Professional wrestlers put their bodies on the line each time they step into the squared circle. And while they have an unfathomable commitment to the craft they spent years of their lives training for, unfortunately, that doesnโt stop terrible wrestling injuries from occurring. Discover the heart-wrenching stories of 3 WWE wrestlers whose careers were tragically cut short by devastating in-ring injuries.
1. Marty Jannettyโs Finishing Move That Ended Chuck Austinโs Career

We begin with Chuck Austin, a college football standout who developed an interest in wrestling after graduating. Due to this interest, he and some friends formed a small wrestling school and put on amateur shows.
In December of 1990, three friends joined him and made their way to a WWF show in Tampa, Florida, where Chuck was hired to perform as enhancement talent for $150, despite only having around six months of experience under his belt.
The Tragic Match That Paralyzed Chuck Austin in 1990

He was placed into a tag team match with Lanny Poffo, opposite Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, AKA The Rockers.
The match progressed well enough until it neared the end. Marty Jannetty set Austin up for his finisher, The Rocker Dropper, but Austin did not take it properly.
How Marty Jannettyโs Rocker Dropper Changed Chuck Austinโs Life Forever

It was a reasonably simple bump. Austin only needed to fall and hit the floor with whatever body part he wanted, whether with the knees, elbows, arms, or even belly or chest. But rather than taking the move the way it was intended, Austin jumped forward, and his head struck the mat, paralyzing him immediately from the shoulders down, causing his fourth, fifth, and sixth vertebrae to get severely damaged.
"When I hit the mat, I knew my neck was broken and that I was paralyzed," Chuck Austin recalls.
This came at a time when injuries were not very well regulated in wrestling. If you were injured, you were expected to suck it up and carry on. There was no doctor at ringside. As such, Chuck Austin laid on the mat for upwards of twenty minutes before he was helped out of the ring.
Chuck later sued WWF and Marty Jannetty. In 1994, a jury awarded him almost $27 million, which Jannetty had to pay a million of. The company appealed the ruling and wound up settling out of court for $10 million. Chuck Austinโs wrestling injury forced them to begin using only experienced and well-trained wrestlers as jobbers.
Chuck Austin Interview: A Glimpse into Life After Tragedy

In a 1990 American Journal broadcast, Austin described that he was able to regain the use of some extremities, even being able to walk with the use of crutches. He also saw some grip strength return.
He went from being able to bench over four hundred pounds at one point in his life to needing his twelve-year-old son to spot him as he worked with thirty pounds.
Tragically, all that progress seemed to go by the wayside.
In 2015, Chuck Austin was featured in a news report about pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions, regardless of doctorโs orders.ย Austin complained of significant pain and was seen confined to a motorized wheelchair.
There was no follow-up on that piece. Like many others before and after him, Chuck’s story shows the need for proper training before entering a bout against a highly-trained wrestler. The physicality present in the business should never be underestimated.
Related:ย Marty Jannetty: His Secret, Turbulent Life After The Rockers
2. Darren Drozdovโs Career-Ending Wrestling Injury in a Match with DโLo Brown

We move on to Darren Drozdov, AKA Puke (for his ability to vomit on command), AKA Droz, also a former football player. He currently has quadriplegia due to a disastrous wrestling injury during a SmackDown taping on October 5th, 1999, at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York. His opponent was DโLo Brown.
As the best theory goes, Droz didnโt get the proper jump to aid in DโLoโs running powerbomb, while Brown himself couldnโt get aย good grip because of Drozdovโs loose shirt. This resultedย in Droz crashing to the mat inย a gruesome manner, leaving him paralyzed. It was a genuine accident.
Footage of this injuryย currently sits inside the WWE vault,ย alongside the tapeย of Owen Hartโsย fall at Over The Edge 1999. Instructions on both read: Never view, copy, or destroy.
These are the only two pieces of WWE footage with this guidance.
DโLo Brown Reflects on the Tragic Injury of Darren Drozdovโ

