10 Most Death-Defying Matches In Wrestling History
2. New Jack Vs. Vic Grimes (Scaffold Match, XPW 2001)
Few professional wrestlers carry the same level of infamy as New Jack. The former ECW Tag Team Champion comes with a rap sheet longer than most professional resumés, and has been at the heart of some of the most dangerous moments in wrestling history. From the Mass Transit Incident to stabbing indie wrestler William Jason Lane nine times during a match, New Jack’s career is defined by controversy.
New Jack suffered legitimate brain damage and lost all sight in his right eye at ECW’s Living Dangerously PPV in 2000. He and Vic Grimes were working a scaffold match, and they’d planned a big spot in which they’d fall from the scaffold onto a pile of assembling tables. They missed the target, however, and there was nothing to break their fall on the concrete floor.
Grimes landed right on New Jack’s head, and that’s what led to this match. They duo partook in another scaffold match for Xtreme Pro Wrestling, and, unbelievably, planned another “fall” spot. This one saw New Jack toss Grimes off the scaffold, and guess what? Grimes missed the tables, and wound-up injuring his ankle.
New Jack has since revealed that he’d deliberately made Grimes miss the tables in the hope of injuring or killing him. Whether true or not, it’s still one of the most dangerous incidents in wrestling history.