10 Most Messed Up Moments In Wrestling Matches
2. Joey Mercury Shatters His Face
Scott Hall reckons that he had better Ladder matches on the house show circuit with Shawn Michaels as the two men road-tested the new gimmick ahead of WrestleMania X.
The random quality of the object meant that, on some nights, it would fly up in all sorts of cool directions. Sometimes it would nail Michaels right in the b*llocks for a mega-pop. It's a dangerous prop that can not be entirely controlled, and Joey Mercury learned this to the cost of his facial skeleton in one of the most gruesome, sickening wrestling match moments ever at Armageddon 2006.
He partnered with Johnny Nitro in a fatal four-way ladder match that, while obviously overshadowed by the incident, was as electrifying as it was impressive. Nitro had to work it alone when Mercury was rushed to hospital. Genre fatigue was a serious issue, too, but Paul London and Brian Kendrick modernised the old tropes and William Regal and Dave Taylor's acrophobia folded in an amusing, unique comedy element.
Mercury's shift was a short one.
The idea was for Hardy to jump on the edge of a ladder positioned on top of another ladder, forcing the opposite end to swing upwards into Mercury's face. It was too effective; the velocity generated was such that Mercury didn't even have time to get his hands up. The ladder imploded his face, which pissed a fountain of blood on the outside.
It swelled to something unrecognisable within seconds.