ECW’s legacy was built on boundary-pushing matches and high-risk maneuvers, yet some of its most devastating injuries remain hidden from the spotlight. Beyond the punishing piledrivers, flaming chairs, and barbed-wire spectacles were horrific career-threatening moments that nearly killed five of its stars.
1. The Piledriver That Nearly Paralyzed Taz (July 1995)
Taz hoists the ECW World Heavyweight Championship during his title reign. Photo Credit: WWE.
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While Chris Benoit’s accidental breaking of Sabu’s neck at November To Remember 1994 remains ECW’s most infamous injury, a similarly consequential, yet far less discussed, moment occurred just eight months later.
During a July 20th, 1995, Hardcore TV taping, Taz (then wrestling as The Tazmaniac) teamed with Television Champion Eddie Guerrero against Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio in a match that nearly ended his career.
The turning point came seven minutes into the bout when Scorpio and Malenko attempted a spike piledriver—a move requiring precise coordination.
In a 2018 interview on The Steve Austin Show, Taz admitted fault for the botched piledriver, stating, "It was all my fault… Scorpio hoisted me up for the piledriver, and I never had a grip of the back of his pants, his legs, to protect myself. Dean [Malenko] was in flight coming off the second rope… I didn’t get a chance to tuck my chin. My forehead hit the mat, and the rest of my body supined back."
The botched execution drove Taz’s forehead into the mat, violently hyperextending his neck.
Medical reports later confirmed a fractured C1 vertebra, the same injury that paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve. Taz described immediate numbness: “I couldn’t feel my arms, legs… nothing.”
Despite this, he somehow crawled to the apron, where Guerrero single-handedly finished the match. Footage shows Taz slumped against the ropes, his head eerily motionless—a stark contrast to his usual feral energy.
Taz’s Broken Neck: How ECW’s Future Star Survived 9 Months in a Brace
Taz wears a neck brace after fracturing his C1 vertebra in a July 1995 ECW Hardcore TV match. Photo Credit: WWE.
On the advice of Tommy Dreamer, Taz went to hospital. At Philadelphia’s Hahnemann University Hospital, doctors diagnosed Taz with a C1 compression fracture, a career-threatening injury that left staff baffled he’d walked in unaided. As documented in Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of ECW, neurosurgeons warned that one wrong move could have severed his spinal cord.
Taz would be out of action for nine months.
ECW owner Paul Heyman faced a dilemma: the promotion was already struggling financially, yet he continued paying Taz’s $500 weekly guarantee throughout his nine-month recovery.
Taz explained, “Paul paid me every single week of our agreement in my guarantee. I didn’t have [a] contract with the man. I had a handshake with the guy, and he stuck to that, and I will never, ever forget that.”
Remarkably, Taz’s squat build became an asset, remarking on X/Twitter in 2021 that his lack of neck “kept me out of a wheelchair for life.”
From Broken Neck Depression to FTW: How Taz Reinvented ECW’s Hardcore Icon
Taz after crowned as the FTW Wrestling Champion at ECW’s 1995 Holiday Hell event. Photo Credit: WWE.
The injury plunged Taz into depression, compounded by silence from fans and peers. “Not one card, not one call,” he told Pro Wrestling Illustrated in May 1998. Heyman channeled that bitterness into creative gold, advising: “Take that anger and make them remember you.”
At December 1995’s Holiday Hell, Taz reemerged with a shaved head, orange/black gear, and the “**** The World” mantra—a persona blending MMA realism and streetwise intensity. Limited by neck stiffness, he abandoned high-flying moves for mat-based suplexes and submissions, birthing the “Human Suplex Machine.”
The reinvention worked explosively. By August 1999, Taz dethroned Shane Douglas for the ECW World Title, completing one of wrestling’s most improbable comebacks. “That broken neck forced me to get smarter,” he later reflected. No Tazmaniac, no FTW. Simple as that.”
2. Sabu’s Boot Spike vs. Chris Candido’s Ear: A Horrific 1998 Injury
Chris Candido, pictured here with his on-screen and real-life girlfriend Tammy Sytch (Sunny in WWE), would clutch onto his nearly severed ear after Sabu’s botched dive at ECW’s July 1998 Revere, MA event. Photo Credit: WWE.
During a July 12th, 1998 house show in Revere, Massachusetts, Candido and Lance Storm challenged ECW Tag Team Champions Rob Van Dam and Sabu, to whom they recently lost the titles, to a violent rematch that took a gruesome turn.
