Now that we know the extent of Cena's elbow injury, would you consider that the best match ever where one guy goes into the match with a greatly disabling injury?
Other candidates off the top of my head:
Wrestlemania XIV: Michaels vs Austin (Michaels with career-ending back inury)
King of the Ring: Undertaker vs Mankind (Taker jumping off Cell with broken angle)
Wrestlemania XIX: Angle vs Lesnar (Angle neck injury)
Taboo Tuesday: Michaels vs HHH (Michaels with torn meniscus)
I certainly can't think of any other ***** matches where one guy had a freakin' baseball growing out of his elbow, on top of a torn triceps.
I think I'm right in saying that, in that Angle/Lesnar match, Angle tore his hamstring after about 30 seconds, but was all, "F**k it, this is the main event of Wrestlemania, we're doing this anyway."
ReplyDeleteThen of course, Brock joined in with an injury of his own in the finish.
If you look at it slowly, it's amazing that Brock wasn't permanently fucked up from that, let alone able to stand and F5 Angle about a minute after
ReplyDeleteWait, so did you flip on the subject and go the full monty or are you still holding at ****3/4?
ReplyDeleteCena needs new roids.
ReplyDeleteMusical stars like Punk/Bryan last year to mess with people?
ReplyDeletePerfect/Hart from summerslam 91 is another that comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteBrock isn't human, that's my latest stance. Mutant or alien, I'm taking all bets!
ReplyDeleteHe was rounding up.
ReplyDeleteMisawa takes a kick from Kawada that shatters his orbital like, second move in during a Champions Carnival match (Year escapes me), and they go on for a pretty long match. Nothing special, but jaheesus.
ReplyDeleteAt WrestleMania III, Hogan tore every muscle in his back on the failed slam attempt, then kept wrestling anyway. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteAngle may be a liar and a drunk and an accused wife beater, but the bastard is tough. That dude is tougher than a pine knot.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of Vader shoving his eye back in it's socket. Then there was that OTHER time he shoved his eye back in...
ReplyDeleteI forgot about that one. Not surprising, considering Andre weight 950 lbs.
ReplyDeleteWhat, no mention of Triple H tearing his quad for THIS BUSINESS?
ReplyDeleteMutated alien. Gimme the money
ReplyDeleteI like that WM 19 main event more then most. Think it's my 2nd favorite match ever.. Going back and watching it knowing how fucked up both guys are just adds to the spectacle of it.
ReplyDeleteTriple H / King of Kings / His quadricep / died for your sins
ReplyDeleteAny match Undertaker has had in the last five years.
ReplyDeleteI like that Austin/HBK match alot, and am sensitive to the condition both guys were in but in a vacuum don't think it's in the same category as the others
ReplyDeleteI think you've forgotten that Triple H must get no praise here
ReplyDeleteI think there's a difference between working through an injury that occurs in the course of a match and coming into a match already injured.
ReplyDeleteBrock is the alien, HHH is the mutant. High school photos of Hunter compared to now makes his life seem like the origin story for Captain America.
ReplyDeleteRock/Austin WM 19: Austin was in the hospital the night before the match
ReplyDeleteClearly Strung Out Jeff Hardy vs. Old Man Sting at Victory Road was the greatest match in the HISTORY OF OUR GREAT SPORT!
ReplyDeleteAngle won an olympic tournament with a broken freaking neck
ReplyDeleteYou also had Austin on that show, working through some pretty serious pain in what he realized, going in, would be his last match.
ReplyDeleteAnd he ended up having one of the best matches on that card, in my opinion. It's a shame wrestling was in a slump at the time, because of all the WMs to get an embarrassingly low buyrate, I don't think WM19 deserved it. Outside of HHH beating Booker T, and the Miller Lite Catfight Girls knocking the tag titles to the pre-show, that was one of my all-time favorite WMs.
Zack Gowen vs Vince, he had a *** match with one leg!
ReplyDeleteFoley for the 10-15 minutes after he was thrown from the cell.
