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 out to be 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 method that many different athletes would by no means have to contemplate. Not like in boxing or MMA, an damage sustained within the professional wrestling ring not often 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, reside, earlier than hundreds of thousands of expectant followers.
M&F attended the “Conflict on the Fortress” publish present press convention, and have been in a position to get Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s ideas on why wrestlers are among the many hardest people on the planet, and why you need to by no means be tempted to strive the strikes out at house.
Damian Priest nearly shattered his leg in freak accident at Conflict on the Fortress 2024
A number of minutes into defending his title in the primary occasion inside Glasgow’s Hydro enviornment, in opposition to fan-favorite Drew McIntyre, the 6’ 5”, 250-pound champ seemed to be making an attempt to leap outdoors of the ring to squash the massive 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 outdoors of the ring, his decrease leg and ankle remained mounted and have been unable to maneuver, which means that as his torso accomplished a ahead roll, he nearly dislocated a joint or broke a bone on this scary state of affairs.
Issues obtained actual – The second @ArcherOfInfamy obtained caught up within the ropes. Confirmed a variety of coronary heart to complete the match mainly 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 instance 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 Fortress’ publish present press convention, I requested the WWE legend and present Chief Content material Officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Lavesque if he had any recollections of being in the same kind of state of affairs, the place the will to entertain a world fanbase is weighed-up with an athlete’s personal private wellbeing.
“Yeah, not good ones,” he mirrored. “Yeah, I’ve been in that state of affairs earlier than the place, you recognize, as you mentioned, 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 find it irresistible. Once I noticed that occur to Damian, my coronary heart jumped out of my chest. I didn’t see any method 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 recreation over, however in WWE the place there’s a narrative to inform, it’s not that easy.
“There may be such a positive 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 recollections, I can relate to it, and I actually hope he’s okay, nevertheless it’s a part of what we do. Don’t do this 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 much from pantomime.
WWE Conflict on the Fortress 2024 was the primary ever WWE Premium Dwell Occasion to happen in Scotland.
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