10 WWE Stars Who Fought Through The Pain Barrier

'...but the hazards are real.'

Wrestlers are, by and large, legendarily tough. In searing pain, some have dug deep far within themselves to finish or even enter a match in the first place.

To to even wilfully take that first-ever bump, on what is an unforgivably hard canvas, requires an entirely different frame of mind to the likes of you or I. It's been said that one standard flat-back wrestling bump, the likes of which the majority of wrestlers take every other night on multiple occasions, is akin to being hit by a car travelling at 10 miles per hour. Just getting in the ring at all involves sucking it up and ignoring a significant number of aches and pains.

You will have already been told that wrestling is 'fake' when your incredulous friends and family discover that you love it. If anybody scornfully criticises you for your choice of hobby again, keep this article bookmarked and share it loudly and proudly on their Timeline.

In it, we take you through some of the gutsiest (or foolish, depending on your point of view) performances in WWE history...

The 'Muta Scale' is used to informally measure the blood shed by a wrestler during a match. So called in honour of The Great Muta, who lost pints of the red stuff during and after a particularly gruesome New Japan Pro Wrestling match against Hiroshi Hase in 1992, the height of the scale has rarely been reached in the near twenty-five years since.

Eddie Guerrero arguably exceeded it following his botched blade job in his infamous bout with John Bradshaw Layfield. After taking a particularly stiff chair shot, even by JBL's surly standards, Eddie must have been reeling considerably. Cutting himself too deeply, the blood poured out of his face like a geyser, drenching the mat and the ringside area entirely.

Somehow, he made it through the end of the match, which ended in a disqualification, as well as the post-match angle, which saw him beat down JBL further in response to the awful racism and dastardly attacks he'd subjected his family to. That a jelly-legged Guerrero climbed the ropes and landed the frog splash is an incredible testament to his fortitude.

There was no selling required here at all - Guerrero is so spent that it's easy to feel woozy just watching him. In fact, after the cameras stopped rolling, Guerrero went into shock backstage and was recommended to undergo a blood transfusion by a doctor (which Eddie refused).