity had to happen when he changed his game circa 1998.

Example #3: And then there are people like Randy Savage who spent many years doing his trademark patented Flying Elbow Drop which requires him to choreographically put pressure on his knee to successfully deliver the attack without being stiff,...that is until 1998 when Savage appeared to still be okay as a wrestler despite being 46 at the time of his injury. Once his short-lived nWo Wolfpac run as a tweener face was over, he had to be written off after a friendly steel cage match with WCW's Diamond Dallas Page when Savage was on the receiving end of an ambush by nWo Hollywood members The Giant, Brian Adams, Scott Hall, Scott Norton, Eric Bischoff, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude and now his ex-wife Miss Elizabeth. The script called for Bischoff to assault Savage's badly injured knee with a steel chair and claim credit for Macho's injury. When he returned to action in 1999, Savage came back in his newest form which meant that he increased muscle mass in his upper body, was now too slow to do half of his flashy fast paced moves that he once did, and when he did his Flying Elbow Drop at his increased size, he was actually stiff (unlike before) with his flying elbow drops so Savage (post-Torn ACL form) was made to be reckless in the ring and send Charles Robinson to hospital with a punctured lung. The only better way to protect Savage's knee without encouraging him to do a much more stiffer Flying Elbow Drop, he needed to be protected via outside interference from his Team Madness valets like Gorgeous George, Madusa and Molly Holly did for him. Unlike Steiner when his game breaking injury actually extended his wrestling career, Savage never really fully recovered from his game breaking injury so he was out of WCW after early 2000, and essentially never returned to professional wrestling for WCW, WWF or any other wrestling promotion besides TNA.

Let me know what you think about these guys' game breaking injuries and how you personally feel about what went wrong with those guys and how big of an impact did all these aforementioned game breaking injury wrestlers wind up pre-injury and post-injury forms.

 

[Weems2k]

You missed prolly one of the most gruesome injuries seen on live PPV. Psycho Sid breaking his leg, and having it dangling like a twig.

 

[Papa Shango]

You missed prolly one of the most gruesome injuries seen on live PPV. Psycho Sid breaking his leg, and having it dangling like a twig.

He wasn't counting career-ending injuries. After that match, Sid didn't wrestle a match in another major promotion until he squashed Heath Slater on Raw. Sure he wrestled the independents a bit, but that was after a couple years of rehab and inactivity, and even then he'd no show half of his scheduled appearances.

 

[HeyYo]

-1) Surfer Sting, age 30: Torn ACL, February 1990
-2) Scott Steiner (early era), age 28: Torn Biceps, June 1991
-3) "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, age 33: Broken Tailbone/Bulging Back Discs, -August 1991
-4) Owen Hart, age 28: Torn ACL, Summer of 1993
-5) Taz, age 28: Broken Neck, July 1995
-6) Crow Sting, age 37: Back Surgery leading to painkiller addictions, September 1996
-7) Marc Mero, age 36: Torn ACL, March 1997
-8) Bret "The Hitman" Hart, age 39: Knee Surgery, April 1997
-9) The Rock, age 24: Torn ACL, mid-1997
-10) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, age 32: Broken Neck, August 1997
-11) Ric Flair, age 48: Broken Ankle, November 1997
-12) Shawn Michaels, age 32: Herniated Disks, January 1998
-13) Paul Wight aka Giant/Big Show, age 25: Broken Neck, January 1998
-14) "Macho Man" Randy Savage, age 46: Torn ACL, 1998
-15) Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, age 28: Broken Neck, April 1998
-16) Scott Hall, age 39: Alcoholism, April 1998
-17) Rick Steiner, age 37: Shoulder Infection post-surgery, May 1998
-18) "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, age 35: Spinal Staph -Infection/Broken Back, September 1998
-19) Lex Luger, age 40: Torn Biceps Tendon, late-1998/early-1999
-20) Hulk Hogan, age 45: Torn Knee Cartilage, March/April 1999
-21) "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner, age 36: three Ruptured Back Discs, May 1999
-22) Triple H, age 31: Torn Quadriceps, May 2001
-23) "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, age 43/44: Torn Quadriceps, July 2002
-24) John "Bradshaw" Layfield, age 35: Torn Biceps, September 2002
-25) Edge, age 29: Broken Neck, February 2003
-26) Randy Orton, age 28: Broken Collarbone, June 2008
-27) Sheamus, age 35: Torn Shoulder Labrum, August 2013

Some of the aforementioned wrestlers either come back from their game breaking injuries (1) better than ever, (2) still hanging on to their pro wrestling careers by a thread but forced to change their way of working in the ring, never regaining their pre-injury forms and/or (3) never totally fully recovering from their loss of skills to serious injuries.

