10 Compensations Wrestlers Accepted As Payback
5. Charles Austin - $10,000,000
It's the sort of story that probably should have occurred more in an industry as dangerous as pro wrestling. And had it not been for the countless legal hoops promoters have jumped through and/or the amount of physical damage some wrestlers are prepared to absorb for their art, financial settlements might have been normalised.
After this one, Vince McMahon was presumably relieved this didn't become the norm.
Local enhancement talent Charles Austin sued the company after landing on his head and neck from a Marty Jannetty rocker dropper during a routine squash loss against The Rockers in 1990. A jury awarded him $26.7million in 1994 (reduced, eventually, to $10million) due to a loss of strength and mobility that impacted the quality of his life. A lack of accessible medical attention or proper handling at the time was notable, though worryingly not uncommon.
The match and move never aired on WWE television, though news outlets did broadcast it after its submission for legal evidence. A scary scene finds Austin motionless after the move, with both Jannetty and Shawn Michaels evidently aware something had gone horribly wrong.