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Even though WWE matches and storylines are scripted, the physicality involved in the sports entertainment business is very real.
We recently counted down five WWE Superstars who have been left with permanent scars as a result of accidents that happened in the ring, with Roman Reigns and The Miz among those who have lasting reminders of how dangerous life in WWE can be.
Now, while those Superstars’ scars may never heal, some men and women in WWE have suffered temporary injuries to their face after being on the receiving end of an unfortunate botch during a match.
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In this article, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who received black eyes, as well as the opponents who caused the injuries.
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#5 Cesaro gave Rusev a black eye (WWE live event)
The inspiration for this article comes from Miro (fka WWE's Rusev), who revealed on a Twitch stream that Cesaro is the WWE Superstar that gave him a black eye shortly before he flew to Bulgaria to have his second wedding with Lana.
As you can see below, the black eye is very visible in photos from their special day.
Rusev recalled how he and Cesaro used to have shoot wrestling matches with each other at the start of their matches at WWE live events.
On one occasion, Cesaro attempted a wheelbarrow victory roll and accidentally caught his opponent in his left eye, which immediately swelled up.
“His knee gets me right in my eye, so I had to step, knee in my eye, victory roll, we keep going. I felt it right away. As soon as he went up, we went through the victory roll. One… two… big kick, and I just knew it right away.”
Rusev said Lana, who was ringside for the match, was not impressed after the incident.
“She was just giving Claudio [Cesaro] the biggest stink eye because I kick out, I sit up, I’m like, ‘Look what he did to my eye.’ We’re still working but she’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ She was just super upset because a week from now, we’ve got to go and take pictures and she does not want me to have a black eye during it.”
Rusev clarified that he enjoyed working with Cesaro in WWE, but he will always remember the Swiss Superstar when he reflects on his wedding day.
#4 Asuka gave Natalya a black eye (WWE RAW)
In February 2020, Asuka and Natalya were involved in a brief rivalry on WWE RAW ahead of the RAW Women’s Championship #1 contender’s match at WWE Elimination Chamber.
During their match on the February 3 episode of WWE RAW, Natalya shouted “Let’s go b***h!” whilst encouraging Asuka to hit her even harder.
The Japanese Superstar retaliated by kicking her opponent in the face, causing an instant bruise around her right eye.
Although the incident did not make it onto WWE’s YouTube channel, you can hear commentator Tom Phillips address Natalya’s injury from the 01:50 mark of the video above.
“You see that mark on the right eye of Natalya? This match has gotten brutal very quickly.”
Natalya took to social media to show off the injury, while Asuka responded by saying the former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion fought a fierce battle against her.
Asuka ended up winning the match via her Asuka Lock submission move following a distraction from her Kabuki Warriors tag team partner, Kairi Sane, at ringside.
#3 Nikki Bella gave Carmella a black eye (WWE SmackDown)
The long-term storyline between Nikki Bella and Carmella on WWE SmackDown in 2016 culminated in a No Disqualification match at the TLC pay-per-view.
On the final episode of WWE SmackDown before the event, Carmella mocked Nikki’s relationship with John Cena during an in-ring promo and suggested that the E! network might have to cancel the next season of Total Bellas due to the injuries that her opponent is going to suffer in their match.
This prompted Nikki to race down to the ring and unleash a flurry of punches on her rival, leaving her with a lump on her forehead in a post-segment interview that was uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel.
The next day, Carmella revealed in a picture on Instagram that she also had bruising around her right eye to go along with the injury to her forehead.
Five days after the WWE SmackDown brawl, Nikki defeated Carmella at TLC after she sprayed her opponent with a fire extinguisher and hit her with the Rack Attack 2.0.
#2 Randy Orton gave Mustafa Ali a black eye (WWE SmackDown)
In February 2019, Randy Orton began performing his signature Garvin Stomp move on Mustafa Ali during their one-on-one match on WWE SmackDown.
The move usually sees Orton connect with a series of kicks all over his opponent's body. On this occasion, however, Ali moved his head up during the second stomp, resulting in the 13-time WWE World Champion kicking him in his left eye.
One week after suffering the injury, Ali was removed from the WWE Elimination Chamber match and replaced by Kofi Kingston, who went on to win the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan just two months later at WrestleMania 35.
Speaking to talkSPORT in May 2019, Ali clarified that it was a different injury – not the black eye – that caused him to miss WWE Elimination Chamber, so he does not blame Orton for what happened:
“Unfortunately for Randy, a lot of people point the finger at him thinking the black eye was the cause of me missing the Elimination Chamber – that wasn’t the case. I had a series of injuries that were just piling up and unfortunately I had a pretty serious injury after that at a live event. That’s the injury that took me out.”
You can check out the moment that caused the black eye from the 0:30 mark of the video at the top of this page.
#1 Nia Jax gave Becky Lynch a black eye (WWE RAW)
One of the most impactful segments in recent WWE history came in November 2018 when Becky Lynch led Team SmackDown’s invasion of WWE RAW six days before Survivor Series.
The pay-per-view was originally supposed to see a team of five women from RAW and SmackDown go head-to-head, while Lynch – the SmackDown Women’s Champion at the time – was due to face RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey in a one-on-one match.
Unfortunately, during the chaotic brawl, RAW roster member Nia Jax caught Lynch with a huge right hand to the side of her face, causing her to suffer a concussion, a broken nose, a black eye and, in WWE’s words, “a broken face”.
Nia “The Facebreaker” Jax immediately benefited from the botch by becoming arguably the top heel Superstar on the WWE roster. Lynch, meanwhile, was replaced by Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series and she could not compete for another month.
In the end, Lynch had the last laugh when she defeated Rousey and Flair in the first women’s main event in WrestleMania history to win the RAW Women’s Championship and SmackDown Women’s Championship.
