Horrifying Injuries That Changed Wrestlers FOREVER

9. Tyson Kidd

Nikki Bella neck brace
WWE

In 2023, Tyson Kidd is respected as a positive backstage force in WWE, credited with agenting numerous classics from the recent era of women's wrestling. He's also got a back catalogue of midcard matches from his career that hold up to scrutiny more so than three quarters of the milquetoast matches from that specific era.

That side of his CV sadly came to an end in June 2015, during a dark match that was all too effective in putting over the danger of his opponent and new signing Samoa Joe.

'The Samoan Submission Machine' had debuted on NXT in May at TakeOver: Unstoppable, but was booked to work Kidd on Superstars in front of a larger audience at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Disaster very unfortunately struck when a Muscle Buster went awry, forcing Kidd into retirement with a spinal cord injury. The aforementioned success stories of his time since speak on his capacity to turn an enormous negative into a big positive, but at just 35 he was probably just hitting his prime years when everything changed.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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