10 Wrestlers Who Broke Their Neck For The Business
3. Akira Hokuto
Decades before WWE were patting themselves on the back for all-women's pay-per-views, AJW literally had the words slapped across their branding.
An All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling dojo survivor, Akira Hokuto was one of countless rock hard females the company promoted during their late-1980s/early-1990s zenith, with her insane mettle tested during a 2-out-of-3 falls WWWA World Tag Team Championship clash alongside Yumiko Hotta against Kazue Nagahori and Yumi Ogura.
In a cringeworthy conclusion to an already-scary spot, Hokuto bounced off the kitchen counter-like canvas following a frightening top rope tombstone that broke her neck - in the finish of the first fall.
She worked the second and third falls of the bout, selling her neck as if the move was simply designed to create drama rather than destroy her body. Regular grasps of her head and neck during the contest make for particularly grim viewing when considering the pain she was remarkably working through.
She barely took a break to rehabilitate after the clash too. Working once within a month of the knock, she resumed a bruising full-time schedule within two months of the near-crippling injury.