I'm not counting the wrestlers who had a career-ending injury, so I only included the ones who had serious injuries and made comebacks in different ways.

Example #1: Some people like Sting who tore his ACL in February 1990 but came back in better form despite questions clouding his future in professional wrestling as he was set to be the Face of WCW during the pre-Hogan years once Ric Flair got ousted from WCW by Jim Herd's orders in 1991 and once Sting's best friend Lex Luger packed it in at SuperBrawl II (2) on February 1992.

Example #2: Others like Scott Steiner who had three ruptured back disks, felt the effects in 1993 and finally diagnosed it as a severe injury in 1999. Steiner once was a wrestler who did cruiserweight moves like the Frankensteiner and some power moves like the Steiner Screwdriver and the Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker, plus his varying suplex throws, and don't forget the Steiner Recliner. Eventually, Steiner had a then-undiagnosed back injury that had come to make him change his in-ring style from an athletic college wrestler to a strict powerhouse grappler with a basic brawling moveset and a basic groin kick low blow. Steiner's singles career extended him for 10+ years so his longevity had to happen when he changed his game circa 1998.

Example #3: And then there are people like Randy Savage who spent many years doing his trademark patented Flying Elbow Drop which requires him to choreographically put pressure on his knee to successfully deliver the attack without being stiff,...that is until 1998 when Savage appeared to still be okay as a wrestler despite being 46 at the time of his injury. Once his short-lived nWo Wolfpac run as a tweener face was over, he had to be written off after a friendly steel cage match with WCW's Diamond Dallas Page when Savage was on the receiving end of an ambush by nWo Hollywood members The Giant, Brian Adams, Scott Hall, Scott Norton, Eric Bischoff, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude and now his ex-wife Miss Elizabeth. The script called for Bischoff to assault Savage's badly injured knee with a steel chair and claim credit for Macho's injury. When he returned to action in 1999, Savage came back in his newest form which meant that he increased muscle mass in his upper body, was now too slow to do half of his flashy fast paced moves that he once did, and when he did his Flying Elbow Drop at his increased size, he was actually stiff (unlike before) with his flying elbow drops so Savage (post-Torn ACL form) was made to be reckless in the ring and send Charles Robinson to hospital with a punctured lung. The only better way to protect Savage's knee without encouraging him to do a much more stiffer Flying Elbow Drop, he needed to be protected via outside interference from his Team Madness valets like Gorgeous George, Madusa and Molly Holly did for him. Unlike Steiner when his game breaking injury actually extended his wrestling career, Savage never really fully recovered from his game breaking injury so he was out of WCW after early 2000, and essentially never returned to professional wrestling for WCW, WWF or any other wrestling promotion besides TNA.

Let me know what you think about these guys' game breaking injuries and how you personally feel about what went wrong with those guys and how big of an impact did all these aforementioned game breaking injury wrestlers wind up pre-injury and post-injury forms.

Alcoholism is NOT an injury. It's an addiction (NOT a disease).

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

Alcoholism is NOT an injury. It's an addiction (NOT a disease).

I included it because Scott Hall used to be at his best in the ring from his early AWA years in the 1980s, to his languishing as Diamond Studd in 1991, all the way to his work in the early-to-mid 1990s as Razor Ramon in the WWF from '92 up until his departure to WCW in 1996, and his early work with the nWo for the '96-'97 until Sean Waltman got fired via FedEx. Coupled with his divorce from his wife Dana Hall, Waltman's firing from WCW and return to the WWF, and Hulk Hogan's behind-the-scenes feud with Kevin Nash along with Hogan's power play and Bischoff having to listen to Hogan, these events are a strong combination for anyone to be sent on a downward spiral.

Hall was a better in-ring worker as Razor Ramon, yet here in WCW he got branded as a lazy in-ring worker, but that's because his alcoholism became clear by 1998, and that's when his prime ended. He was now frequently no-showing WCW events and even his short-lived WWF return in 2002, plus his several stints in TNA. He eventually finally retired in 2010 when he had a pacemaker installed in his heart so that's why he can't have a wrestling match anymore.

Maybe his early nWo work for WCW from '96-'98, Hall is still in his prime despite his focus being more on the promos than the in-ring work that he had when he had the Razor Ramon routine down.