ReplyDeletePunk/Bryan was the best running joke last year; this year has to be EVERYTHING IS FINE
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy that Undertaker is basically duct-taped together at this point and then you look at Kane, who's in phenomenal shape for a full-time performer at age 46.
ReplyDeleteCena deserves much respect, but cmon...Shawn had a broken back for Christ's sake.
ReplyDeleteAnd 976,328 people in attendance...
ReplyDeleteI love Mick, but that's not a very impressive match, it's just impressive that his eyes are still open at all.
ReplyDeleteIf you dislocate your shoulder and then climb a 15 ft cage.... I'll be impressed. I don't care about your "workrate" after that.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Jericho breaking his arm the day before his tag match in SMW with Lance Storm? It was in a cast and he took a horrid beating. Jericho is a tough dude.
ReplyDeleteShawn Michaels at WMXIV, easily.
ReplyDeleteAfter he takes that flip into the corner and his back hits the turnbuckle hard, his face shows that he's in excruciating pain.
The low buyrate of the show had to have been affected by them promoting Hogan vs Vince more than anything else.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not a HHH hater, but I immediately thought of this an rejected it for joepet's reason.
ReplyDeleteHe's the American version of Ivan Drago.
ReplyDeleteAustin - Michaels and it's not even close. This is a criminally under rated match.
ReplyDeleteAlso, he tore his quad one morning, and later that night, he was there, he was jumping around!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Hawk working a scaffold match with a broken leg? More or a brawl than a wrestling match, Working a match 30 feet in the air on one leg is something you don't see everyday.
ReplyDeleteTearing a quad and continuing (HBK/HHH vs. Edge/Orton) is damn impressive. Don't care how u look at it
ReplyDeleteit's impressive from a "still moving" standpoint, yes, but it's just not that interesting to watch, unless you really enjoy cringing.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Hawk was so high he didn't feel it anyway.
ReplyDeleteFinishing the Jericho/Benoit tag title match took huge balls.
ReplyDeleteAnd a significantly more severe injury than most of the other contenders. There was a chance Michaels wasn't going to be able to walk again after that injury, and letting Austin toss him around risked paralysis.
ReplyDeleteVery cool match.
ReplyDeleteI'll go with HBK at WM14. It wasn't as good as it could have been and he started to wear down around the end but it was a fine match considering the injury - you can get by on a torn knee or arm but it's hard to do anything with a bad back. The spot where he goes up top for the elbow and has to will himself to stand up stands out.
ReplyDeleteAnd he still took his usual crazy back bumps. He could have just punched and kicked himself into a Stunner but he went out and gave it all he had.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge Hennig mark, but I think his work in that match is GROSSLY underestimated. I mean, his back was twisted six ways to Sunday and he went out there and put Bret Hart OVER. Without that match, in that arena, at that moment, Bret Hart never becomes a main eventer.
ReplyDeleteWho knew that policing the locker room wardrobe policy was so physically taxing?
ReplyDeleteI don't really count it because he wasn't hurt going into the match, he got hurt during the match. All the credit in the world for doing what he did, but Undertaker kept that match together.
ReplyDeleteAnd he drove a car drunk. The man can do anything.
ReplyDeleteAgreed...probably the most important match in WWF history.
ReplyDeleteJericho gave him the opportunity to scrap the Walls of Jericho on the table spot to, and he took it. I mean, he didn't just finish the match, he didn't change a thing, even a spot that would put him in ridiculous pain.
ReplyDeleteThat's what makes Angle such a great competitor. He won't even lose a fight to his wife!
ReplyDeleteWasn't he actually retired at that point? I recall a match prior to Summerslam where he doesn't actually wrestle, just roughs up his opponent while wearing his tights...but he was only coming out of retirement for that one match right?
ReplyDeleteThis is not a knock on Cena, don't get me wrong; he was incredibly gutsy and professional to out there in his condition. To me though, that match was more or less carried by Bryan in terms of the flow and quality, and Cena was more an auxiliary during large stretches. That's why I'd agree with Scream09_HartKiller and probably go with Shawn at WrestleMania XIV, if only because the injury itself was more disabling in the long term, and his selling in the match really put Austin over huge.