Three years after Mick Foley’s infamous ear incident, ECW nearly witnessed a repeat tragedy during a July 12, 1998 house show in Revere, Massachusetts. Chris Candido and Lance Storm challenged ECW Tag Team Champions Rob Van Dam and Sabu in a violent rematch that took a gruesome turn.
As documented in the July 20th, 1998, edition of The Wrestling Observer, Sabu attempted a high-risk maneuver gone wrong: “Chris Candido nearly lost his ear due to an errant dive by Sabu, who landed on Candido’s ear with his knee somehow. It was said to be one of the scariest situations ever backstage in ECW, with Candido bleeding profusely and even going into convulsions and fearing that he would lose his ear.”
ECW’s Most Gruesome Ear Injury: Candido’s Brush With Amputation
The team of Candido and Storm were a part of ECW’s Triple Threat. Photo Credit: WWE.
During the bout, the team of RVD and Sabu attempted a double Rolling Thunder combination. However, Sabu was too far away and instead changed at the last minute into a knee drop.
This was extremely dangerous, considering that in his boot was where Sabu had put a spike that would be used during the match.
Candido recalled in a shoot interview how “his boot hit me in the ear, and the spike was sticking out, and it cut my ear; it was hanging by my earlobe.”
Blood spouted, with Candido only noticing his injury when seeing the ringside reaction of valet Tammy Sytch (Sunny).
Candido told Storm about his injury, remarking, “I think my ear is off my head!”
The match came to an abrupt end with the Canadian grappler rolled up. Storm pressed a towel to Candido’s ear as they rushed backstage.
Medical staff confirmed the spike had torn through 80% of Candido’s right auricle, requiring 37 stitches to reattach. ECW physician Dr. Sam Sheppard later told Power Slam Magazine that another millimeter would have severed the superior auricular artery, risking fatal blood loss.
Balls Mahoney vs. EMTs: The Chaotic Aftermath of Candido’s Injury
The injury caused Chris Candido to wear sports protective headgear at ECW Heatwave 1998. Photo Credit: WWE.
Chris Candido was treated for up to two hours. Soon, chaos escalated when Balls Mahoney mistook the real EMTs for storyline plants.
Candido’s brother Johnny recalled, “Normally they’ll have local talent act as EMTs; at this building, they had real EMTs, they were carrying Chris off [and] Balls tackled them and tried grabbing the stretcher, thinking they were acting.”
ECW’s medical team stabilized Candido using battlefield-grade clotting agents.
The angle was converted to TV, with Storm and Candido breaking up with Triple Threat faction leader Shane Douglas blaming the Ontario native.
Candido returned weeks later at Heatwave 1998 wearing protective headgear, but the repaired ear’s "cauliflower" appearance frustrated him.
Candido was allegedly annoyed when his cauliflower ear was drained upon reattachment, hindering the storyline potency of the injury. “They drained the hematoma – ruined the bad*** look,” Chris would say. “That ear was my war story.”
3. J.T. Smith’s Concrete Concussion: The Birth of ‘You F***** Up!’ Chants (1995)
J.T. Smith. being interviewed by Joey Styles. Smith would take a brutal guardrail bump during his ECW rivalry with Mike Awesome in 1995. Photo Credit: WWE.
While names like Sabu and Terry Funk dominated ECW headlines, J.T. Smith carved his legacy through sheer recklessness.
The former Television champion, who competed in ECW precursor Tri-State Wrestling and on the promotion’s inaugural 1993 card, became notorious for career-jeopardizing bumps. However, none were more severe than his July 1st, 1995 collision with concrete at Wrestlepalooza.
Facing Hack Myers in a match showcasing ECW’s brutal style, Smith attempted a crowd-popping plancha over the top rope. In a cruel twist of fate, Myers instinctively retreated too far, leaving Smith’s dive to fall horrifically short. The result? Smith’s head struck the unprotected concrete floor with a sickening crack.
ECW announcer Joey Styles immortalized the moment on commentary: “That hematoma is the size of half an egg – an ostrich egg, that is! This isn’t wrestling, folks – this is a war zone!”
In a chilling 2005 Highspots roundtable, Smith recalled, “My kneepad caught the ropes mid-air – jerked me sideways. Next thing I know, I’m staring at the lights with 500 people screaming ‘You ****ed up!’ That chant haunts me to this day.”
The incident marked wrestling’s first mainstream use of the infamous “You F’ed up!” chant—a phrase that would become synonymous with ECW’s unforgiving audience.
