10 Wrestlers Who Broke Their Neck For The Business

It seems trite to start an article on broken necks with the millionth disclaimer about the dangers of wrestling, but wrestlers carefully compartmentalise the realities of their employment long before they even suggest moves that risk paralysis.

Furthermore, the men and women themselves are built with a physical and/or emotional endurance beyond mere mortals. Tazz shared a story on WWE's 'Rise & Fall Of ECW' DVD about how he felt a twinge during a tag match alongside Eddie Guerrero against 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko after the latter levelled him with a spike piledriver. He spent the remainder of the match on the apron in considerable pain but was only told after he'd walked to the hospital that he'd broken his neck.

Even after his one miraculous escape from potential doom, 'The Human Suplex Machine' sought only minimal treatment in order to expedite his return to the ring later that year. There was money to be made in the comeback, and even more to be lost as he sat on the shelf. The business of 'the business' has been, at times, one of the coldest realities in professional wrestling, with performers giving their bodies to entities that so often gave little back in return.

There are some gruesome bumps within the pages of this article, but it's perhaps even grislier to think about how little care the wrestlers in question received after literally sticking their necks out for the cause.

Hiromu Takahashi's hard-earned return to NJPW's Junior Heavyweight summit at 2018's sensational Dominion supershow should have continued the post-Kenny Omega reinvigoration of the league he helped kickstart when he first won the belt in January 2017, but a horrifying injury sustained in his first title defence against Dragon Lee left him almost without a career as well as his IWGP title.

The botched Phoenix-Plex saw Hiromu under-rotate on a dangerously tight dive, folding himself up on top of his neck as he slid across the canvas. Despite finishing (and winning) the match, it was clear something was very, very wrong with the Los Ingobernables de Japon member, and reports in the days that followed of a broken neck were sadly unsurprising.

The abdication of his second reign left a hole in the hearts of his growing fanbase, but unlike others to follow on this list he thankfully didn't show fighting spirit by recklessly continue to work through the pain.