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 harm 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 hundreds of thousands of expectant followers.
M&F attended the “Clash at the Castle” put up present press convention, and had been in a position to get Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s ideas on why wrestlers are among the many hardest people on the earth, and why it’s best to by no means be tempted to attempt the strikes out at residence.
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 area, in opposition to fan-favorite Drew McIntyre, the 6’ 5”, 250-pound champ gave the impression to be trying 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 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 as an 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 ‘Clash at the Castle’ put up 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 need 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 situation before where, you know, as you said, it’s a full contact sport. The injury rate is one hundred percent. No one gets out unscathed … You’re going to leave here with some issues, with some aches and pains, it’s just a part of the game but its part of what we do and why we love it. When I saw that happen to Damian, my heart jumped out of my chest. I didn’t see any way 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 harm would have meant recreation over, however in WWE the place there’s a narrative to inform, it’s not that straightforward.
“There is such a fine line between what we do being safe and what we do not being safe,” he explains. “There is a risk to reward ratio, every single time you get in that ring … So, yeah, it brings back memories, I can relate to it, and I certainly hope he’s ok, but it’s part of what we do. Don’t try this at home.”
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 harm 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 Fortress 2024 was the primary ever WWE Premium Reside Occasion to happen in Scotland.
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