10 Wrestling Matches So Brutal Promoters STOPPED Them Early

5. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton (Raw)

Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton wrestled in a noteworthy rough No Disqualification match on an episode on Raw in 2013. They bumped hard for each other throughout, with Orton delivering some devastating kendo stick shots to Bryan on the outside of the ring.

Bryan suffered a stinger in the match the moment he landed on his back from a missile dropkick off the top rope. It was a move Bryan had hit plenty of times before, but Bryan’s neck issues were becoming more troublesome for him (with him undergoing major surgery on his neck the following year after losing strength in his arms). Bryan insisted on continuing the match, and was scheduled to pick up one of the biggest wins of his career by making Orton tap out clean.

It was a stunning and shocking sight to see Bryan with arms flailing by his side kicking Orton’s chest, determined to continue. After Orton back dropped Bryan on the outside, Triple H from backstage immediately ordered the match to come to an end, concerned for Bryan (and Orton’s) safety.

Bryan was fiercely mad in real life over this, with him and Triple H nearly coming to blows backstage over it. Bryan commented on it:

“I had gotten a stinger in a match and lost feelings in both of my arms. I have a mentality of never stopping a match. Whether it’s really good or really bad, that’s my mentality. I had never had a stinger before. Triple H tells the medical doctor at ringside to stop the match. I sprinted into the ring and tried to keep the match going with Randy Orton, because this was going to be the biggest win of my career to that point. I did a top rope dropkick, and I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t move my arms. Randy, he’s on the ground going ‘Dan, Dan, what the F are you doing?' When I came back, I was hot. I don’t want to say we got nose-to-nose, because he’s 6’3. We came pretty close. They’re more conscious of protecting us from ourselves.”