Cheesesteaks Over Hospitals: J.T. Smith’s Baffling Post-Injury Decision
J.T. Smith competes at 2005’s Hardcore Homecoming reunion event. Photo Credit: Hardcore Homecoming.
Defying medical logic, Smith refused immediate treatment. “I thought, ‘F hospitals – I need a cheesesteak,’” he later admitted.
What should’ve been a five-minute drive to Philadelphia’s iconic Pat’s King of Steaks turned into a 45-minute odyssey with the concussion-addled wrestler behind the wheel.
Paul Heyman transformed the real-life trauma into surreal entertainment, scripting Smith’s “brain injury” into an angle where he adopted an Italian persona. This led to the formation of The Full Blooded Italians (F.B.I.) in late 1995—a stable that ironically became Smith’s most successful gimmick despite its origins in legitimate tragedy.
4. Terry Funk’s Third-Degree Burns: ECW’s Fire Spot Gone Horribly Wrong (1994)
Terry Funk & Mick Foley in the heat of their infamous 1994 ECW Arena fire match. It was matches like this that helped Funk and Foley gain a reputation for hardcore matches. Photo Credit: WWE.
On October 15, 1994, ECW’s penchant for danger crossed a catastrophic threshold during Terry Funk’s hardcore match against Cactus Jack (Mick Foley). What began as a planned flaming chair spot devolved into one of wrestling’s most harrowing accidents when Funk suffered third-degree burns across his back and right arm.
As detailed in ECW’s 2004 documentary The Rise and Fall of ECW, Foley had successfully executed similar fire spots in Japan using lighter fluid, which burns cleanly. However, ECW’s production team substituted lighter fluid with Ronsonol lighter fluid – a thicker formula containing naphtha that adheres to surfaces.
Foley later explained in his autobiography Have a Nice Day!, “The Ronsonol soaked towel stayed lit like a road flare. When I swung the chair, the flaming rag snapped off the ropes and hit Terry’s back like a meteor.”
The heat of the fire burned off the rope, flinging the roaring rag onto Funk’s back and setting his t-shirt ablaze.
Backstage Inferno: Funk’s Meltdown After Nearly Dying in the Ring
Mick Foley wields a flaming chair during the match that burned Terry Funk (ECW Arena, 1994). Photo Credit: WWE.
Terry Funk’s cotton t-shirt ignited instantly, melting into his skin. He would receive second-degree burns on his back as well as his right arm from his bicep to his elbow. Eyewitnesses recalled, “Terry’s arm looked like raw hamburger meat. The smell of burning flesh permeated the arena.”
Backstage, Funk erupted in pain-induced rage, hurling furniture and shattering an industrial fan. His wife Vicki collapsed in tears, while Foley stood paralyzed by guilt.
In his book, Foley admitted, “I still wonder – was Terry moving too fast, or was I just a coward? All I have is guilt, no scars to show for it.”
Foley later lamented how he was not able to help Funk in the heat of the moment.
“To this day, I try to relive these events in my mind and try to figure out why I couldn’t catch him. Was he moving too fast to catch, or was I simply a coward under pressure? The question still haunts me. I do remember thinking, ‘I’ve got to catch him,’ and then wondering, ‘What do I do once I’m there?’ I had no answers.
“I wish I could point to a burn on my body and say, ‘This is where I saved my hero, Terry Funk,‘ but all I have to show for it is a heavy conscience.”
Medical reports later confirmed second-degree burns covering 15% of Funk’s body. He spent weeks in agony, applying silvadene cream to weeping wounds – a cruel irony given he’d just recovered from Japanese fire-related injuries months prior.
The $18 Million Lawsuit: How ECW’s Fire Incident Scarred a Fan for Life
Mick Foley wacks Tommy Dreamer with a burning chair as Raven looks on. Photo Credit: WWE.
Chaos erupted post-match as fire extinguishers sprayed chemical foam, triggering a venue-wide blackout. Panicked fans stampeded toward exits, including Mark Shrader – a 22-year-old who suffered second-degree hand burns trying to pat out Funk’s flames.
One fan present later commented, “Since that time, I have always made a conscious effort to identify the emergency exits immediately upon entering any building.”
ECW faced a $18 million lawsuit from Shrader, who claimed permanent scarring. Though dismissed (as wrestling’s inherent risks absolved liability), Funk confirmed on The Steve Austin Show, “That kid’s hands were ruined. He showed me the scars years later – skin like melted wax.”