ReplyDeleteThe point of the thread was "the best match where one of them was injured". And that match was awful.
ReplyDeleteMick Foley is tough as hell and kudos for to him for finishing it.
ReplyDeleteBut that match sucked.
I don't know about that. Not to take anything away from the other main events, but they were some of the least anticipated big WrestleMania matches for a long time. Rock/Austin was the third in their series, HHH/Booker wasn't a big feud and Kurt/Brock wasn't setting the world on fire. This is immediately coming off of 16 (which looked good on paper), 17 and the one-match-show that was 18. Additionally, the business was about to hit its biggest nadir of popularity since 1996.
ReplyDeleteHogan/Vince was actually a pretty cool prospect. It's not dissimilar to Bret/Vince in that people wanted to see it, but once it was over there was no residual praise.
In hindsight, it's one of the best cards they've ever done and means more now than it did then. Four out of five of the big matches delivered. It marks Austin's last match ever, Shawn's first WM in five years, Brock's a big MMA name now and it's arguably Kurt Angle's biggest match ever.
HBK was in an INSANE level of pain at WrestleMania XIV. You could see him grimacing just from simply walking after the flair flip bump, so I'll go with that.
ReplyDeleteAND he somehow managed to kip up after the flying forearm. That's why in the rare event that he forgot to sell an injury in later matches and did the kip up, I completely forgave it based on that.
ReplyDeleteNo, he hadn't retired yet. Perfect was still IC champion going into Summerslam. They did the match where he roughed up a jobber and (I think) threw him out of the ring for a countout win was probably because that was all he could do at that point in time.
ReplyDeleteI agree the match wasn't great.Not really much you can do besides punch and kick anyways. Just climbing and then trying to walk on the scaffold with a broken leg is insane. Just wanted to throw something different out there for discussion.
ReplyDeleteWould totally agree that Austin-Michaels would top this list.
Undertaker is only two years older than Kane, but he started wrestling at least 8 years before Glen Jacobs did. 'Taker debuted in WCCW in 1984, Kane started in 1992.
ReplyDeleteSo after hearing these stories...you can see why Sin Cara got so much crap for stopping a match with a dislocated finger.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if I dislocated my finger I'd probably be rolling around the floor screaming in agony.
I feel like WM19 could have been:
ReplyDelete- Brock vs. Austin, WWE Title (Austin putting over the next badass in his last match)
- HHH vs. HBK, WORLD Title (with more of a slow-burn build to HBK returning to contention, not the hot-shot Survivor Series win in the Elim Chamber)
- Rock vs. Hogan, Part II
But I'm of the opinion that Angle should have been off having neck surgery long before that show.
If we're taking into consideration the severity of injuries to the participants...fine, ill agree with everyone and say Austin/HBK due to the severity of Shawns back. I'd were looking at the matches in a vacuum absent I'd everything else, I think its Brock/Angle and I don't know how close it is.
ReplyDeleteVince bled like four men in that one.
ReplyDeleteWhen he goes for the elbow, you can see the "Holy fuck this gonna suck fuck it" look on his face.
ReplyDeleteIt's impressive. I'm just saying that there's a difference and a different mindset between being out there in front of 15000 people when an injury occurs and being able to get by on adrenalin, and willing yourself to get out there and compete when you are already injured, and don't necessarily HAVE to do so.
ReplyDeleteIn the old days of THIS BUSINESS, it was taken for granted that you'd keep going like Triple H did. I'm sure that if, say, Harley Race, had dislocated a finger in a match like Sin Cara did, he'd have just yanked it back in place and continued on.
Umm, Goldberg's put on a few pounds...
ReplyDeletehttp://mlb.mlb.com/images/5/2/2/58230522/Wrestling_ese1agl2.gif
Yeah, i know they want guys to take care of themselves, but acting like his hand had spontaneously developed cancer can't help his prima-donna image backstage.
ReplyDeleteAnother match to throw out there: Tim Woods saving kayfabe by putting on the Mr. Wrestling mask and wrestling a televised match two weeks after suffering a concussion, broken ribs, and fractured back in the Ric Flair plane crash.
ReplyDeleteI think the jersey is just baggy, Goldberg is a fitness nerd. He killed that dude too.
ReplyDeleteYeah and I'm torn. I want these guys to take care of themselves - and not wind up crippled and addicted to pain killers. And it's pretty easy for me to sit on my laptop and say "he should have sucked it up" when I've never had an injury worse than a sprained ankle.
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand - this is the business they chose.
And in 2004, with tears in his eyes, HHH told Jobber "I must break you."
ReplyDeleteStill the best spear in wrestling, with Roman Reigns in second.
ReplyDeleteIs a Viking Space Lord an alien?
ReplyDeleteYeah - it was a different era. If there was a big show, those guys showed up. And on the one hand you have to admire them. But when you hear stories about how they were gobbling up pain killers like they were M&M's...
ReplyDeleteReally? Sheeeeeeeeeit.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've heard the same story. HHH told Jericho to put him in the Walls.
ReplyDeleteHell, Race probably wouldn't have even paused to yank it back in.
ReplyDeleteAlways reminds me of that crazy story about Ronnie Lott in which he had the tip of one of his fingers amputated, so he wouldn't miss the start of a season due to surgery.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy AND very manly.
Yeah it was a totally different era. On Steve Austin's podcast Ric Flair was a guest. He was talking about how Wahoo McDaniel had a vasectomy during the day and wrestled Flair that night. I'm hurting just thinking about that.
ReplyDeleteA dislocated finger sucks, but the way he reacted...man, snap that shit back in place, and finish up quickly. It's not like an indy show where your doctor is also the guy who stocks the pepsi machines at the venue, there are several trainers who will look after ypu when you're done.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to be fair, Foley was on auto-pilot the entire time. To this day he only remembers bits and pieces of the actual match.
ReplyDeleteYears should be in quotations when it comes to Taker. He has taken months-long hiatuses all throughout his career ('94, '99-'00, '02, '03, '04-'05, '06-'07) and then went to his current yearly appearance in '10. I think Kane has probably wrestled more overall.
ReplyDeleteMore than once! Just to prove it wasn't a fluke!
ReplyDeleteCena's obviously tough as hell to do that match with the power moves he pulled (catching Bryan during the crossbody with a tear and that elbow had to be excruciating) but the fact is he'll come back in a few months, a little worse for wear, but it's not like a wrestler is going to attack his elbow like "YOUR ONE WEAKNESS!"
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, when Shawn came back against HHH at SummerSlam, I damn near wanted to cry at moves as simple as the backbreaker because holy god, he worked WM with a back that would've crippled most non-athletes and it retired him for four years. THAT, my friends, is WORKING with an injury.
I just listened to that. There's just something about Flair. He's a piece of shit in so many ways but when you hear him sit down and talk, it's hard not to like him. He giggles like a school girl.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think it really falls into the category here - he wasn't going into a match working through an injury, he fucked himself up and just slept-walked through the rest of the match while Undertaker tried to keep it going. Again, full credit to him for doing it but I just don't really count it in this topic.
ReplyDeleteYou get an up vote for the Big League Chew reference
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say, Taker did some territory work and came in WWF when they worked 300 days a year but he didn't have to do much in his WWF run for the first few years - but Kane's never really had to do a whole lot. Undertaker eventually moved into competitive matches where he had to bump, Kane doesn't do all that much.
ReplyDelete*THREADJACK*
ReplyDeleteSo THIS happened tonite.. Goldberg threw out the first pitch at a Miami Marlins game, and speared a guy because he fucking can.
http://mlb.mlb.com/images/5/2/2/58230522/Wrestling_ese1agl2.gif
Interesting that a 46 year old guy on a baseball field can still deliver
a better spear than whatever the hell Edge was trying to do for 10
years.
And its nice to see a non-wrestler actually sell a move, unlike that douchebag who Henry slammed in Portland that they showed during the SummerSlam PPV
Chris Benoit had crippling brain damage when he took on a weight machine. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteI'm such an ass.
