WWE Wrestlers Finished A Match Injury Top 10 moments
Injuries are unfortunately inevitable in wrestling. Sometimes, a wrestler has had to finish a match despite being seriously hurt.
Then there are injuries sustained in matches that don’t necessarily require a complete changing of gears to finish it but are still pretty terrible. Thesewrestlers got ridiculously hurt during the course of a match but still managed to work toward the finish.
WWE Wrestlers Finished A Match Injury Top 10 moments
10Steve Austin (WWF, SummerSlam, 8/3/1997)
In 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin challenged Owen Hart for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam in what was setting up to be a really great bout between the two men — that is, until a Piledriver gone wrong ended up breaking Austin’s neck.
Despite a broken neck and temporary paralysis, Austin managed to get a quick rollup win over Hart but had to vacate the title. Steve Austin was able to return to the ring a few months later, but issues with his neck forced him to retire fairly early, in 2003.
9Sabu (ECW, Born To Be Wired, 8/9/1997)
The main event of the incredibly named ECW show Born to be Wired featured Sabu challenging ECW World Champion Terry Funk to a barbed wire match, and the result is considered one of the most violent matches in ECW history, so gruesome that Paul Heyman swore he would never book a barbed wire match again.
Both men were severely injured in the process, but Sabu really took the cake by getting his bicep sliced open. Rather than end the match and go to the hospital, however, Sabu opted to tape his lacerated arm back together and finish the match first.
8Sami Zayn (WWE, Monday Night Raw, 5/4/2015)
In 2015, John Cena was WWE United States Champion and was doing open challenges where younger talent would come out and take on Cena in a title match. One of the highlights was beloved indie wrestler turned beloved NXT underdog Sami Zayn, who ended up injuring his shoulder before the bout even started.
Working through his injury, Zayn not only took a hard-fought loss to Cena but wrestled an additional match against Kevin Owens on NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable 16 days later, where he’d be written off of television and took seven months to recover.
7Bret Hart (WCW, Starrcade, 12/19/1999)
Bret Hart’s WCW run is depressing. Not only did the promotion fail to capitalize on one of its hottest signings in the wake of the infamous Montreal Screwjob, but Hart himself would end up sustaining a career-ending injury in 1999.
It was in a match against Goldberg for the WCW World Title where Goldberg would inadvertently kick Bret Hart in the head, causing a nasty concussion. The match would end as planned, with a rehash of the Montreal Screwjob except in Hart’s favor, but Hart would end up retiring due to the concussion.
6Karrion Kross (NXT TakeOver XXX, 8/22/2020)
With his unique, incredibly dramatic entrance, Karrion Kross was instantly a sensation when he debuted on NXT in 2020. Soon enough, he was put in a TakeOver title match against charismatic juggernaut Keith Lee, where Kross shockingly dethroned the champ.
Unfortunately, Kross suffered a separated shoulder during the bout but managed to work through the injury to complete the match. Karrion Kross became NXT Champion but had to vacate the title days later.
5Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, Sakura Genesis, 4/9/2017)
Known for his ridiculously fierce strikes, Katsuyori Shibata was touted as one of the big stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling alongside contemporaries Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura. In 2017, following a win of the New Japan Cup tournament, Shibata challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, a title Shibata never won.
The bout at Sakura Genesis was incredibly hard-hitting, but Shibata delivered one headbutt too many and ended up collapsing backstage after finishing the match. At the hospital, it was revealed that Shibata was suffering from a subdural hematoma and was forced to settle into a role as a trainer.
4Finn Balor (WWE, SummerSlam, 8/21/2016)
In 2016, former NXT Champion Finn Balor had made his WWE main roster debut and was being pushed surprisingly hard, defeating Roman Reigns in a tournament semifinal match to crown the first Universal Champion.
The finals happened at SummerSlam in a match against Seth Rollins, and a buckle bomb style throw into the barricade, causing Balor to separate his shoulder. Finn finished the match, becoming Universal Champ, but sadly had to vacate the title on Raw the following night.
3John Cena (WWE, Monday Night Raw, 10/1/2007)
Mr. Kennedy’s run with WWE is an infamous one. Kennedy, a promising newcomer, was gaining traction as a heel only to run afoul of some of WWE’s bigger stars, who lobbied for his firing.
One of those stars was John Cena, who suffered a nasty pectoral muscle tear while executing an arm drag in a match with Mr. Kennedy on a 2007 episode of Raw. To his credit, Cena not only completed the match but also went through a post-match beatdown by Randy Orton.
2Hiromu Takahashi (NJPW, G1 Special In San Francisco, 7/7/2018)
In 2018, Hiromu Takahashi defended his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against lucha libre sensation Dragon Lee. The two put on a great match, but a Dragon Driver gone wrong resulted in Hiromu slipping out during the maneuver and falling on his head, breaking his neck.
Shockingly, Hiromu was able to finish the match and retain the title but ended up taking over a year to recover, finally returning to NJPW after 16 months.
1Triple H (WWF, RAW Is War, 5/21/2001)
In 2001, Steve Austin and Triple H were both united as heels under Vince McMahon as the tag team Two-Man Power Trip — an apt name because not only did they hold the Tag Team Titles, but also the WWF and Intercontinental Championships at the same time.
On an episode of Raw, the Power Trip defended their tag titles against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, and the result was a classic, regarded by many fans as one of the best in Raw history. Unfortunately, during the course of the match, Triple H tore his quad. Miraculously, Trips managed to finish the bout as intended but had to spend eight months recovering, forcing the Power Trip to disband.
WWE Wrestlers Finished A Match Injury Top 10 moments