The incident forced ECW to ban open flames until 1997 when a safer “cold fire” chemical was introduced. Funk, ever the masochist, returned to fire spots within six months – but never trusted Ronsonol again.
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5. New Jack’s Vengeance: The Chair Shot That Shattered Chad Austin’s Leg (1996)
New Jack, with a cart filled with horrifying hardcore weapons. Photo Credit: WWE.
On April 2nd, 1996, ECW’s notorious loose cannon, New Jack, lived up to his reputation during a televised match that blurred the lines between storyline and real-life assault.
Originally scheduled to face The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards from the bWo, The Gangstas (New Jack and his partner Mustafa Saed) found themselves up against a last-minute replacement. Due to an orbital injury, Richards was substituted with Chad Austin, a wrestler whose backstage behavior had already earned New Jack’s disfavor.
Shooting Hard: New Jack’s Real-Life Grudge Match Against Chad Austin
The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustafa Saed) backstage during ECW’s mid-1990s hardcore era. Photo Credit: WWE.
Tensions brewed weeks earlier when Austin allegedly claimed ECW connections during their shared time in Smoky Mountain Wrestling—a fabrication that insulted Jack’s authenticity.
In addition, he attempted to discuss the match beforehand, which further irked Jack.
The Blue Meanie has recalled that New Jack warned him pre-match: “Stay with Saed. I’m handling Austin MY way.” What followed was a brutal, one-sided assault featuring 11 unprotected chair shots—three targeting Austin’s left leg with surgical precision.
187 Finisher Born: How Austin’s Broken Leg Changed ECW’s Hardcore Legacy
New Jack unleashes a horrific chair shot on Chat Austin during their April 1996 ECW match. Photo Credit: WWE.
After the bout, Jack unleashed five more vicious shots. The noise projected through the arena, with three extremely hard shots to the leg, breaking it. Hit between the kneecap and articular cartilage in his leg; post-match footage shows Austin clutching his leg, unable to stand.
Medical reports confirmed a tibial plateau fracture—a career-threatening injury where the knee’s articular cartilage separates from the shinbone. “I heard the crack,” Austin told The Happy Hour Podcast. “Saed looked at me and said, ‘You’d better get the **** outta here, Jack’s gonna kill you!”
Like the infamous Mass Transit incident, New Jack showed no remorse, later bragging about his actions.
Jack sarcastically thanked Austin as Jack’s desire to shoot on Austin caused him to create his famous 187 finisher.
He remarked to IGN, “The good part about this, though, was he pissed me off so bad that that’s how I came up with my finish. They call it a 187, diving off the top rope with the chair. Chad is the reason I came up with that because I wanted to do something to him that people would remember.
I needed something that I thought would kill that mother ****** with, so I dove off with the chair and smashed him in the face with the chair. That’s how I started doing that as my finish. So, thank you, Chad.”
ECW management, typically lenient with hardcore antics, quietly banned unapproved chair shots to limbs afterward. Austin never wrestled again, while New Jack’s legend grew darker—a fitting epitaph for ECW’s most dangerous era.
The True Cost of ECW’s Hardcore Legacy: Broken Bodies & Unhealed Wounds
CW’s legacy of carnage: Broken bones, severed ears, and third-degree burns. Photo Credit: WWE.
There is a laundry list of other horrific ECW injuries, but these are five so horrific that they still stand out over a quarter century later.
ECW’s reputation as wrestling’s most extreme promotion wasn’t earned through barbed wire and trash cans alone—it was cemented by moments like these, where the line between spectacle and survival blurred beyond recognition.
The cracked vertebrae, severed ears, and charred flesh detailed here weren’t just plot devices; they became irreversible turning points that reshaped careers and lives.
While these five injuries stand as grim milestones in ECW history, they also underscore a sobering truth: the "extreme" revolution demanded a toll no contract could ever cover. Decades later, the scars—both physical and emotional—serve as haunting reminders of the price paid to redefine wrestling’s boundaries.
Yes, ECW broke all the rules, as well as more than a few bones along the way.
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Griffin Kaye is a life-long pro wrestling fan and historian with a love for '80s and '90s WWF, the NWA, WCW, ECW, and AEW. His favorite wrestlers include Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, William Regal, Tito Santana, Stan Hansen, and Mr Perfect. He also writes for websites like Ring The Damn Bell!, BritWrestling.co.uk, and Lace 'Em Up among others. He can be reached on Instagram at @TheGriffinKaye.
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