WWE Survivor Series 2002: 5 Awesome Things And 5 That Sucked

2. Rob Van Dam Injuring Triple H's Throat After Jumping Off A Pod

http://youtu.be/xnrip7wrlEU It was the first Elimination Chamber match in WWE history, so we had no idea if guys could do high flying moves. During the main event, Triple H was down on the mat when Rob Van Dam decided to climb on top of one of the pods that was above the top turnbuckle. The pod was high up there and he couldn't stand fully. They probably tested it out before the show. If they didn't then that's a mistake. Because he couldn't stand normally, he was unable to jump the way he normally does when delivering a frog splash. Due to the lack of space, he never fully extended and instead of jumping onto Triple H with his body, he landed with his knee across Hunter's throat. Hunter was writhing in pain while ref Earl Hebner was doing the "X" symbol to say that Hunter was hurt. Apparently RVD wasn't too happy about doing the spot as he explained in an interview in 2013: €œThat was the only night that Vince McMahon ever called me, to tell me Hunter was ok. He knew I was concerned for a lot of reasons. I was visibly upset about it. I knew that it was a real big deal, and I never want to hurt anyone anyway. This was something that was an accident. I wasn€™t comfortable jumping off of there, it wasn€™t my idea to do it. Just being off like that, BAM. Yeah and it€™s Hunter, it wasn€™t good, and they wanted me to know they understood. Vince was super cool about it.€

Hunter had a crushed larynx from the spot. He was in the ring for another 20 minutes after the match so he was able to take a breather and get through it without serious damage. Some people think it was just a work to sell the physicality of the match, but it's believed to be a legit injury. Of course if you don't like Triple H then perhaps you thought that injury was a good thing, you cold hearted person.