10 Wrestlers WWE Protected In The WORST Way Possible
6. ‘King’ Mabel Hurts Everyone But…
…a push gotta push.
Some pro wrestlers need to be protected from everyone else because they're injury prone or a prior incident has weakened part of their body. Case in point: Steve Austin after Owen Hart dropped him on his head at SummerSlam 1997. That totally altered how 'Stone Cold' approached his matches.
It's probably just as well Austin was never programmed against Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V then. Mabel didn't need to be protected from anyone - everyone needed to be protected from him! He was a walking pain train who hurt numerous WWF stars during his short-lived main event run, and the organisation strangely turned a blind eye to most of it.
Vince McMahon likely just reasoned that 'this ain't ballet' until 'King' Mabel wrecked reigning WWF Champ Diesel at SummerSlam 1995 then broke The Undertaker's orbital bone later that same year. Honestly, the dude was a giant red flag inside the ring, but the office ignored everything that was going on because they needed to create fresh headliners.
Cool, but maybe pick somebody who isn't sitting down with his full weight on your champion's back or caving someone's face in by being utterly reckless. The entire episode between Mabel's '95 king Of The Ring win and his feud with 'Taker should be studied. It was like a masterclass in pushing somebody dangerous who was also out of his depth.
Mabel never once learned his lesson. Nobody's suggesting that he went out of his way to injure others, but he certainly didn't seem intent (or capable) of being more careful.