10 Times WWE Wrestlers Faked An Injury On-Screen
David Craig Wrestling often leads to injuries for those involved, mainly because of how dangerous the sport is. Because of that, the WWE Universe has become conditioned to the fact that a WWE Superstar could end up injured at any point.
Therefore when a wrestler comes out and says they're injured, or starts acting that way in the ring, fans immediately react. However, because WWE knows that the fans will react in a certain way, the company has utilized this for storyline purposes.
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Having a wrestle fake an injury to enhance a storyline has been done many times and it always gets the desired response. Catching the fans on a hook, they're instantly emotionally invested in whatever is happening.
10 Triple H
There's a reason they call Triple H the cerebral assassin. The Game knows exactly what he is doing in order to get one over his enemies, and during a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin he used a fake injury to achieve his goal.
Austin had locked him inside a room with an actual Rattlesnake, which led to fans wondering what had taken place. Triple H made the most of the situation, appearing later with a severely swollen face.
However, this just turned out to be prosthetics and makeup as he ended up nailing Austin when he had let his guard down thinking that Triple H was leaving.
9 Seth Rollins
You would think considering Triple H's experience in pretending to be injured that he wouldn't be caught out on the other end of this situation. However, when Seth Rollins popped up with his crutches before WrestleMania 33, the Game wasn't wise enough.
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Rollins had been out of action with a legitimate injury that had cost him months of his career. Fans weren't sure when Rollins would be back and when he did return he came with a crutch and a knee brace.
It left people worried that he wasn't fit enough to wrestle yet. However, as he dropped his crutch, it was clear that wasn't an issue. Rollins then hit the ring to attack Triple H, setting up their WrestleMania match.
8 Randy Orton
The Viper is the most recent example of someone faking an injury, as he did this on Monday Night Raw very recently. WWE incorporated a live event match into this situation though, which was sneaky and also smart.
Orton was helped to the back during a live event the day before Raw and reports began to surface that he might have been seriously injured. Therefore when he got to the ring on crutches telling everyone that was the case, the fans bought into it.
However, this was all just a ploy to get one over on his rival, AJ Styles. As soon as he came to the ring many people worked out what was happening, as Orton caught Styles with an RKO.
7 Randy Orton X2
Fans really should have seen Randy Orton's lie coming recently on Monday Night Raw because the Viper has a history of this behavior. Orton has previously lied about injuries, with the first occurrence happening in 2005.
During his feud with The Undertaker, Orton did everything in his power to get one over on the Deadman. During one segment, he came to the ring and announced that he was actually having to retire due to injuries.
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Instead, Orton slyly had his father dress as a druid to distract The Undertaker, allowing him to attack.
6 Alexa Bliss
While coming to the ring and giving a promo about 'retiring' is something that we have seen several times, Alexa Bliss' 'injury,' however, was a totally unique way of tricking the fans that hadn't been seen before.
This moment took place at the Great Balls Of Fire PPV, where she was competing against Sasha Banks. During the match, Banks attacked Bliss' arm and she then went off into the corner with her arm bent backwards.
It seemed like she had broken it, and the fans were originally concerned. However, it turns out she was double-jointed and it was all just a way to deceive Banks to try to get an advantage.
5 Batista
The Animal, Batista performed an excellent fake injury moment during his career, and it was one that had everyone fooled. The person it fooled the most though, was Randy Orton, who believed he had ended Batista's career.
Batista was in the ring with a huge cast on his arm that meant most fans felt he was seriously hurt. Orton hit the ring and tried to rub salt in the wound, but it just led to Batista laughing.
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The reason it was so funny to him is that he knew he wasn't actually injured. Batista took the cast off and destroyed Orton in order to prove just how healthy he was.
4 Eddie Guerrero
Is it really a surprise that Eddie Guerrero had pretended to be injured in his career? The man who made lying and cheating famous in the wrestling world faked an injury at WrestleMania 20 against Kurt Angle.
Doing so within the match, Eddie had been favoring his ankle, which Kurt Angle began attacking. This led to Guerrero taking off his boot, making things seem even more serious.
However, as Eddie started to take off his boot, it allowed him to take advantage. Eddie rolled up Angle, using the ropes as well. After the match, he revealed that his ankle had been fine throughout.
3 Bret Hart
While Eddie Guerrero might seem like an obvious person to lie and cheat about an injury, Bret Hart does not. However, his hatred for Vince McMahon overcame him and that led to him faking an injury.
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The Hitman was injured when a car collided with his leg, which led to Vince McMahon accepting their WrestleMania match, thinking he was hurt.
While Bret played up the injury for a little while, he ended up revealing his leg was fine all along. Simply using this as a way to get Vince to agree to fight him at WrestleMania.
2 Stone Cold Steve Austin
Bret Hart wasn't the first man to get the best over Vince McMahon with a fake injury in his career. During his long rivalry with Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Texas Rattlesnake was able to utilize this technique to his advantage.
During their famous steel cage match, Austin made the most of a fake injury. After falling from the outside of the cell, Austin pretended that he had tweaked his knee and started limping.
This led to Vince McMahon heading out of the cage to attack him, thinking that he had seriously been hurt. Of course, that wasn't the case though and Austin finally got his hands on his boss.
1 Shawn Michaels
Faking an injury during a match is often a heel move to do, which is why when a babyface is injured the fans believe it. That's why Shawn Michaels' fake knee injury against Batista was so convincing.
With Chris Jericho as the special guest referee, all three men were engaged in a feud after HBK had retired Ric Flair. The animosity between them was intense, but Michaels went down with a knee injury towards the end of the match that felt real.
However, this was all fake and it suckered Batista in to get hit with Sweet Chin Music. Jericho also fell for it, as he had pushed Batista away from Michaels because of the injury, which then set up a major feud between them as well.
NEXT: Shawn Michaels' 10 Best Royal Rumble Performances, Ranked