10 Things You Didn't Know About Raven

9. Breaking Villanos, Breaking Character

Raven's Flock WCW
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Kayfabe may be long dead in the 21st century, but the art of remaining in character at all times was alive and well as the Attitude Era reached its peak. In-ring injuries were commonplace but the show must always go on, and performers had to get used to the accidents that happened and the art of not looking overly bothered by an opponent in legitimate peril.

Not so Raven, at least not on one occasion. On an episode of Nitro in September 1998, Raven and Kanyon took on the Villanos (Villanos IV and V, for the record) in a fairly unassuming tag team match. The Flock team were always going to win the match and had Villano IV set up for a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo. Raven pulled a little early on the neckbreaker portion of the move, essentially dropping the masked man onto the back of his neck.

The spot looked horrific. Instead of going for the pin Raven immediately broke character and cradled Villano, keeping his neck in a steady position and seemingly attempting to comfort the prone superstar. Everyone was a little freaked out (to say the least) and referee Nick Patrick threw the match out. Villano suffered a serious neck injury and was forced to retire, although that should be noted as a pro wrestling retirement (he was back working within two years).

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.