5 Recent WWE botches that looked painful
WWE is no stranger when it comes to botches. After all, wrestling is a complicated art form. It requires athleticism, coordination, storytelling, teamwork, showmanship and timing. These things don't always align perfectly.
When everything does come together, though? It's magical. But when it doesn't, painful accidents can occur. If one Superstar is a millisecond off in executing a planned move, it can result in a botch that badly hurts someone.
Unfortunately, these things happen in pro wrestling all the time, even in the controlled environment of WWE. In this list, we'll take a look at five recent WWE botches that looked especially painful.
#5. Kofi Kingston finally misses at Royal Rumble 2022
Kofi Kingston tempted fate for the longest time at the Royal Rumble event. Every year, the beloved Superstar made sure he was one of the main topics of discussion in the historic match. How did he do that? By creatively avoiding elimination, of course!
However, all good things must come to an end, and that's exactly what happened at Royal Rumble 2022.
In an effort to top his previous spots, Kingston cooked up one in which Kevin Owens pushed him off the ring apron and he flew onto the barricade. With cat-like agility, he caught himself and even kept his feet from touching the ground!
Only...that's not what happened. Instead, Kofi botched it, hurting himself and getting eliminated from the match in the process.
Speaking to The Week in Geek Radio, Kingston admitted:
“It was definitely a risky move. I knew that I was going to be in pain no matter what, whether I hit it or not. Unfortunately, I got the pain and didn’t get the benefit of actually doing what I wanted to do. The ribs are doing okay. My toe is actually in a lot of pain, which is really weird. I didn’t expect to come down with such velocity from that height."
#4. Madcap Moss gets dropped on his head at Elimination Chamber 2022
For exclusive use of Sportskeeda Wrestling! https://t.co/rCDJGnrTrV
This botch was super scary, and it's one that rising WWE Superstar Madcap Moss was legitimately lucky to walk away from.
In the middle of his bout with Drew McIntyre at Elimination Chamber 2022, Moss took a reverse Alabama Slam from the giant Scotsman. Unfortunately, he over-rotated and landed right on his head in the middle of the ring. It looked like a neck-breaking accident, but he was miraculously unhurt.
Speaking with the In The Kliq YouTube channel, McIntyre was honest about how close a call it was. The Scottish Warrior admitted:
“The move didn’t go the way it’s supposed to go. I was aware of that, but I did not realize how bad it was. The fact that you know, he was okay. I did double-check that. I could see it in his eyes, he was good. He was double-checking to make sure he could finish the match and after the fact, the necessary precautions were taken, and thankfully now he’s all good. That’s the thing about this job, all it takes is one second and everything can, everything can change."
#3. Randy Orton takes a rough Frog Splash from Montez Ford on WWE Raw
11/10 FROG SPLASH!
@MontezFordWWE #WWERaw https://t.co/3K2uchrJbu
On the March 1, 2022 edition of Monday Night Raw, the Street Profits were battling RK-Bro in a tag team main event. Montez Ford executed one of his patented super-high Frog Splashes to pick up the win, pinning Randy Orton in the process.
Everyone in the arena and watching at home could tell something wasn't quite right, though. Ford landed hard on Orton and the former multi-time WWE champion didn't move much afterward. He also seemed to favor his right shoulder in the aftermath.
Fightful Select soon reported that the end of the match had to be changed because of this, and they confirmed Orton was hurt by the painful botch. Their report stated:
“We’re told that Orton and Riddle were originally slated to win the match with a series of RKOs, but because of Orton’s condition at the time, it didn’t happen. As we mentioned on the post show review last night, initial indications were that it was just a stinger or a tweak, but WWE plans on monitoring the situation as a lot can change overnight. Since then, we’ve heard it was a bit of a combo of Orton getting the wind knocked out of him, his ribs crushed, and not being able to move."
Thankfully, Orton wasn't seriously injured and there were no recriminations aimed at Ford.
#2. Ridge Holland takes a boot right in the face from Ricochet
This is where Ridge Holland likely broke his nose, and looking at the impact of Ricochet’s kick, it’s hard to think this isn’t legitimate. #WWEDay1 https://t.co/ijQUReM40V
Ridge Holland started his New Year in the worst way possible when he suffered a broken nose at the WWE Day 1 event.
During a tag match pitting Holland and Sheamus against Cesaro and Ricochet, the babyfaces executed a double team 450 splash on Holland. Their positioning was slightly off, though, and Ricochet's foot came smashing down full force on Holland's nose.
The British grappler needed surgery to repair his nose, but thankfully didn't carry any ill will about the incident. On an episode of El Brunch de WWE a few weeks later, he said:
"I feel good. I took a bit of a knock thanks to Ricochet but, the surgery was very good, the nose is fixed. I’m just waiting for it to heal fully now so, we’re good. We’re good."
#1. Jacy Jayne walks away from a scary suicide dive on NXT
she walked out thank god! #wwenxt
Let’s hope Jacy Jayne is ok ❤️ she walked out thank god! #wwenxt https://t.co/tXA55jiVkc
In late October 2021, Toxic Attraction member Jacy Jayne took on Persia Pirotta and Io Shirai in a Triple Threat match on NXT. At one point, Jayne attempted a suicide dive to the outside, but it went horribly wrong. Her feet got caught up in the ropes and she plummeted headfirst to the ground.
During the commercial break, Jayne was seen to by WWE medical staff before being helped to the back. Wrestling Observer Live later revealed she was taken for a CT scan to make sure there was no concussion, and the scan came back clear.
Jayne then tweeted less than a week later:
“It’s time to break the silence… Nothing can keep me down. Nothing can stop me. [wilted flower emoji] [sparkles emoji] Toxic Attraction is coming for the gold. & Toxic Attraction is TAKING the gold! @WWENXT."
Phew!