10 Moments Legendary WWE Careers Almost Died
Death before glory.
Reduced budgets in television advertising have resulted in daytime schedules being filled with low-quality, high intensity trailers begging the wariest sections of society to sue somebody - anybody - for an injury sustained that may not have been the fault of their own.
"No win no fee" is often the catch-all term used to lure in the financially insecure, offering them something of an escape hatch if their legal charge is ultimately unsuccessful. It's a phrase not all that too disconnected from the wrestling industry (though Al Snow's 'Job Squad' "Pin Me, Pay Me" mantra has served roster rank-and-files just as well), but that's just about where the comparisons between WWE and personal insurance ends.
The commercials feast on work-related accidents related to negligence, slips, trips and falls because they help frame cases as battles between man and machine, but WWE's careful legal manipulation of its collection of 'independent contractors' takes away such liability despite said workplace being commonly guilty of all four.
Injuries are obviously par for the course in a pursuit as logically ludicrous as professional wrestling, but it's not just in-ring woes that have at times relegated iconic figures to the sidelines - seemingly beyond the point of no return. Performers have bounced back from insane incidents and unexpected exits better then ever without so much as an injury lawyer in sight.
10. Hulk Hogan's Japanese Dojo Break-In
Hulk Hogan's spouted enough bullsh*t over his career to fill a bathtub all the way to the taps, but one of the few tales from his past that sounds the tallest was actually true. Falling on his a*se a few hundred times a year didn't catch up with him until much later in life, but the toil of his first injury almost sent him scarpering from the industry outright.
Entering a Japanese training camp with legendary Far East figure Hiro Matsuda after being encouraged to enter the wrestling business on size and charisma alone rather than prior athletic endeavour, 'The Hulkster' had his leg broken following one of the notoriously difficult training sessions designed to test a potential performer's mettle rather than his ability.
Hogan's return was predictably protracted, but when he returned to the training camp healed up (or at very least, recovered enough to engage in whatever torturous methods came his way next), he'd earned enough respect to be broken in without having to sacrifice his bones in the process.