10 Wrestlers Who Risked Absolutely Everything

8. P.J Hawx

Doing exactly what it set out to do, P.J Hawx dive from the second floor of a shopping mall into the ring below went viral beyond the wrestling bubble when it occurred back in February 2020.

It's almost impossible to stop watching it on a loop (perhaps explaining why it was shared so far and wide and managed to capture the attention of news media rather than just the wrestling one), but the breakout moment was tempered by timing. Just one month after he flew through the recirculated air, the whole world was shut down thanks to the global pandemic.

Hawx - like many independent wrestlers, was as good as frozen out of wrestling for the rest of the year, rendering it impossible to build on an insanely scary (but ultimately successful) moment. By the time he returned in 2021, the buzz from the scene had all but vanished, leaving his crazy risk there to be monetised more by canny YouTube uploaders than the man himself.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett