It is tradition in wrestling, that wrestlers push through injuries in order to finish a match, and to send the fans home happy. However, when some of the injuries that have occurred during top WWE matches are analysed, a ton of questions are asked as to just why the match was allowed to continue.

Whilst it is courageous that wrestlers work through injuries, at the end of the day, their wellbeing should always be WWE’s number one priority, and it’s hard to argue against the argument that these 10 matches should have been brought to a definitive conclusion.

10: Maven vs. Christian

A broken leg is one of the worst injuries a pro wrestler can suffer, and when Maven suffered one in a match against Christian on SmackDown in 2002, WWE made the call to continue the matchup. Maven would discuss the match, and the injury on his acclaimed YouTube series, and this is what the former Hardcore Champion had to say:

"That makes me cringe. The move is called a baseball slide. Now, I played baseball for probably the better part of 17 years of my life so the fact that I broke my leg on a baseball slide, that's God proving he has a sense of humor.”

"When you mess an ankle up, what you're doing in essence, what's going to hurt you and that I still feel, my ankle's still swollen to this day. You're tearing up a ton of ligaments, a ton of tendons. The doctor said that the bone, both bone breaks, will heal in probably six to ten weeks. That's not the issue. The ligaments and tendons of the ankle, depending on how much you tore those up, that is going to be the true injury and that's going to decide how long you're sidelined for."

Maven goes on to praise Christian for his efforts in the match, as the wrestling veteran was constantly checking on him to make sure he was okay:

"He's not putting any pressure on my neck right there. But he's asking me 'How hurt are you? Can you continue? Do we need to throw up an X?' But I tell him I can finish. Knowing Vince [McMahon] is sitting back in gorilla, right behind the curtain, there's no way in hell I'm not going to finish this match."

9: Triple H & Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho

Triple H has made a career out of working through injuries. In 2001, The Game was arguably on the run of his career, as he was in the midst of a top heel tag team with Stone Cold Steve Austin, and the two would face the duo of Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho on RAW.

During the match, which is widely regarded as one of, if not the greatest match in the history of RAW, The Game tore his quad. Without question, the match should have been stopped, or at least, Triple H should have been taken away for medical attention. Of course, Triple H pushed through the injury, and somehow, someway managed to finish the match as originally planned.

A similar situation would occur in 2007, when The Game tore his other quad in a tag match, and yet again, the WWE legend continued wrestling without a hitch.

8: TLC 4

Thanks to new research over the past decade in relation to concussions, WWE thankfully takes them seriously, and if a wrestler is seriously concussed, then they are pulled from in-ring action. During TLC 4 in 2002, Bubba Ray Dudley suffered a serious concussion when he was bulldogged off a ladder by Chris Jericho.

The concussion was so substantial that Bubba didn’t have a clue where he was, and Jericho had to literally talk him through each step of the match. If this type of situation occurred in modern-day WWE, then Bubba would have been pulled out of the match with immediate effect. Thankfully, Jericho’s professionalism and ability was on full display, as without his guidance, Bubba could have seriously hurt himself.

7: Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon

Shane McMahon and Kurt Angle collided in one of the most brutal Street Fight matches imaginable at the 2001 King of the Ring event. The match was supposed to see Angle suplex McMahon through a panel of glass, and this was intended to be sugar glass, but someone made a huge mistake, and accidentally placed Plexi-glass in the panels. Due to this, McMahon was badly hurt, and due to the horrors of what was unfolding, Vince McMahon himself was getting ready to cancel the match, as he was utterly appalled in terms of what he was seeing.

6: The Undertaker vs. Goldberg

Heading into The Undertaker vs. Goldberg at Super Showdown 2019, there was obvious concern that the match was going to be less than stellar. Both men, despite being absolute legends, were way past their respective prime, and for the match to work, it was going to need to be brief and to the point. Unfortunately, Goldberg reportedly knocked himself out during the match, and the match fell apart.

The moment that the referee realised that Goldberg was knocked out, the match should have been brought to a close, as what followed made for rather uncomfortable viewing. The match turned into a total botch fest, and it was a miracle that both men came out of the match alive, as they were dropped on their heads numerous times throughout the matchup.

According to Goldberg on Twitter, even though he was knocked out, he believed he could finish the match:

“Knocked myself out and thought I could finish.... love my fans.....but let u down. Everyone else that found “pleasure” ..... hope ur happy.”

