10 WWE Careers That Ended Too Soon Due To Injury
4. Magnum T.A.
In October 1986, NWA star Magnum T.A. lost control of his car while driving in the rain, and crashed into a telephone pole, which reportedly "exploded" his C-4 and C-5 vertebrae upon impact.
Magnum was sat in his car for two hours before 911 was finally called, and doctors said that if he wasn't in the excellent physical conditioning he was, he certainly would have died.
While Magnum T.A's injury didn't occur in the ring, it's significant because of how it changed the landscape of professional wrestling as Magnum was being groomed for a third run with the United States Championship, and an eventual run with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
He was set to be positioned as NWA's top babyface to rival WWF's Hulk Hogan, and had he not been injured we may be living in a very different wresting world.
Magnum was paralysed down his right-side which led to his retirement, although he stayed active with the NWA for several more years as both a commentator and a manager. In 2007, Magnum T.A. made his first appearance for WWE at Night of Champions, recognised as a former United States Champion and these days works out of Charlotte, NC as a hedge-fund manager.