Damian Priest scored an enormous upset in Glasgow, Scotland on June 15, 2024, when he defeated native hero Drew McIntyre to retain his WWE Heavyweight title, and though the storyline referred to as for CM Punk to help in that shock victory, much more stunning was a freak accident that noticed Priest’s leg turn into entangled within the ropes, nearly ripping his limb out of its socket within the course of.
The stomach-churning second was a stark reminder that professional wrestlers put their our bodies on the road in a means that many different athletes would by no means have to contemplate. In contrast to in boxing or MMA, an damage sustained within the professional wrestling ring hardly ever requires the bout to be stopped, because the grapplers typically suck it as much as full no matter epic storyline is scheduled to play out, stay, earlier than tens of millions of expectant followers.
M&F attended the “Conflict on the Citadel” publish present press convention, and had been capable of get Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s ideas on why wrestlers are among the many hardest people on this planet, and why you need to by no means be tempted to attempt the strikes out at house.
Damian Priest nearly shattered his leg in freak accident at Conflict on the Citadel 2024
A number of minutes into defending his title in the primary occasion inside Glasgow’s Hydro area, in opposition to fan-favorite Drew McIntyre, the 6’ 5”, 250-pound champ seemed to be making an attempt to leap exterior of the ring to squash the large Scot through the use of the center rope as a springboard. Sadly, as Priest made his ascent, the center rope turned intertwined with the highest rope, trapping proper leg.
As Priest launched himself exterior of the ring, his decrease leg and ankle remained mounted and had been unable to maneuver, that means that as his torso accomplished a ahead roll, he nearly dislocated a joint or broke a bone on this scary scenario.
Issues bought actual – The second @ArcherOfInfamy bought caught up within the ropes. Confirmed numerous coronary heart to complete the match principally on one good leg. pic.twitter.com/njyqwK9l0z #WweCastle
— Scott “Future” Felstead (@scottfuture) June 16, 2024
Whereas critics typically deride professional wrestling as being extra like a cleaning soap opera than an actual sport, it’s moments like this that proceed for example simply how harmful this hybrid of sporting efficiency leisure actually is.
Triple H feedback on the real bodily risks in professional wrestling
Attending the ‘Conflict on the Citadel’ publish present press convention, I requested the WWE legend and present Chief Content material Officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Lavesque if he had any reminiscences of being in an analogous kind of scenario, the place the will to entertain a worldwide fanbase is weighed-up with an athlete’s personal private wellbeing.
“Yeah, not good ones,” he mirrored. “Yeah, I’ve been in that scenario earlier than the place, you recognize, as you stated, it’s a full contact sport. The damage charge is 100%. Nobody will get out unscathed … You’re going to go away right here with some points, with some aches and pains, it’s simply part of the sport however its a part of what we do and why we adore it. Once I noticed that occur to Damian, my coronary heart jumped out of my chest. I didn’t see any means that we wasn’t injured.”
As a multi-time champion in his personal proper, Levesque tore a quad in 2001, and continued to finish his match regardless of the excruciating ache that he was struggling. In different sports activities, such an damage would have meant sport over, however in WWE the place there’s a narrative to inform, it’s not that straightforward.
“There’s such a advantageous line between what we do being secure and what we don’t being secure,” he explains. “There’s a threat to reward ratio, each single time you get in that ring … So, yeah, it brings again reminiscences, I can relate to it, and I definitely hope he’s okay, however it’s a part of what we do. Don’t do that at house.”
The preliminary prognosis on Priest’s well being popping out of the weekend is that the ‘Judgement Day’ member seems to have mercifully prevented a critical damage on this event, however this incident was simply one other in a protracted line of reminders that professional wrestling is way from pantomime.
WWE Conflict on the Citadel 2024 was the primary ever WWE Premium Stay Occasion to happen in Scotland.
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