 

[TDFG]

Brian Pillman basically went from being the innovater of light-heavyweight wrestling to a brawler after his ankle surgery.

 

[HatchetMan84]

Brian Pillman basically went from being the innovater of light-heavyweight wrestling to a brawler after his ankle surgery.

Good post there. Yes i remember someone on this site saying something to the effect that Pillman signed his WWF contract only weeks after suffering his brutal injury. WWF i believe was threatening to void his contract if he didn't work, so Pillman sort of had no choice to wrestle on his non-healed ankle and it basically made it even worse. I am sure that worsened his dependence on pain medications and contributed even more to his horrible untimely death.

 

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

-1) Surfer Sting, age 30: Torn ACL, February 1990
-2) Scott Steiner (early era), age 28: Torn Biceps, June 1991
-3) "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, age 33: Broken Tailbone/Bulging Back Discs, -August 1991
-4) Owen Hart, age 28: Torn ACL, Summer of 1993
-5) Taz, age 28: Broken Neck, July 1995
-6) Crow Sting, age 37: Back Surgery leading to painkiller addictions, September 1996
-7) Marc Mero, age 36: Torn ACL, March 1997
-8) Bret "The Hitman" Hart, age 39: Knee Surgery, April 1997
-9) The Rock, age 24: Torn ACL, mid-1997
-10) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, age 32: Broken Neck, August 1997
-11) Ric Flair, age 48: Broken Ankle, November 1997
-12) Shawn Michaels, age 32: Herniated Disks, January 1998
-13) Paul Wight aka Giant/Big Show, age 25: Broken Neck, January 1998
-14) "Macho Man" Randy Savage, age 46: Torn ACL, 1998
-15) Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, age 28: Broken Neck, April 1998
-16) Scott Hall, age 39: Alcoholism, April 1998
-17) Rick Steiner, age 37: Shoulder Infection post-surgery, May 1998
-18) "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, age 35: Spinal Staph -Infection/Broken Back, September 1998
-19) Lex Luger, age 40: Torn Biceps Tendon, late-1998/early-1999
-20) Hulk Hogan, age 45: Torn Knee Cartilage, March/April 1999
-21) "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner, age 36: three Ruptured Back Discs, May 1999
-22) Triple H, age 31: Torn Quadriceps, May 2001
-23) "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, age 43/44: Torn Quadriceps, July 2002
-24) John "Bradshaw" Layfield, age 35: Torn Biceps, September 2002
-25) Edge, age 29: Broken Neck, February 2003
-26) Randy Orton, age 28: Broken Collarbone, June 2008
-27) Sheamus, age 35: Torn Shoulder Labrum, August 2013

Some of the aforementioned wrestlers either come back from their game breaking injuries (1) better than ever, (2) still hanging on to their pro wrestling careers by a thread but forced to change their way of working in the ring, never regaining their pre-injury forms and/or (3) never totally fully recovering from their loss of skills to serious injuries.

I'm not counting the wrestlers who had a career-ending injury, so I only included the ones who had serious injuries and made comebacks in different ways.

Example #1: Some people like Sting who tore his ACL in February 1990 but came back in better form despite questions clouding his future in professional wrestling as he was set to be the Face of WCW during the pre-Hogan years once Ric Flair got ousted from WCW by Jim Herd's orders in 1991 and once Sting's best friend Lex Luger packed it in at SuperBrawl II (2) on February 1992.

Example #2: Others like Scott Steiner who had three ruptured back disks, felt the effects in 1993 and finally diagnosed it as a severe injury in 1999. Steiner once was a wrestler who did cruiserweight moves like the Frankensteiner and some power moves like the Steiner Screwdriver and the Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker, plus his varying suplex throws, and don't forget the Steiner Recliner. Eventually, Steiner had a then-undiagnosed back injury that had come to make him change his in-ring style from an athletic college wrestler to a strict powerhouse grappler with a basic brawling moveset and a basic groin kick low blow. Steiner's singles career extended him for 10+ years so his longevity had to happen when he changed his game circa 1998.

