10 Wrestlers That Bled The Hard Way
5. Joey Mercury (WWE Armageddon 2006)
It's hard to view the image above and imagine that Joey Mercury somehow came away from a fight with a ladder lucky, but he could have ended up with more than a gashed-open face after the dangerous implement smashed him full force during an unannounced minor classic in December 2006.
Having only just been welcomed back into the fold, Mercury was the toast of the company alongside partner Johnny Nitro after MNM and The Hardy Boyz worked beyond reasonable expectations to try and save the disastrous December To Dismember show with their enjoyable opener. Keen to placate supporters ordering Armageddon two weeks later, WWE put the pairs into Brian Kendrick and Paul London's Tag Team Title defence against David Taylor and William Regal, and shoehorned a ladder in as well.
The over-delivery would prove costly to Mercury's career.
Comfortably the best match of the night before a teeter-totter spot ended badly for the former tag team champion, the brutal bumps and the battle in general went some way repairing relations with a ripped-off audience. Mercury's horrific facial injuries reinitiated a long battle he was still losing with pain medication, but astonishingly at least didn't leave him with lasting damage to his eyes, nose or mouth.