10 Wrestlers Who Broke The Muta Scale

8. Randy Orton

Eddie Guerrero Bloody Hell
WWE

In which the point was completely missed.

At SummerSlam 2016, Brock Lesnar opened a hardway hole in Randy Orton's skull in order to get himself over as a monster - as if breaking the Undertaker's streak and reducing John Cena to Special Delivery Jones two years prior wasn't enough. WWE doesn't allow its performers to blade in the PG era due to its insinuation with violence and association with pro wrestling in its pre-sanitised, outlaw format. As an alternative, Brock Lesnar has been instructed, on more than one occasion, to either scrape or literally drill blood from the scalps of his peers.

Lesnar was infuriated at Orton's ability to kick out of the F5 - ironically for Braun Strowman, this was considered a burial at the time - and responded by caving Orton's skull in. This wasn't a mere deep cut, the antithesis of a blade job; Orton missed a month of ring time with a concussion slap-bang in the age of CTE awareness. What's even more ironic is that Vince McMahon told Wade Barrett, minutes before the same event six years earlier, that the Nexus had to be destroyed in order to send the crowd home happy.

Unhappy is one thing, but traumatised and sickened, apparently, is another.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!