Example #3: And then there are people like Randy Savage who spent many years doing his trademark patented Flying Elbow Drop which requires him to choreographically put pressure on his knee to successfully deliver the attack without being stiff,...that is until 1998 when Savage appeared to still be okay as a wrestler despite being 46 at the time of his injury. Once his short-lived nWo Wolfpac run as a tweener face was over, he had to be written off after a friendly steel cage match with WCW's Diamond Dallas Page when Savage was on the receiving end of an ambush by nWo Hollywood members The Giant, Brian Adams, Scott Hall, Scott Norton, Eric Bischoff, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude and now his ex-wife Miss Elizabeth. The script called for Bischoff to assault Savage's badly injured knee with a steel chair and claim credit for Macho's injury. When he returned to action in 1999, Savage came back in his newest form which meant that he increased muscle mass in his upper body, was now too slow to do half of his flashy fast paced moves that he once did, and when he did his Flying Elbow Drop at his increased size, he was actually stiff (unlike before) with his flying elbow drops so Savage (post-Torn ACL form) was made to be reckless in the ring and send Charles Robinson to hospital with a punctured lung. The only better way to protect Savage's knee without encouraging him to do a much more stiffer Flying Elbow Drop, he needed to be protected via outside interference from his Team Madness valets like Gorgeous George, Madusa and Molly Holly did for him. Unlike Steiner when his game breaking injury actually extended his wrestling career, Savage never really fully recovered from his game breaking injury so he was out of WCW after early 2000, and essentially never returned to professional wrestling for WCW, WWF or any other wrestling promotion besides TNA.

Let me know what you think about these guys' game breaking injuries and how you personally feel about what went wrong with those guys and how big of an impact did all these aforementioned game breaking injury wrestlers wind up pre-injury and post-injury forms.

@HatchetMan84 I believe you can have a look at my three examples on why some of those wrestlers with game breaking injuries either come back better than ever, never regain their previous form thus forced to change their moveset/style/character and/or simply never fully recover at all.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Good post there. Yes i remember someone on this site saying something to the effect that Pillman signed his WWF contract only weeks after suffering his brutal injury. WWF i believe was threatening to void his contract if he didn't work, so Pillman sort of had no choice to wrestle on his non-healed ankle and it basically made it even worse. I am sure that worsened his dependence on pain medications and contributed even more to his horrible untimely death.

He'd signed just before... we're talking him celebrating the contract when he had his accident. The plan was to give him Austin's push, have him against Bret and Shawn with Austin as his buddy... playing off the "loose cannon" stuff to the level WWF felt comfortable with... He swore on TV before Austin did for example... but it was clear that plan wasn't gonna work so he clued Austin in on his gimmick and they ran with him in it.

As for forcing him to work, that is probably true to an extent, as he had signed a BIG money deal for the time with WWF and they'd want some value for it... but the reality is he was going to be taking far worse if he wasn't working... having to be in the ring kept him reasonably straight from the other drugs.

Also remember that Pillman had suffered cancer several times and thus his heart was always going to be weaker as a result of all the chemo and ops. It's a little harsh to put much blame on WWF as they could have just voided the deal... which would have sent Brian to a much darker place and the outcome would in all seriousness have been the same...

Brian Pillman was a guy like me, a sick baby/child who has managed to go much further than ever expected and had a "ride it till the wheels fall off" mentality... He got to the NFL, WCW and WWF and left a mark... I never got to anywhere near those heights but still did a lot in my life for a kid who was meant to go till 4 years (nearly 40 now) one day it'll end for me as quick as it did for Brian, and I never took anywhere near what he tool in terms of chemicals...weak hearts are like that, regardless of what you're taking.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There's a few there that are quite interesting...

You list Davey's spinal injury but the more interesting one was the knee injury he had in 1990. Originally he was the guy planned to beat Mr. Perfect at Summerslam 90 to replace Brutus, but the injury happened almost the same time as Brutus' face injury. So they moved Kerry into the spot who was gonna debut a different way.

Bulldog v Perfect was meant to be a major feud for the IC title, with Davey even going onto the WWF magazine cover to hype it, but it never happened. Davey would have stunned him at Summerslam, dropped it back on a screwjob and then feuded for it till Mania 7.

Why that injury is more important is that it signified the change in style, from that gymnastic style to the more technical/brawler style he used from 91-98 until the back injury. The style that got him to the stage where many felt he should have been a World champion. Arguably his drug use and roid used came from that Knee injury, as when he returned he was Maahhhoosive and clearly juicing... that started the problems he later died from. but go back and watch Davey in the Bulldogs days then after that knee injury... Big difference in style and not just in his size.

One you missed was Kerry Von Erich. His style before the motorbike accident and losing his foot to that after was drastically changed and came with some uniqueness in that he hid it from the biz for a long time. Today he'd have been lauded and it would have been his gimmick, then it was a percieved weakness and to an extend it would have been right. Comparing Kerry of the run against the Freebirds or Flair to the Texas Tornado is literally impossible. His own brother stated that Kerry caused the amuptation by trying to walk on the foot too quickly after his accident, so there'd be an element of self guilt there and of course, like Pillman the pain pills started a slippery slope.

