What is the Riskiest Thing You Have Ever Seen in the Ring?

[Post]

What is the Riskiest Thing You Have Ever Seen in the Ring?

Professional wrestlers are in the business of entertaining the masses. They are constantly trying to raise the bar and push the limits of what they can do. Often times, wrestlers take risks and put themselves in potentially dangerous situations. This is why I love professional wrestling and have the utmost respect for what they do. They risk their lives for us.

So I got to thinking that there have been so many moments that stand out as risky and dangerous. For me, the Mankind vs. Undertaker hell in the Cell match at king of the Ring (1998) was the riskiest thing I have ever seen in the ring. Mick Foley took so much punishment and really risked his life. The realism and potential for disaster gave me a deeper appreciation for what wrestlers do.

From wikipedia, “In one of the most famous matches in professional wrestling history, Foley received numerous injuries and took two dangerous and highly influential bumps. The first one came as both wrestlers were brawling on top of the cell, and Undertaker threw Mankind from a height of sixteen feet and sent him crashing through the Spanish announcers' table. This event also triggered Jim Ross famously shouting "Good God almighty! Good God almighty! They've killed him! As God as my witness, he is broken in half!". With both men back on the top of the cell, Undertaker chokeslammed Mankind, and a section of the cage gave way. Foley fell through and hit the ring hard. A chair that had been atop the cage also slammed Foley's head and knocked out a tooth as he hit the canvas. He was also knocked unconscious for a few moments from the impact, but he finished the match after waking up”

Some others that stand out in my mind:

1.Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle (WM 19)- Brock attempted a shooting star press and botched it. His head came crashing down on the canvas and he suffered a severe concussion.

2. The Piledriver---most notably, Owen Hart’s piledriver on Stone Cold Steve Austin (Summerslam 1997 (?)). Austin suffered a broken neck and temporary paralysis after being dropped on his head.

3. Chair Shots---most notably, Mankind vs. The Rock (Royal rumble 1999). In this “I Quit” match, Foley had his hands cuffed behind his back and took a total of eleven unprotected chairshots.

So the question for you is What is the Riskiest Thing You Have Ever Seen in the Ring?

What made you cringe because it looked so bad, painful, and dangerous.

 

[Ferbian]

I'm not sure which one(s) I consider the riskiest but I'll contribute with some I think are definitely up there.

John Cena vs Edge in their TLC match, in the end when John gave Edge and Attitude Adjustment off the top of the ladder through 2 tables, it looked brutal, and it should definitely not be considered anywhere near a save move.

Another spot with tables would have to be Triple H vs Shawn Michaels in the 3 stages of hell when Shawn in the end of the match was pushed off the ladder that he was on, crashing through 4 stacked tables on the outside, hitting 3 of them and breaking them to bits.

The final one is Eddie Guerrero's chair shot to the head vs JBL where Eddie I would figure cut himself too deep, starting to bleed a lot, it wasn't necessarily a dangerous thing cause I'm not too certain whether the move struck his head or he simply bladed himself, but either way it was definitely a painful thing to watch.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The damn finisher that Mr. Kennedy used to utilize, in which he holds an opponent perpendicular to his body and leaps from the top rope, somersaulting himself and landing with his head bouncing off the opponent's midsection. If ever there was a disaster about to happen, it was that.

Every time he did it, I figured a broken neck.....or at least a compressed vertebrae.....was going to result. It was the only finisher I ever saw that was more dangerous for the guy delivering it than for his victim.

I don't know whether he still uses it or not.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Kurt Angle's back-flip moonsault off the top of the cage onto Mr. Anderson at Lockdown 2010 actually had my heart jump into my throat because of how close Anderson was to the turnbuckle.

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Not necessarily the riskiest thing I've ever seen, but far and away in the top-10 as far as I'm concerned.

For me personally, I don't consider the Owen/Austin piledriver (or anything like it) as an acceptable entry because that type of thing was just a botch, not a spot. It's hard to see a botch coming, but it's very easy to see a spot developing.

 

[Ferbian]

I thank you IDR for posting that, seeing Kurt Angle twisting around in the ring after that reminded me of one specific guy.

Chris Benoit, and his Diving Headbutt at Wrestlemania 21 onto Kane.

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It looked brutal, it looked like it damn well broke his nose or something, he is definitely one of the guys who regularly performed moves that would have you going "OH GOD THE PAIN!" I sure did when I watched him perform that move.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Another one of the riskiest bump segments I've ever seen had to be Brian Lee choke-slamming Tommy Dreamer through four – count them, four – tables at Fight The Power '96 in ECW. I remember watching this and thinking to myself "My god, Dreamer is dead. He's fucking dead. No one could survive that!"

[YOUTUBE]gNeNf7sXM9o[/YOUTUBE]

Watching guys go through one table is often scary enough as it is, but to watch those tables get stacked and to watch a man go crashing through them from the second balcony was the type of thing that made you start pleading with Brian Lee through the television not to do it.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Just a few others which I'd say all seed somewhere on the infamous "Holy Shit!" ladder of biggest bumps/spots in wrestling history...

• John Cena giving Edge the FU off the top of the ladder through two tables back at (whatever PPV it was) in 2007:

[YOUTUBE]AON83U3c6JU[/YOUTUBE]

Hardly a safe spot considering the relative positioning of Cena/Edge prior to Edge going crashing through, and regardless what anyone says about going through tables in wrestling, it's dangerous because no matter the fact that you can generally get through unscathed, there are times when serious lacerations result – going through two tables from that height only strengthens that concern.

