When injuries work out for the best...

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XIV
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When injuries work out for the best...

Post by XIV » Jan 17th, '19, 12:04

So, I was reading the thing on Dakota Kai earlier about her hidden injury, and it got me thinking that NXT will hopefully do something proper with her upon her return... I’m quite the fan.

So it got me reflecting... on when a legitimate injury to a wrestler, turned out to be the best thing for their career... any examples?
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by XIV » Jan 17th, '19, 12:08

So I think the best example is Edge from like 2003, he was out for like a year and nobody really cared because he wasn’t really doing anything, when he returned in 2004 he became that maniacal opportunistic heel that we all loved. He’d go onto win the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 21 before going on to successfully cash-in for the WWE Championship at New Year’s Revolution in 2006 and become a main event mainstay until his retirement and now a Hall of Famer.

Arguably, being out with injury worked out best for Edge.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 17th, '19, 12:35

I'm going to push back on your Edge example. You're forgetting that Edge was a major player on Smackdown in 2002 (he was one of the Smackdown Six) and when he got injured, he was scheduled to main event a PPV teaming with Brock & Benoit against Team Angle. The injury merely delayed his push. The thing that pushed Edge over the top as a character was the Lita affair.

As for examples of times when it did work out for the best:

- While the jury is in some ways still out on this one, I think the face-breaking incident worked out for the best for Becky. Based on what we saw throughout the rest of the Survivor Series, the best she was going to do was to lose via pointless DQ (and that's assuming their original plan wasn't just Ronda going over clean). Instead Becky is going to wind up with a main event spot at Mania, the blood (and her continuing to fight) definitely made the angle better, and it even got people to care about Nia in some way, which they otherwise didn't.

- I'd argue that this year's Aleister Black injury that resulted in the "who attacked Aleister Black?" mystery played out better for everyone than just doing a three-way probably would have (though I'd be interested to know what their original plans for TakeOver and beyond were).

- In a case of a promotion having the chance and missing the point, everyone says that if Buff Bagwell hadn't turned heel right after returning from his broken neck he could have been a main event player in WCW.

- There is also an argument that Austin getting injured on the Hart Driver actually helped him because he was hot enough that WWF wanted him on TV all the time but he wasn't able to take bumps, which resulted WWF basically having to book segments where he got to talk a lot, kick people's asses and give give a bunch of Stunners without anyone ever getting their hands on him, making him look even more like a badass.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by XIV » Jan 17th, '19, 13:01

I see your point with Edge, he was in programs with main eventers at the time BUT, he was taken to the next level 2004 onwards.

I think the Stone Cold example is the best one. Whilst he was huge anyway, the fact we as fans wanted him even more because of his injury only made him even more popular when we could return (we scratch the Rikishi element of it).

I 100% agree on Becky. She’s now probably the best most watchable female in the WWE.



I’m going to add in post quad tear Triple H in 2002. He was well on the way by that point anyway, but time away made all the difference and he went to the next level for a long while after that.

Controversially maybe, I’d argue about the Undertaker when he came back from injury as the American Bad Ass Undertaker... he had entirely refreshed himself and whilst it wasn’t his finest work, he won a lot of titles and went straight back in at the top and stayed there.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by cero2k » Jan 17th, '19, 13:14

long term injuries, i think Triple's quad one made him come back stronger and a bigger deal.

Angle and Taz's neck injuries gave them that Badass personas for the rest of their careers.

Smaller injuries, Becky Lynch, Adam Cole, Nakamura, or Candice all got busted open accidentally during important matches/segments that became really memorable for them, kinda stepping them into a new level.

edit: took me so long to click 'submit' that all mine were taken. dammit.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 17th, '19, 13:16

XIV wrote: Jan 17th, '19, 13:01


I’m going to add in post quad tear Triple H in 2002. He was well on the way by that point anyway, but time away made all the difference and he went to the next level for a long while after that.

Controversially maybe, I’d argue about the Undertaker when he came back from injury as the American Bad Ass Undertaker... he had entirely refreshed himself and whilst it wasn’t his finest work, he won a lot of titles and went straight back in at the top and stayed there.
I was thinking of these two. I think what the Hunter one did wasn't so much brought him to another level as simply allowed him to turn babyface, which made for a great moment and a decent feud with Jericho (mostly the post-Mania part of it, though). I don't think it made things "better" for Hunter per se so much as it made him a different kind of top guy for a while.

As for Taker, the character was actually evolving a bit in that direction already (see the infamous bike ride through the dessert promo with Big Show) so I think they would have gotten to where they got anyway, but the injury definitely forced them to give him the time off to consequently lobby them to make the change a more sharp one rather than a gradual one. That being said, I do love the way his return and the finish of the Rock/Hunter Ironman Match were booked.
And while we're talking about that we can't not bring another small-scale one that culminates in the segment the next night on Raw. If Kane doesn't get injured right before Mania that year, we don't get the awesome segment where Rock and Taker get booked in a Lumberjack Match against each other with all heel lumberjacks, so they just decide to fight the heels instead of each other, and when the McMahon-Helmsley Regime show up and start to take Rock and Taker out, Kane makes his big return to make the save, which wound up elevating Kane to main event level for a few months, as opposed to the midcard floundering he had been doing before Mania.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by cero2k » Jan 17th, '19, 13:21

One for debate: Shawn Michaels taking off because of his back. He took off when he may have likely been overshadowed by Austin and Rock running wild over WWE, he would had likely become overexposed and overdone if he kept wrestling all that time and then the time after his return.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by Big Red Machine » Jan 17th, '19, 13:36

cero2k wrote: Jan 17th, '19, 13:21 One for debate: Shawn Michaels taking off because of his back. He took off when he may have likely been overshadowed by Austin and Rock running wild over WWE, he would had likely become overexposed and overdone if he kept wrestling all that time and then the time after his return.
I'm not sure hw ould have been overhsadowed by Rock or Austin but likely would have been right up there with them (or at least in the Taker spot where he would never be a non-entity, but would be off TV frequently due to nagging injuries.

That being said, I do think it worked out best for Shawn because it eventually led to him beating his addictions and becoming a better person, the former of which certainly made his ringwork in his 2002-2010 run better than it would have been if he were still pilled up. It also probably helped wash away the stench of "lost my smile, won't job to anyone" political Kliq Shawn in the minds of many fans.
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Re: When injuries work out for the best...

Post by XIV » Jan 17th, '19, 13:50

Shawn is a fantastic example. He was much better post injury than he was before it. And I much like BRM ageee that beating a lot of personal demons did help with that aswell.
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