As Mick Foley tells it in his book Foley Is Good: And the Real World Is Faker than Wrestling, while on a stretcher, Droz made it a point to tell DโLo Brown not to blame himself.
That mustโve been a tall order.
DโLo, for his part, had this to say:
INTERVIEWER: "Do you feel comfortable talking about Darren Drozdovโs wrestling injury?"
DโLO BROWN: "Yeah, I do. Um, not one of my (pauses, a clear change happening as his mood turns blue) definitely not one of my brighter days. Probably the worst day of my life. Talking in terms of wrestling and real life. Um (pauses) just, uh, thatโs an instant downer for me."
The Last Time D’Lo Brown Spoke with Droz

When asked when the last time was that he spoke with Droz, D’Lo Brown replied:
"Probably about, um, six months ago. He and I, we were never close before the accident and, um, I donโt know how an accident can draw two people closer. And then, thereโs heat with his wife and me for some reason; I donโt know. You know, she puts a lot of blame on things. Droz and I have talked about it on several occasions. We donโt know what went wrong.
“Out of respect, we donโt watch the tape. I can clear up a few [misconceptions]. It wasnโt a fan throwing ice in the ring, throwing garbage in the ring, and I didnโt slip. It was just, and it couldโve been anybody in the ring with him that night. It just happened to be me. It happened to be my sad misfortune to be in the ring, and because of that, you know, a manโs paralyzed.”
D’Lo on the Affect Droz’s Injury Has Had on Him

D’Lo went on to describe the affect Droz’s injury has had on him.
“People ask me all the time, does that affect me? Hell yeah. If it didnโt, I wouldnโt be human. For probably about a year, I wrestled differently. I second-guessed everything I did and that, that-that was probably- I shouldโve just taken- I mean, I shouldโve taken time off. And if it hadnโt been for Jim Ross really talking to me, I was gonna quit the business. I was done.
“I was this close to saying, "The hell with it." I couldnโt- โcause no one ever got hurt on my watch. No one has since, you know? And someone is trusting me to give me their body. I want them to walk out of the ring in the same condition they came in, and thatโs one thing I prided myself on. Really, I was really close to quitting. Like I said, Jim Ross sat down with me.
“We had a long, long, probably three-hour conversation full of football references, and how we all know the risks going into the game, how it couldโve been anybody. He eventually turned me around and made me want to continue wrestling. But that accident not only affected me professionally but personally. I mean, I was a whole different person.
“You know, I almost separated from my fiancรฉ during that time. Iโm not a party guy, but all of a sudden, I was just living life like there was no tomorrow. Ass-wide open. Just gone. Because I didnโt know what to do, and that was my way of- I was depressed, and I didnโt know it. So my way of trying to get rid of my depression was to party.
“That took about a year, where I didnโt know really what was going on."
Darren Drozdov on the Day Wrestling Changed His Life Forever

In an interview with Jim Ross for Fox Sports, Darren Drozdov spoke about the accident and his thoughts regarding Brown, "I have no hard feelings toward DโLo because [it] happens and everyone who gets involved in athletics, including WWE, knows the risks that exist. It was an accident."
This perspective speaks to Drozโs incredible strength and resilience, which carried him through the years following the tragic incident. Sadly, on June 30th, 2023, Darren "Droz" Drozdov passed away at the age of 54, leaving behind a legacy of courage and perseverance. According to a statement from his family, Droz died of natural causes, bringing a somber end to a life marked by overcoming adversity.
Droz spent his final years in South Jersey, living with his sister and her family, where he required 24-hour in-home care and multiple medications daily. Despite the challenges, with the support of his medical staff and continued backing from WWE, he maintained a degree of independence, using a customized, tank-like wheelchair designed by his college friend, Under Armour founder Kevin Plank.
The tragic death of Droz brings into sharp focus the risks inherent in professional wrestling. While Chuck Austinโs story highlights the importance of proper training to prevent injuries, Droz and DโLoโs incident stirs a much scarier thought: even the most technically sound wrestlers can suffer horrible misfortune. On any given night, a performer can get injured due to an accident, a reality Droz knew all too well.
Droz shared an inspiring perspective with Jim Ross in the years following his injury: "No matter what puts you down, in my eyes and in my mind, there is always another day. Just because Iโm paralyzed and stuck in a wheelchair doesnโt mean my life is over. Iโve learned to live again, and my life is far from over."
Darren "Droz" Drozdovโs passing leaves a deep sadness and many questions about what might have been after his promising career was tragically cut short. However, he will always be remembered for his unwavering strength and ability to overcome the most daunting of circumstances.
3. Tyson Kiddโs Neck Injury: The Move That Almost Took His Life

