5 Wrestling Matches That Were Called Off For Devastating Reasons
Everybody knows pro-wrestling is scripted – but it is not fake.
The moves in the ring are real and can lead to permanent injury to the wrestlers if not executed right.
Triple H tore his quads, Austin broke his neck, Mick Foley had his ear torn off but there was one thing common to all the above-mentioned instances of wrestlers getting hurt. They still completed their match despite battling through severe pain.
But sometimes the injuries might be too severe and it is in the best interest of the performers that the match is stopped as witnessed in the case of Enzo Amore at the Payback PPV recently.
This list takes a look at the five instances when a wrestling match was stopped due to a wrestler getting hurt in the ring.
P.S: I have omitted the Owen Hart incident as it is too well known
Perro Aguayo Jr passes away in the ring
Perro Aguayo and his partner Manik was competing in a tag team match against Rey Mysterio and Extreme Tiger at a 2015 show in Tijuana when the unexpected happened.
Perro took a bump to be set up for Mysterio's 619 on the middle rope and Manik was soon placed in the same position by Mysterio. However, Aguayo never revived and all the medical treatment remained futile.
The match was stopped and it was later learnt that Aguayo had suffered three fractured vertebrae during the course of the match.
Oro’s death
Despite being a few months short of 22, Jesus Javier Hernandez Silva aka Oro had the desire to excel in the ring. So his fellow competitors were not surprised when he decided to take an insane bump on his head for selling a clothesline during a tag team match in Mexico in 1993.
Oro executed the bump well enough, but started fading away and couldn't be lifted up to continue the match.
The contest was called off and Oro was shifted to an ambulance, but the young wrestler had already passed away.
Mitsuhara Misawa passes away in the ring
A legend in Japanese wrestling, Misawa continued wrestling up to his 40s across various arenas in the country. However, his life tragically ended during a tag team match in 2009.
Misawa took a harmless-looking Belly to Back Suplex, but was knocked out in the ring. The match was stopped and Misawa was treated immediately, but he never recovered.
It is believed that a spinal cord injury led to his death.
Droz vs D-Lo Brown
During a 1999 SmackDown taping, Darren Drozdov aka Droz took on D-Lo Brown. During the course of the match, D-Lo was supposed to execute his running powerbomb finisher on Droz.
However, Droz was wearing a loose shirt which prevented D-Lo from getting a proper grip and Droz couldn't jump properly in order to assist the powerbomb. This resulted in Droz landing on his head and fractured two disks in his neck.
The match was immediately stopped and Droz was rushed to the Nassau County Medical Center. Droz would lose all movement below the neck, but would regain most of his upper body strength a decade later.
Mike Dibiase’s unfortunate death
The first Dibiase to take the wrestling world by storm, Mike Dibiase wrestled well into his 40s as well.
When the 45-year-old Dibiase entered the ring to wrestle Mountain Mike in 1969, few thought that it would be his last match. Mike collapsed in the ring and it was later revealed that he had suffered a heart attack. The match was immediately stopped and wrestling legend Harley Race tried to revive him, but in vain.
He passed away in the ring, but the autopsy revealed that the death was not due to any bumps taken during the match, but due to cholesterol buildup.
