GIVEMESPORT lists ten WWE Superstars who, against all the odds, returned from career-threatening injuries after Randy Orton’s comeback

Randy Orton, despite there being fears that he’d never be able to wrestle again, returned to WWE at Survivor Series 2023, wrestling in his first match since being sidelined with a serious back injury in May of last year.

The risk of suffering severe injury in the unpredictable world of professional wrestling is very real. While the number one rule in wrestling is to always protect your opponent, sometimes, accidents and mishaps can happen that cause a wrestler serious, potentially career-threatening injuries. In the WWE right now, popular stars such as Big E and Bobby Roode are on the shelf with neck injuries and their in-ring futures are in question.

Over the years, many wrestlers have seen their injuries mount and become unbearable, resulting in them no longer being fit to wrestle. Sometimes, however, wrestlers are able to work hard and somehow overcome these career-ending injuries and make a return to the ring, so after Orton’s comeback GIVEMESPORT has taken some time to list some of these debilitating, career-threatening injuries sustained by some of the biggest names in wrestling history, and the historic comebacks by these superstars that took place afterward against all odds.

10.Edge

Image Credits: WWE

Adam Copeland is currently in the middle of one of the most successful comebacks in professional wrestling history. Back in 2002, Edge suffered what turned out to be a career-threatening injury in the form of a broken neck. After taking a frog splash from Eddie Guerrero while lying on a ladder, Edge stated that his body went numb, but he wasn’t aware of how serious his injury was at the time and continued to work.

Ultimately, it was later revealed that Edge’s injury was in fact a broken neck, and he underwent life-altering surgery which sidelined him for over a year. During this time, it was unclear whether Edge was going to be forced into retirement. Against all odds, Edge did indeed make a comeback to the ring and went on to have a legendary career until his neck injury caught up with him again some years later in 2011.

Edge announced that he was being forced into retirement due to severe spinal stenosis and that if he continued to wrestle, he was at risk of becoming paralyzed or even dying in the ring. That would be all she wrote on Edge’s iconic career until a shock return at the WWE Royal Rumble in 2020. Prior to his return, Edge was vocal that following advancements in surgery and stem cell treatments over the years, he was confident that he could potentially get cleared to return to the ring.

Edge returned to WWE at the Royal Rumble in 2020 in one of the most emotional moments in quite some time. It seemed like the Hall of Famer would never be able to wrestle again, but there he was, sharing the ring with the likes of Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre,

Today, Copeland is a major part of AEW and appears to be in the best shape of his entire career. Copeland left WWE and signed a multi-year deal to wrestle on a full-time basis, once again defying the odds and returning to full-time active in-ring competition for the first time since his career-ending injuries.

9.Daniel Bryan

Image credits: AEW

The WWE Universe rejoiced when it was announced that revered independent darling, Bryan Danielson had signed with the WWE. Making a name for himself in professional wrestling since the late 1990s, Danielson was regarded at the time of his signing as one of the best professional wrestlers on the planet, a sentiment that still echoes to this day.

However, Danielson, who is renowned for his hard-hitting, independent wrestling style, would also go on to suffer the consequences of working such a high impact style. His most prominent WWE run lasted from 2010 until 2016, in which Danielson, known in WWE as Daniel Bryan, had become a much-loved fan favorite and one of the most popular wrestlers on the entire planet.

Bryan went on to suffer a neck injury that almost cost him his career. Following surgery, Bryan had still not regained feeling in his arms, but ultimately recovered. His return was only a precursor to a more serious pressing issue that was about to arise: concussion-related injuries. Following the extensive research into concussion injuries and the risk of CTE following the Chris Benoit tragedy, Bryan’s extensive list of concussions had caught up with him, and in 2016, he was forced to retire.

Daniel Bryan, true to his character, was not someone to go down without a fight, however, and he spent the next two years seeking the best medical advice in the world and eventually, by some form of miracle, managed to get himself cleared for an in-ring return in 2018.