Onto our final subject: Tyson Kidd. Born Theodore James Wilson, famously known as the last graduate of the legendary Hart Dungeon. He wrestled his first match at age fifteen in Stampede Wrestling.
A year later, he teamed up with Andrew Picarnic to take on Teddy Hart and Harry Smith in the opening match of a WWE house show. The following year, he started training directly with Bret Hart.
Kidd wrestled for Stampede, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and various European promotions before finding his way to the WWE in November of 2006. He was twenty-six years old. His girlfriend (now wife), Natalie Neidhart, was also signed. Together, they moved down to the WWE developmental territory Deep South Wrestling (DSW).
Tyson made his WWE television debut on the February 10th, 2009 episode of ECW, with Natalie by his side as Natalya, his manager.
The Rise of Tyson Kidd: Tag Team Success and NXT Main Event Glory

Throughout his tenure in WWE, Tyson Kidd saw the most success as a tag team wrestler. He won gold with David Hart Smith and Cesaro. He finally won acclaim as a singles wrestler during his time in NXT. He main-evented the first TakeOver, challenging Adrian Neville for his NXT Championship.
He went on to main event the next TakeOver as well, again challenging for Nevilleโs title, along with Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze in a highlyย acclaimedย Fatal 4-Way.
On the December 1st, 2014 episode of Monday Night Raw, Tyson began his celebrated partnership with Cesaro. They started by working as heels, calling themselves The Brass Ring Club. After winning the gold from The Usos, Kidd and Cesaro began a feud with The New Day, a face team.
How Samoa Joeโs Musclebuster Ended Tyson Kiddโs Wrestling Career

A double-turn soon took place, which was cementedย at Extreme Rules 2015.ย Cesaro and Kidd, theย Tag Team Champions,ย put on a fantastic performance, winning over the crowd,ย while New Day usedย dirtyย tacticsย toย win and steal their titles.ย The Brass Ring Clubย got a few more opportunitiesย from there but ultimately failed to regain the gold.
Misfortune struck not long after. On June 7th, 2015, WWE announced that Tyson Kidd suffered a severe wrestling injury from Samoa Joeโs Musclebuster finisher. It happened during a dark match on Raw, six days prior.
Tyson Kiddโs Fight for Survival After a Devastating Neck Injury

As described to Dave Meltzer, the odds were twenty to one that Kidd would even survive the wrestling injury. He wound upย with sixteenย staples, four screws, and a rod inserted in his neck. The closest comparable situation is Christopher Reeves, who was famously paralyzed.
In an October 4, 2016 post on Twitter, Tyson wrote, "I canโt feel my head or move my head the way I used to, but EVERY day Iโm focused on my recovery."
Tyson Kidd is a walking miracle. Not only is he alive, but heโs also not paralyzed. He may never wrestle again, but heโs here, and weโre thankful for that.
When Wrestling Dreams Turn to Nightmares: Injuries That Ended Careers

Only three stories were told here, but there are countless other wrestling injuries sustained over the years that have caused irreplaceable damage. Take, for instance, the stories of Rick Rude, Sting, Mick Foley, Vader, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar — the list of names is endless.
Each of them has had their careers and lives changed by a wrestling injury. It is an unavoidable part of the job. Some are less severe than others. While many performers have consistently recovered and returned to their craft, others havenโt had that luxury. Professional wrestling is a scarily physical world with life-shattering consequences.
These stories may also interest you:
- Joey Mercury โ The Injury That Brokedown a Promising Career
- Bret Hart and Goldberg โ The Kick That Ruined Bretโs Career
- 8 Matches that Left Wrestlers with Permanentย Scarsย
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