Horrifying Injuries That Changed Wrestlers FOREVER

1. CM Punk

Nikki Bella neck brace
AEW

Perhaps nothing had changed about CM Punk when he "pulverised" his foot in 2022, but it certainly seemed to contribute to a series of events that forever altered his AEW career.

Time away with injury over the summer resulted in Punk coming back with a different energy, particularly when it came to the man he'd dethroned. After saving Jon Moxley to set up their inevitable Interim Champion Vs Champion showdown, Punk randomly called out Hangman Page on a live Dynamite despite Page not being there nor it being part of his existing storyline.

An uneasy tension existed around him, and a squash loss on TV to Moxley designed to heat up the pay-per-view rematch was a gamble that didn't really pay off. Suffering another injury in their second encounter at All Out, Punk walked into the post-show press conference hurt, old, tired and sick of working with "f*cking children". Nothing was ever the same again.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett