9 Times Injuries Actually Helped A Wrestler's Career

Back when Ric Flair first found his way into the AWA, he was a beefy dude. Like, George "The Animal" Steele levels of beefy, but with a little less hair. He was a power-based grappler, and his move set reflected his look.

But in 1975, his entire life changed when the plane that was carrying he and three other wrestlers took a swan dive out of the sky. Flair was lucky to come out of the crash alive, but he wasn't without significant injury. His back was broken in three places, and the injury was so devastating that doctors told him he would probably never wrestle again.

But within a relatively short amount of time, he was back at it. The injuries sustained to his back caused him to drop some weight and do a complete overhaul on his wrestling style, which to that point had been more rough-and-tumble.

To work around his own limitations, he adapted a more cerebral style, incorporating more submissions and other technical holds into his repertoire. This is also the point where he discovered that very, ahem, unique way of selling moves. 

Oh, and this is when he took on The Nature Boy gimmick, because now he was svelte enough to pull it off. So yeah...that plane crash had a pretty sparkly silver lining.