Kerry still got the IC championship... but his career was done once Vince realised he hadn't got the same guy who tore it up with Flair or the Freebirds and he was wasted backstage to cover his pain. That his life ended the way it did is all the more galling when today he'd have been protected, helped and a DDP Yoga success story... then in 93... he was just a washed up junkie wrestler on his way to jail in his own head... and that was sadly too much for him.

Paul Wight was an interesting one. Yes it took away the dropkicks but to be fair they didn't always work. Like Brock doing a shooting star press it looked out of place and while he was impressive to be able to do them, Big Show was more the character he needed to be portraying. Wight was interesting in another way, when compared to Great Khali who could also be on the list. Wight had his pitutary surgery very early in life, so his acromegaly was in control, other than his height. The neck injury meant he was heavier, but still well in proportion and the bones weren't still growing. Khali delayed this until well into his WWE career and it showed when he returned, he was less co-ordinated (if that was even possible) than pre-op and much of the "damage" was already done from him delaying the op. Brain surgery is never a good thing to have, but into your 40's and trying to wrestle afterwards it's night on impossible. I feel sorry for Khali, he probably had to wait till then to be able to afford it properly and be comfortable/safe.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

He'd signed just before... we're talking him celebrating the contract when he had his accident. The plan was to give him Austin's push, have him against Bret and Shawn with Austin as his buddy... playing off the "loose cannon" stuff to the level WWF felt comfortable with... He swore on TV before Austin did for example... but it was clear that plan wasn't gonna work so he clued Austin in on his gimmick and they ran with him in it.

No, just after. The accident happened in April 1996. He signed with the WWF in June.

Originally the entire plan was always to return to WCW. He'd worked Bischoff into firing him for real to make the entire angle seem completely legit.

While 'unemployed', McMahon made Pillman an offer which he of course considered, but wasn't planning to take. Then the accident happened, and once he found out exactly how bad the damage was, he took the WWF offer because he wanted to ensure his family's security... and was afraid that once word got out about exactly how bad the damage was, no one would ever give him that type of an offer again.

I don't know that Austin was supposed to be Pillman's sidekick. Stone Cold definitely was influenced by the Loose Cannon to a degree though, and Pillman and Austin were friends, so that's only natural. Considering the Austin 3:16 promo happened 13 days after Pillman signed his WWF contract, and the WWF still didn't know how bad Pillman's ankle was, because of how well he'd worked them... they weren't giving Pillman's angle to Austin. Austin had been working in the "Stone Cold" gimmick for a few months before that anyways.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Pillman knew how bad it was though... and probably fed Austin some of "the ideas" that got into the KOTR speech.

It's telling both swore on PPV that night, with words not heard "with authorisation" on WWF programming before... Pillman used Piss... Austin used Ass... so that kind of indicates that Pillman was gonna be the more extreme of the two at that point... The gun angle is still probably the best moment they had, can't say it was "planned" back at KOTR 96, but you could imagine somewhere, had Pillman been recovered they'd want a "Rockers style" break up between them and a similar situation might have worked with the two most extreme guys in the business...

 

[LBGetBack]

One you missed was Chris Benoit in the early 00s(2001 I think), who had neck surgery and was out for a long time.

Now he came back and was as good as ever, but he's the most extreme example ever of the detrimental effects of the abuse these guys put their bodies through.

Mr. Perfect's injury really sucked....he never really had a consistent run again. He was in and out for the rest of his career.

 

[That N Word]

