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Wrestling is made for the fans and wrestlers are the ones responsible for giving the fans their ticket's worth of entertainment. WWE Superstars go to great lengths to entertain wrestling fans. There is almost no limit to what they can do just to elicit a reaction from the crowd. Every time they step inside the ring, WWE Superstars make it their goal to ensure that the fans have a good time.
Sometimes, WWE Superstars go the extra mile for entertainment purposes and display wild performances that become iconic moments over time. Most of these acts cannot be performed by an average human being. They require a lot of courage and bravery.
Even if a star is being paid a handsome amount of money by WWE, it's not easy to jump off a 20-foot ladder, being uncertain of what will happen next.
Over the years, WWE Superstars have shown a lot of strength and bravery to execute certain spots just to entertain the fans. Some of these wrestlers have to endure a great amount of pain just so they can finish what they started in front of several viewers. So let's take a look at the five greatest acts of courage shown by WWE Superstars inside the ring.
#5 The Rock tore the abdominal and abductor tendons off his pelvis in the main event of WWE WrestleMania 29
The Rock has been often criticized for forgetting his roots after finding greener pastures in Hollywood, but his commitment to the sport of professional wrestling has been quite impressive throughout history. In 2011, The Rock returned to WWE to host Wrestlemania 27, after which he started his second major run in WWE with a feud against John Cena.
The feud resulted in two back-to-back WrestleMania main event clashes between the two, the first of which was won by The Rock. During the second one, something unfortunate happened and The Rock tore an abdominal muscle as Cena hit him with the Rock Bottom. The Rock commented about it in a Q&A with the Los Angeles Lakers:
"Forty-five minute match planned out, at the fifteen minute mark, Bang. I feel something pop.... I get up, I go to step and I can't step"
The Rock had the option of asking the referee to stop the match but he didn't. The Rock mustered up the courage and suffered the pain. He wrestled another whole half hour just because he didn't want to ruin the biggest WWE match of the year. He wanted to make sure that the fans left the MetLife arena with nothing but good memories of the WrestleMania event that they attended. The Rock addressed the injury after the match on Twitter as well.
Fortunately, The Rock made it through the injury. This match is a testament to the fact that even though it may seem that the Rock is not closely affiliated with wrestling anymore, he is still devoted to the entertainment of WWE fans.
#4 Finn Balor has fought through injuries in two major matches in WWE
Finn Balor is one of the best workhorses in WWE. He arguably ranks among the most consistent wrestlers in all of professional wrestling as rarely do his matches ever disappoint. He has built a reputation amongst wrestling fans for being the Superstar who always has a good match whenever he's booked to perform.
Finn always makes sure that the viewers like what he does at whatever cost necessary. During his seven years in WWE, The Prince has had two major instances where he finished a match even though he was injured. The first one occurred at SummerSlam 2016 during a match against Seth Rollins for the newly introduced Universal Championship.
In that match, Rollins went for the Powerbomb on Balor on the barricade, However, Balor had an awkward impact which resulted in a dislocated shoulder. Being the tough man that he is, Balor popped the shoulder back into its place and continued the rest of the match which he eventually won. He later had to vacate the title due to the shoulder injury he suffered in the aforementioned match.
Four years later, Balor had another similar incident that took place at NXT TakeOver 31. During a match against Kyle O'Reilly for the NXT Championship, Balor dislocated his jaw after O'Reilly rammed his knee into Balor's face.
Just like at WWE SummerSlam in 2016, Finn Balor fought through an injury. This time, however, it was his jaw that got injured. Balor later revealed that he was in excruciating pain at the time. Fighting through an injury like this requires a lot of courage and Balor has done it twice at this point.
#3 Edge vs. Mick Foley at WWE WrestleMania 22 was a hardcore battle between two brave men
WWE has had its fair share of wild wrestlers who are willing to do anything just to please the fans. Two people who rank quite high on that list are Edge and Mick Foley, and they were given the Grandest Stage of Them All to do one of the wildest things that WWE fans have ever seen.
In 2006, Edge was slowly ascending to the top and he was given an opportunity to prove himself to the fans when he was booked in a rivalry against Mick Foley. This rivalry culminated at WWE WrestleMania 22 in a hardcore match.
Even though both of them had an outstanding match, it is mainly remembered for its crazy spots. They incorporated objects such as barbed wire and thumbtacks. The most brutal spot of the match came at the end when Edge speared Mick Foley through a table that was set on fire. Edge talked about the match at an Inside The Ropes event,
"Only in this industry could you possibly have two men covered in blood, thumbtacks stuck in their back and their kneecaps and they have burned each other but they love each other"
Keep in mind that Edge went into the flaming table face first with no clothing item on to cover the upper half of his body. That requires a strong commitment and a lot of bravery. Both men displayed great courage just to bring a special quality to the aforementioned match to entertain WWE fans. They surely deserve to be on this list.
#2 Triple H tore his quad on WWE RAW in 2001 and still wrestled through a good match
Triple H has had a lot of injuries during his time in WWE and he has managed to come back from each and every single one of them. One of those injuries was a testament to The Game's determination and courage when he tore his quadriceps on an episode of RAW in 2001.
Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H were set to drop their WWE tag team belts to Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. During that match, Jericho had locked Austin in the Walls of Jericho and Triple H was set to make the save, but he set his foot down at a weird angle which tore his quad on the spot.
Triple H didn't take any rest before jumping right back into the match. Triple H was wrestling with a torn quad. Such injuries have put out wrestlers for months and The Game was still wrestling in the aforementioned scenario. He even had to endure the Walls of Jericho submission maneuver.
Triple H gained the respect of a lot of fans that day. He went ahead with the risk of ending his career just so he could put on a good match for the fans' leisure. The Cerebral Assassin had to stay out of WWE action for a good duration because of the injury, missing the invasion angle which would have seen him take a prominent role.
#1 Mankind entered Hell in a Cell for one of the most dangerous matches at WWE King of The Ring 1998
Mankind and The Undertaker's iconic WWE Hell in a Cell match had to be number one on this list. Many have claimed that Mick Foley is the craziest WWE wrestler to have ever performed in the squared circle, which has also provided him with a platform to display his courage. At WWE King of The Ring 1998, Mankind and The Undertaker were set to wrestle inside the Hell in a Cell structure, but nothing was going to keep these two beasts caged.
The match started with both wrestlers competing at the top of the cell. They traded blows and chair-shots before reaching the edge of the cage when these two Superstars made history. The Undertaker chucked Mankind off the top of the cell structure as the latter fell all the way down, going through the announcers' desk.
At that point, Foley should have stopped. The match should have ended there and it certainly looked like that would happen, for a while. WWE officials were taking Foley backstage. In a later interview with ComicBook.com, The Undertaker revealed that Foley was the one who insisted on going ahead with the spot.
And many times I told Mick, I was like, ‘Mick, we don’t need to do that.’ I said, ‘we can make this great.’ And he was dead-set.
Surprisingly, the fall from the side of the Cell isn't the only thing that the match is remembered for in WWE. Foley climbed back up the cage and was then choke-slammed through the cell, falling flat on his back. The match promptly ended but it cemented Foley as one of the bravest and most courageous wrestlers to ever step inside a WWE ring.
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