• Brock Lesnar super-plexing the Big Show off the top-rope on SmackDown!, subsequently collapsing the entire ring in the process:

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Still gives me chills watching it to this day. The ring explodes from the impact, and even Taz/Cole end up cursing on the broadcast.

 

[Drunken Aviator]

[YOUTUBE]YEGSrREk_Uw[/YOUTUBE]

When i seen this i was just thinking oh god khali's dead.
I was at this event live and it just looked so much worse.

 

[shattered dreams]

For me personally, I don't consider the Owen/Austin piledriver (or anything like it) as an acceptable entry because that type of thing was just a botch, not a spot. It's hard to see a botch coming, but it's very easy to see a spot developing.

I agree. It is the difference between what is the riskiest thing you have ever seen and what is the biggest bump you have ever seen. Many of the biggest bumps I have ever seen were when something went horribly wrong (like mankind through the top of the cage) while many of the holy shit do not do that moments actually end relatively alright (like your angle example). That dreamer bump is absolutely both though and I had forgot about it.


Here is one from Jeff hardy's first run in TNA that blew my mind the first time I saw the match.

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And probably the all-time holy shit clip for me. A planned spot that is pretty crazy to begin with plus new jack's overzealous insanity.

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[Goliath Uterus]

I'll agree with the New Jack/Vic Grimes one, that is just ridiculous. Another "risky" spot (although i dont think it was planned) is New Jack drilling Gypsy Joe in the head with and aliminum barbed wire bat, its just brutal.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Surprised no one else has said this yet, but I would have to think that the Undertaker throwing Mankind off the top of the Hell in a Cell had to have been pretty risky. He could have landed in any position, on top of any of a number of items, and suffered any of a countless number of injuries. When he was slammed through the roof of the cage into the ring, that was serious too, but not reckless or risky because he wasn't expecting the cage to give way and for him to fall through. Throwing Mankind off the cage had to be an adrenaline-induced act of total recklessness. I don't know if it was planned or not (doubt it) or if they practised it or not (don't see how they could have), but it happened so fast, from such height, and could have seriously injured Foley.

 

[shattered dreams]

I felt like Shane McMahon deserved some love in this topic. He really did some crazy limit pushing risky stuff that seemed all the more crazy because of who he was. Hard to find a good clip of the entire glass part of the insane and awesome match he had with angle so I skipped it. That match should be viewed in its entirety anyway. So I picked the leap of faith.

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[Hollywood Naitch]

I felt like Shane McMahon deserved some love in this topic. He really did some crazy limit pushing risky stuff that seemed all the more crazy because of who he was. Hard to find a good clip of the entire glass part of the insane and awesome match he had with angle so I skipped it. That match should be viewed in its entirety anyway.

that match was INSANE! Its crazy when Angle tries to throw Shane back through the glass and about 3x he lands on the top of his head on the concrete!

I would say the biggest risk, except the New Jack v Vic Grimes incident, was Elix Skipper walking along the top of the cage and delivering a hurancanrana in TNA a few years back....he could have so easily slipped and killed himself! It was fkin unbelievable...and so so dangerous

i would appreciate someone postin a link to this if possible

 

[shattered dreams]

[YOUTUBE]wqgz8OPK4ug[/YOUTUBE]

Skipper definitely risked at least his ability to procreate during that one. Tenay and West lose their minds on commentary after it happens. If you liked that shane o' mac vs angle match their is an interesting watch on youtube with shane's running commentary interview intertwined with the match.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Thanks for posting this man, appeciate it.

Skipper is an awesome athlete and its a shame that his career has really gone nowhere after this. If this move had happened in the WWE, (who occasionaly know how to build stars!!), it could have boosted him to the next level....but this being TNA nothing came of it!

Cheers, I will try and locate that youtube clip of McMhaon v Angle with Shane commentating. I have the KOTR dvd with match on, but dont think that the Shane commentary is on the disk

 

[Ice Cold]

Riskiest thing I've ever seen in the ring? I'd have to say Owen Hart trying to repel from a ceiling, that ended up being pretty risky, Kevin Nash jackknifing Big Show in wcw only to break his neck was pretty risky, and Goldberg's kick to Bret Hart, that ended up being pretty risky too.

Other than that I was pretty sure Shawn Michaels was gonna' die when he entered the ring on a zip line. What else? Probably Undertaker vs Edge TLC when Taker went through 4 tables, off the lader from inside the ring to the outside, that was pretty risky . The Lesnar-Big Show superplex is up there too.

 

[Reddannihilation]

Riskiest thing I've ever seen in the ring? I'd have to say Owen Hart trying to repel from a ceiling, that ended up being pretty risky, Kevin Nash jackknifing Big Show in wcw only to break his neck was pretty risky, and Goldberg's kick to Bret Hart, that ended up being pretty risky too.

I'm pretty sure it's already been covered that accidents/botches don't count because they're not planned.

As for risky things, the Canadian Destroyer is probably one of the riskiest finishers that I've seen performed regularly. As the potential to damage the person both recieving it and the person performing it was huge. As for spots, Kanyon falling off the Triple Cage and through the entrance ramp in WCW was a probably one of the more dangerous spots I've seen.