Bryan went on to have an incredible return run before leaving WWE in 2021, despite the company wanting to stay. Bryan has since spread his wings and competed all over the independent circuit and in Japan, and today, is a major, well-respected player in AEW, both in the ring and backstage.

8.”Stone Cold” Steve Austin

Image Source: WWE

Arguably one of the most successful and recognizable professional wrestlers of all time, Stone Cold Steve Austin went on to define one of the most well-known eras in WWE history, the “Attitude Era”. Austin, who made his wrestling debut in 1989, achieved his first brush with success in WCW in the early 1990s, but was let go by the company as Eric Bischoff had no plans for him, and did not see his potential as a main eventer.

Austin was given a platform and a degree of freedom in ECW after leaving WCW, something which he still credits Paul Heyman for to this day. During his ECW stint, Austin evolved into the character that the WWE Universe knows and loves, and he finally made the jump to WWE in 1995. By 1996, he was on the fast-track path to success, quickly becoming one of WWE’s stars to watch, and in a short space of time, he was WWE’s biggest draw.

Disaster would strike for Austin in 1997, however. During a match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997, Austin would be dropped on his head following a botched piledriver from Hart, in which Austin became temporarily paralyzed. Austin had already suffered from neck problems in the past during his short career thus far, and this looked to be all she wrote on Austin’s career. Not wanting to take time off in the middle of his massive push, Austin only took a few weeks off from competition.

This, of course, only caused Austin’s neck injury to worsen, and he was ultimately forced into what looked to be an early retirement following much-needed neck surgery at the tail-end of 1999. Austin defied all the odds and made a comeback to WWE and had one final run with the company that came to an end in 2003. Austin ultimately decided to walk away from his career after the extensive list of neck injuries had caught up with him. Shockingly, Austin wasn’t even 40-years-old when he eventually hung up his boots.\

Austin then decided he wanted to step back into the ring again, and in 2022, decided to come back to WWE for a WrestleMania 38 main event in his homestate of Texas against Kevin Owens. The door also appears to be open for Stone Cold, if the offer is right, to wrestle again very soon.

7.Sting

Sting has been blessed with a long and fruitful career. A 15-time World Champion, a global icon and regarded as one of the most influential wrestlers of all time, Sting somehow managed to avoid any major, career-threatening injuries for the vast majority of his legendary career.

Sting was regarded for the longest time as the biggest name in wrestling history to never work for the WWE. Sting would spend the vast majority of his career in WCW until the company was purchased by Vince McMahon in 2001. Sting decided at the time not to jump to WWE and sat out the rest of his WCW contract. He returned to wrestling part-time during a world tour with World Wrestling Allstars, in which he reconnected with Jeff Jarrett.

Jarrett was making moves creating his own company, which eventually became known as TNA Wrestling. Sting decided to join TNA on a part-time basis, before once again getting the bug for wrestling. He went on to become one of TNA’s biggest stars and remained with the company all the way until 2014.

Sting then made the shock jump to WWE for the first time in his career and he was booked as a special attraction main eventer, not dissimilar to the likes of Goldberg. Disaster struck for Sting during a match against Seth Rollins at “Night of Champions 2015” when Sting took a buckle bomb from Rollins, only to suffer a serious neck injury that forced him into retirement. The injury also caused the wrestling legend to experience temporary paralysis.

Unhappy with how his career ended, Sting spent the next few years getting himself healthy, and eventually joined AEW in 2020 and made a surprising in-ring comeback. Sting recently announced his retirement and is set to finally end his illustrious career on his own terms in early 2024.

6.Triple H

Image Credits: WWE

Triple H has seen his entire WWE career plagued by serious injuries. Despite this, he managed to become one of WWE’s biggest Superstars of all time, becoming World Champion on 14 occasions and becoming part of history in some of the greatest feuds and WrestleMania matches in the entire history of the wrestling industry.

Triple H’s worst career-threatening injury happened on an episode of Raw in the Summer of 2001 in which he would tear his left quadriceps with such severity that the muscle was no longer present on the bone. The timing of HHH’s injury was rough for WWE, as he was set to become a major part of “The Invasion” storyline which would see the superstars of WWE take on the invading forces of WCW and ECW.

