British wrestler Lionheart broke his neck in two places after tucking his chin while taking a Styles Clash. The incident happened on March 1, 2014 at a Preston City Wrestling event after Lionheart defended his PCW title agains Styles. The Phenomenal One sneak attacked him, hit the Clash and the rest is history. Even though he accepted responsibility for the injury, Lionheart wrote a letter to Styles pleading with him to stop using the move.
Here's the truth... The move is not directly dangerous... It's a simple move in principle... Arms and legs locked, you fall forward, guy looks up/back, easy... The Styles Clash 'on paper' is a fairly safe and basic process... That said, what is dangerous, is the instinctual reaction of your opponent... The wrestler taking the move, who like any wrestler taking any move, their safety and welfare is the priority... Without ANY injuries, it could be argued that the mechanics of the move are unnatural, and injury could easily happen due to the physical restrictions and instinctual habits of the recipient... The numbers now are surely too great to even call it an argument?
Despite being told he would never wrestle again, Lionheart returned to PCW after a year on the shelf and even had another match with the man who put him out of action.