Yeah, that's #1 by a mile.
ReplyDeleteBest I've ever actually seen is Angle/Lesnar - I remember online fans (myself included) freaking out that Angle might actually die in the ring that night.
Bit of an exaggeration, sure, but that was how sensational the reports were.
Kaitlyn's is second.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean that as a joke.
I haven't read the thread yet but I think HHH taking the Liontamer on the table with a torn quad has to be up there... also the Elimination Chamber he finished with his throat being crushed by RVD, though that match wasn't nearly as good.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, I'll take it as one.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think he's been having a blast since the '70s, so much so that nothing really brings him down.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that he'll die having spent every dime he ever made. That's badass.
CENA VS. RYBACK 3 STAGES OF HELL
ReplyDeleteTrips has worked through several ridiculous injuries. Torn quads, torn groin, dude is tough as balls.
ReplyDeleteTaker's had some nasty ones, too, including wrestling with a torn groin and two bad hips. At the same time!
Other time?
ReplyDeleteHoly fuck!
I got excited when my supermarket started carrying it. I'll never tire of BLC.
ReplyDeleteI hate that Elmination Chamber deal, though. There were SIX GUYS in the match and he was obviously hurt, they could have gotten him out of there but NO, he HAD to do his ridiculous storyline while injured and it really hurt the quality of the match. He was losing, he could have dropped a fall to anyone to get out of there and then get some help instead of dragging the match down.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell Kaitlyn and AJ are actually friends because AJ lets Kaitlyn just truck her. It doesn't look half as good when she dose it to any of the others.
ReplyDeleteKane's lasted so long in the business because he's so low impact in general. The office loves him because he's one of those guys that never/rarely hurts people or himself. He does the top rope clothesline as his "highspot" but he really keeps things pretty basic and thanks to his character and size he still stays over.
ReplyDeleteTaker took a lot more risk and more impact over the years than Kane did and it really added up quickly. Taker even tried losing weight to get it off his hips and knees but it was too late by then.
I heard him discuss it on one of his DVD's where after talking to the doctor he told him "However bad my back is right now... we have to be prepared to deal with whatever it is like after this match... because I have to do this for Steve."
ReplyDeleteI say just whisper to ADR that you are shoot hurt and need to go home early, take a kick to the dome and get pinned and get over it.
ReplyDeleteShe has a nasty spear I agree. I thought AJ was going to snap in half a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteIt's a dislocated finger. If it's that bad, go home early. He immediately starts waving the ref over to call it off because he's hurt...most guys just tell their opponent to wrap it up right away, he makes a spectacle of him being hurt.
ReplyDeleteTOO SOON!
ReplyDeleteExactly. Suck it up and rush to the finisher. Either he's a pussy or he wanted to save face with his injury.
ReplyDeleteTHIS. That is the problem I had with it... he destroyed any semblance of kayfabe with his prima donna shit... should have just went home right after that.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall him dragging down the match. I mean, other than the final bit with Michaels, didn't he mostly stay out of the match after the splash?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's not the best of all time, but Andre vs. Hogan at Wrestlemania III was the biggest match of all time, and Andre worked it hurt.
ReplyDeleteYeah...I mean, if Shawn really was trying to kill Austin's heat, why did he do all that shit in that match for him?
ReplyDeleteAgree.
ReplyDeleteI mean...it's bad for your own image, that you can't wrestle because of a dislocated finger. Imagine CM Punk walking out...as a face, and saying "Sorry guys, I tapped out to the Miz because I had rolled my ankle getting into the ring."
That's all on AJ.
ReplyDeleteUh...I don't think the guy on the baseball field was selling.
ReplyDeleteBryan worked with a detached retina. But he got it in the match, so it probably doesn't count.
ReplyDeleteBut he also worked with a fucked up shoulder, which he put off dealing with for a couple months out of a desire to finish a feud.
Yeah. AJ is a great seller.