Triple H was out of action for almost a year, missing out on WWE’s most important storyline in a generation. At the time, many thought that this would be the end of Triple H’s monumental push to the very top of WWE as The Invasion angle had bought with it a fresh generation of talent that were quickly clawing their way to the main event. The likes of Edge, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy were all seeing amazing popularity surges that would inevitably see them rise to the main event.

Triple H defied the odds, however, and returned to a roaring ovation almost a year later and, as history now documents, this would become the most successful run of his entire career. Triple H would become WWE’s biggest star, an undeniably worthy multiple-time World Champion, and he would even help launch the careers of WWE legends Randy Orton and Batista alongside Ric Flair as the iconic “Evolution” faction. As far as comebacks from career-threatening injuries go, Triple H’s has to be up there with the best of them.

5.Scott Steiner

By 1999, “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner was one of the biggest names in World Championship Wrestling and well on the fast track to the main event. While 1999 was indeed a massive year for Scott Steiner’s career, behind the scenes, Steiner was dealing with an array of nagging injuries. The most serious of these was bulging discs in his back that ultimately required career-altering surgery.

For a man of the size and stature of Scott Steiner, back surgery was always a risky option, but Steiner went ahead with the surgery. Sadly, this also resulted in him needing multiple other surgeries to fix issues that arose from the first one. This took Steiner away from the extremely physical, hard-hitting matches that he was known for putting on for quite some time, and even put his entire career at risk.

Eric Bischoff has gone on the record to state that at the time, he wasn’t aware that Steiner’s back issues were as serious as they turned out to be, and admitted to being naive at the time to the similar injuries that were plaguing his talent. Bischoff has been accused of rushing Steiner back to television and inadvertently furthering the injuries, but has remained adamant that Scott, being a workhorse, was always on board with plans and didn’t want to take any time off in the middle of his massive push.

Despite this, WCW still went ahead with Steiner’s push and even used his multiple back surgeries for a kayfabe retirement at the end of 1999, which later turned out to be a heel turn storyline. Steiner went on to suffer from similar back issues during his time in WWE, which many believed hindered his push, as he was originally bought in as a main eventer, but could not work at a main event level due to his injuries. Steiner eventually managed to get fixed and had a lengthy, successful career in TNA, and still competes occasionally on the independent circuit to this day.

4.Kurt Angle

Image Credits: WWE

Kurt Angle has broken his neck five times. That’s not really a record that anyone should really be proud of, but Angle made his entire Hall of Fame career work against the odds. Angle’s first broken neck famously happened during the 1996 Olympic Games. Angle, unaware of the severity of his injury, carried on with the Olympics, and went on to win a gold medal in freestyle heavyweight wrestling.

In what should have been a career ending injury there and then, Angle defied the odds and joined up with the WWE, making his official, fully contracted debut at the 1999 Survivor Series. Angle went on to have a meteoric rise to the top, quickly becoming one of WWE’s biggest stars, and arguably the most successful person to transition from amateur to professional wrestling in history.

However, Angle’s WWE career was plagued by further neck injuries. In 2003, Angle suffered what looked to be another career-ending injury, and wanted to end his career on a high note. He worked a match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX with a broken neck, and put on the performance of a lifetime. Angle would once again defy the odds and return to the ring.

Angle sadly developed a dependency on painkillers to deal with the agony of his injuries, but has since cleaned up his act. Angle went on to continue his in-ring career, putting on some of the greatest matches of all time for TNA Wrestling, until he finally retired in 2019. Today, Angle still deals with the repercussions of working hurt, and recently went on the record to state that he no longer has much strength in his upper body, suffers from numbness and tingling and also suffers from muscular atrophy in his arms.

3.Shawn Michaels

Image credit: IG

Shawn Michaels went from a tag-team wrestler to one of the most popular performers in WWE history seemingly in the blink of an eye. An absolute work horse, Michaels was naturally gifted with all the traits needed to become a wrestling icon, from flawless in-ring skills, unquestionable charisma and the good looks needed to succeed as a cocky, arrogant heel.