Both men have spoken out about their regrets when it comes to the match, and thankfully, WWE would learn their lesson, as following the match, WWE would only pair the two wrestlers with talents who were in a position to carry them through a passable, and more importantly safe matchup.

5: Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL

In 2004, WWE presented one of the bloodiest matches in their history, as Eddie Guerrero defended the WWE Title against JBL at the Judgment Day PPV. This was the infamous match in which Guerrero delivered one of the scariest bladejobs ever, as Guerrero bladed too deep, and in the process he sliced a major artery. The bloodshed on display was like nothing seen before on WWE programming, as there was blood literally everywhere. Although it was memorable, it was arguably too much, and Guerrero was losing blood at a terrifying rate, and he needed immediate medical assistance.

4: The Rock vs. Kurt Angle vs. Triple H

SummerSlam 2000 was main evented by a WWE Title match between The Rock, Kurt Angle, and Triple H. The match is infamous for a dreaded injury that occurred to Angle during the match, that should have brought Angle’s involvement in the match to a definitive end. The injury occurred when Triple H performed a Pedigree onto Angle through the announce table, and the issue was that the table gave way, meaning that Angle’s head hit the concrete.

Angle was knocked senseless, and despite WWE delivering a scripted spot where Angle would head to the backstage area, he somehow managed to come back out and finish the match.

3: The Undertaker vs. Mankind

Every wrestling fan can recall the thrilling visual of Mankind being thrown off the Hell in a Cell by The Undertaker, but upon further inspection, it’s clear that the match should have ended right there. The bump itself is so famous, that if WWE stopped the match right there due to legitimate safety concerns for Mankind, it’s likely that WWE would avoid backlash. If the match had stopped, then Mankind would have avoided one of the scariest and unscripted spots in company history. When The Undertaker Chokeslammed Mankind through the Cell, the roof was never supposed to give in, and according to Mankind, the bump was so dangerous, that he could have legitimately died.

2: Survivor Series 2002 Elimination Chamber

The 2002 Survivor Series featured the first-ever Elimination Chamber, and Triple H suffered a major injury in the match that led to him being rushed to hospital. One of the most famous spots in the match saw Rob Van Dam perform a Five-Star-Frog-Splash from the top of the Chamber pod onto Triple H. The move unfortunately didn’t go to plan, as RVD’s shin came across The Game’s throat. The way Triple H sold the move wasn’t a case of him acting, that was legitimate, genuine pain that The Game was in.

According to Triple H, he was struggling to breathe, and there was concern that he could have died in the matchup. The match should have come to a close so that The Game could be checked over, and WWE with the talents in the match could have easily come up with a brand-new improvised finish.

1: Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker

When WWE arrived at WrestleMania 30, it was an expectation that The Undertaker would have an all-time classic at WrestleMania; however, at the aforementioned WrestleMania, father time began to catch up with The Deadman.

Early on in the match with Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker suffered a concussion, and this wasn’t obvious from initial viewing, as it looked like The Deadman was selling, but the concussion was severe.

During an appearance on Broken Skull Sessions, The Deadman discussed just how serious the concussion was:

"Somewhere within the first five minutes, I get concussed. I don't even remember this night. I've watched it back now and obviously know. My last memory that I can definitively tell you happened at about 3:30 in the afternoon when my wife came backstage and we had a conversation. That's the last thing I remember on my own about that day. At this point in my career, there is a huge process of me getting ready between the stretching, visiting the doctors, doing everything I need to do to get myself ready to perform. An hour and a half, two hour process that's completely gone. My memory picks up, 4:30 - 5 in the morning when I'm in the hospital…”

Whilst The Undertaker’s injury in the match did lead to questions relating to why WWE didn’t stop the match, it later surfaced when The Deadman appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience, that he went into the match with a broken neck, meaning that if WWE had delivered effective medical testing on The Deadman, then he wouldn’t have been cleared for the match:

“They [doctors] take me back. My wife [Michelle McCool] and Vince [McMahon] are there in the waiting room. They come out, it’s the same kind of deal. They [doctors] go, ‘Alright, he’s broken his neck and we’re gonna give him another scan.’ Obviously my wife is completely freaking out at this point. We come to find out they had read the scans wrong. It was an old break I never knew I had. I never knew it, I never knew it.”

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