ReplyDeleteGiven the state of Austin's neck, he was only willing to work with an opponent he trusted implicitly and was familiar with in the ring. I think the Rock may have been just about the only guy Austin would've trusted in that match, aside from possibly Angle. Brock was already rounding into top form by spring 2003 but given his stiff style, it's definitely for the best that he and Austin never crossed paths.
ReplyDeleteEvery Kenta Kobashi match of the last ten years.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Kane still looks good to go for a few more years, which is more than you can say about most 7-footers on the wrong side of 40 in *THIS* BUSINESS!
ReplyDeleteBetter than Dolph, IMO. Because it makes the moves look good without taking the attention off the doer and onto the taker.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not forget a later match between Misawa and Kawada that Dangerous K broke his arm halfway through the match.
ReplyDeleteSure he was. Don't you know that life is all just one big work?
ReplyDeleteKinda sad that you have to discredit a dude's injury to make a stupid point, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThe spot where Austin throws him into the corner alone earned my respect.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised his ass didn't fall off.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine what was going through his mind when Sin Cara stopped the match early.
ReplyDeleteIf that was the case then the legendary Vader/Hansen match has to be include
ReplyDeleteedit: also the Taker/Mabel match.
*Nod* I tried to copy/paste the section where I called Cena a giant pussy but for some reason I can't find it...
ReplyDeleteYeah, but I think we're mostly talking about people who had injuries going into the match - as opposed to people who got injured during the match and finished it up.
ReplyDeleteYeah...
ReplyDeleteIf somebody as big and strong as Goldberg runs into you - you're falling down :-)
Flair can be a hypocrite, a back-stabber, overly political, sometimes put himself ahead of the company, etc. You can say that for just about every major wrestler - at least to some degree.
ReplyDeleteBut his passion for wrestling often comes through, and the guy started at the height of the territorial system and stayed relevant one way or another through the Attitude Era. Even if you have to separate the bullshit from the truth in his stories, he has a lot of fascinating stories and history.
Yeah, but he also spent a lot of other people's money...money that he still owes them.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I think it looks good no matter who she hits.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? And he'll never pay them back. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, some of his ex-wives robbed him. I mean, he wasn't just paying child support, he was paying them because he used to have sex with them and it didn't work out.
That's the ganso bomb match, right?
ReplyDeleteI see. That makes sense. If I had a broken neck and thought it might be my last match, I certainly wouldn't want to step in with Brock Lesnar either.
ReplyDeleteBenoit had an unbelievable stretch of matches in 2001 before finally going out for neck surgery.
ReplyDeleteToo late.
ReplyDeleteThis was well sold, too.
ReplyDeleteI think Punk said he was hurt before his first ROH match with Joe.
ReplyDeleteHe took a Chokeslam and gave a Pedigree before the final bit with Shawn
ReplyDeleteIn a way I admire the way he lives, because in all honesty, you can't bring the money with you when you die.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, it'd be nice to leave SOMETHING for your kids.
Because Taker waiting backstage with taped up fists would be worse than whatever was wrong with his back.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, THAT is why you don't fuck with the Jesus.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when he said he had a difficult time getting up the cage the first time.
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder what he thought when Big Kev just laid there screaming after he suffered the same injury.
ReplyDeleteWhat's crazy is that he tore his quads twice, in the same type of match, for the exact same titles.
ReplyDeleteWhere did that story even come from and has it been verified by anyone?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where it came from, but Taker did confirm it.
ReplyDeleteTriple H wearing bike shorts at Summerslam 2003 doesn't get enough love. He went in there, took a superkick, laid there for ten minutes, took a bump from Goldberg, then busted him in the butt with a sledgehammer for the win.
ReplyDeleteThat makes whatever Shawn did look like what Sin Cara did last week.
Does anyone else think about Edge at Wrestlemania 27? He went in there, knowing there was a chance of him getting paralyzed or even killed and he still took some bumps from the top rope and even dove over the top rope
ReplyDeleteHow about the kip-up? I still have no idea how he pulled that off.
ReplyDeleteSo did Cornette in a YouShoot.
ReplyDelete