Michaels became one of WWE’s top stars and had the world in the palm of his hand throughout the 1990s, until a career-ending accident took place during a match with The Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumble. Michaels took an awkward fall that ended up shattering discs in his back, effectively ending not only his massive push, but also his career.

Michaels took an absence from mainstream wrestling, and it was presumed that his in-ring career was over, at least on a full-time basis, as Michaels did wrestle a few matches here and there during his hiatus from WWE. Michaels, however, shocked the world when he returned to the WWE for the short-lived nWo angle, but then stuck around for what at the time looked to be a passing of the torch feud against his former D-Generation X running buddy, Triple H.

It was later revealed that Michaels had been cleared to return to full-time in-ring action, and he went on to have a lengthy run and eventually write a storybook ending to what had already been a wonderful career. Michaels put on some of the greatest matches in WWE history during his comeback run until he ultimately retired on his own terms back in 2010 following a masterpiece of a match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI. Today, Michaels is the head of WWE’s developmental territory, NXT, and shares his wisdom with the WWE superstars of tomorrow.

2.Christian

Much like Daniel Brian, Christian, for the longest time in his career, was known for a high-impact wrestling style. Years of toil and bumps from iconic matches such as the “Tables, Ladders and Chairs” matches would inevitably cost Christian his career in light of the Chris Benoit tragedy, raising awareness about the overall severity of CTE and concussion-related injuries.

Christian spent the majority of his WWE run as a tag-team wrestler alongside Edge, but did have a respectable singles run in the WWE a number of times during his career. Most of Christian’s singles success, however, happened after he first departed the WWE and joined TNA Wrestling in 2005. It was here that Christian was first given the freedom to grow and evolve his character in ways WWE never allowed him to, and it paid off ten-fold, as when he did later return to WWE, he became World Champion.

Christian, however, has suffered a number of concussions during his career, and this ultimately cost him his livelihood back in 2014. Concussion symptoms eventually caught up with him, and he could no longer get cleared to compete, and he quietly retired from in-ring competition that same year.

Much like Edge and Daniel Bryan, however, Christian was not one to sit on his laurels and instead spent years seeking the best medical treatments possible, and this was enough for Christian to get cleared to resume his career on a full-time basis in 2021. Since his surprising comeback, Christian Cage has been giving some of his best career work to date in All Elite Wrestling and, as of this writing, is arguably one of the best heels in the business right now.

1.Hulk Hogan

Image credits: WWE

Hulk Hogan has been opening up about his countless career-threatening injuries he sustained throughout his illustrious career since retiring from the ring. The biggest issues for Hogan were back injuries. A man of Hogan’s size and stature working the schedule he was always known for working, and wrestling as often as he did, combined with a spine-shattering leg drop as his finishing maneuver, it was only natural that Hogan’s body could only take so much.

Hogan has gone on the record to state that he has needed 28 surgeries to fix an array of injuries accrued during his impressive in-ring career, including knee surgery, hip replacements and 11 back surgeries. Hogan underwent a number of knee surgeries during the late 1990s while still being booked as the World Champion, but at the time, it was still unclear if Hogan was on his way out.

It was after the demise of WCW in 2001 that Hogan’s career was truly up in the air. Hogan had departed WCW in 2000 and his in-ring career looked to be all but officially over. It was during his hiatus from wrestling in this period of time that Hogan began to address the injuries he had accrued over the years. Longing to get back in the ring for one more big run, Hogan underwent another knee surgery that was mildly successful, long enough for him to make a return to WWE in 2002.

By 2003, however, Hogan’s knee was banged up again, and he was written off television after a successful run. In 2004, he underwent a full hip replacement and, only a year later, a full knee replacement. Once again overcoming the odds, Hogan went on to make an in-ring return to WWE, where he was used as a special attraction, having matches against the likes of Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton in this comeback run that wouldn’t have been possible at all without such massive, potentially career-ending surgeries.