-1) Surfer Sting, age 30: Torn ACL, February 1990
-2) Scott Steiner (early era), age 28: Torn Biceps, June 1991
-3) "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, age 33: Broken Tailbone/Bulging Back Discs, -August 1991
-4) Owen Hart, age 28: Torn ACL, Summer of 1993
-5) Taz, age 28: Broken Neck, July 1995
-6) Crow Sting, age 37: Back Surgery leading to painkiller addictions, September 1996
-7) Marc Mero, age 36: Torn ACL, March 1997
-8) Bret "The Hitman" Hart, age 39: Knee Surgery, April 1997
-9) The Rock, age 24: Torn ACL, mid-1997
-10) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, age 32: Broken Neck, August 1997
-11) Ric Flair, age 48: Broken Ankle, November 1997
-12) Shawn Michaels, age 32: Herniated Disks, January 1998
-13) Paul Wight aka Giant/Big Show, age 25: Broken Neck, January 1998
-14) "Macho Man" Randy Savage, age 46: Torn ACL, 1998
-15) Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, age 28: Broken Neck, April 1998
-16) Scott Hall, age 39: Alcoholism, April 1998
-17) Rick Steiner, age 37: Shoulder Infection post-surgery, May 1998
-18) "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, age 35: Spinal Staph -Infection/Broken Back, September 1998
-19) Lex Luger, age 40: Torn Biceps Tendon, late-1998/early-1999
-20) Hulk Hogan, age 45: Torn Knee Cartilage, March/April 1999
-21) "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner, age 36: three Ruptured Back Discs, May 1999
-22) Triple H, age 31: Torn Quadriceps, May 2001
-23) "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash, age 43/44: Torn Quadriceps, July 2002
-24) John "Bradshaw" Layfield, age 35: Torn Biceps, September 2002
-25) Edge, age 29: Broken Neck, February 2003
-26) Randy Orton, age 28: Broken Collarbone, June 2008
-27) Sheamus, age 35: Torn Shoulder Labrum, August 2013

Some of the aforementioned wrestlers either come back from their game breaking injuries (1) better than ever, (2) still hanging on to their pro wrestling careers by a thread but forced to change their way of working in the ring, never regaining their pre-injury forms and/or (3) never totally fully recovering from their loss of skills to serious injuries.

I'm not counting the wrestlers who had a career-ending injury, so I only included the ones who had serious injuries and made comebacks in different ways.

Example #1: Some people like Sting who tore his ACL in February 1990 but came back in better form despite questions clouding his future in professional wrestling as he was set to be the Face of WCW during the pre-Hogan years once Ric Flair got ousted from WCW by Jim Herd's orders in 1991 and once Sting's best friend Lex Luger packed it in at SuperBrawl II (2) on February 1992.

Example #2: Others like Scott Steiner who had three ruptured back disks, felt the effects in 1993 and finally diagnosed it as a severe injury in 1999. Steiner once was a wrestler who did cruiserweight moves like the Frankensteiner and some power moves like the Steiner Screwdriver and the Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker, plus his varying suplex throws, and don't forget the Steiner Recliner. Eventually, Steiner had a then-undiagnosed back injury that had come to make him change his in-ring style from an athletic college wrestler to a strict powerhouse grappler with a basic brawling moveset and a basic groin kick low blow. Steiner's singles career extended him for 10+ years so his longevity had to happen when he changed his game circa 1998.

Example #3: And then there are people like Randy Savage who spent many years doing his trademark patented Flying Elbow Drop which requires him to choreographically put pressure on his knee to successfully deliver the attack without being stiff,...that is until 1998 when Savage appeared to still be okay as a wrestler despite being 46 at the time of his injury. Once his short-lived nWo Wolfpac run as a tweener face was over, he had to be written off after a friendly steel cage match with WCW's Diamond Dallas Page when Savage was on the receiving end of an ambush by nWo Hollywood members The Giant, Brian Adams, Scott Hall, Scott Norton, Eric Bischoff, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude and now his ex-wife Miss Elizabeth. The script called for Bischoff to assault Savage's badly injured knee with a steel chair and claim credit for Macho's injury. When he returned to action in 1999, Savage came back in his newest form which meant that he increased muscle mass in his upper body, was now too slow to do half of his flashy fast paced moves that he once did, and when he did his Flying Elbow Drop at his increased size, he was actually stiff (unlike before) with his flying elbow drops so Savage (post-Torn ACL form) was made to be reckless in the ring and send Charles Robinson to hospital with a punctured lung. The only better way to protect Savage's knee without encouraging him to do a much more stiffer Flying Elbow Drop, he needed to be protected via outside interference from his Team Madness valets like Gorgeous George, Madusa and Molly Holly did for him. Unlike Steiner when his game breaking injury actually extended his wrestling career, Savage never really fully recovered from his game breaking injury so he was out of WCW after early 2000, and essentially never returned to professional wrestling for WCW, WWF or any other wrestling promotion besides TNA.

Let me know what you think about these guys' game breaking injuries and how you personally feel about what went wrong with those guys and how big of an impact did all these aforementioned game breaking injury wrestlers wind up pre-injury and post-injury forms.

Are we just gonna ignore this? Sheamus is NOT a Legend. He willo be one day but isn't now. And Chris Benoit's neck surgery should be included.