Depending on how you look at it, NWA's Starrcade event back in 1986 either delivered one of the most gruesome or hilarious moments in the history of professional wrestling.
During The Road Warriors' Skywalkers Match against The Midnight Express, Animal and Hawk (who wrestled the match with a broken leg) were able to defeat their adversaries by knocking off Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey to the ring below.
Following the match, Paul Ellering (who was serving as The Road Warriors manager at the time) chased Midnight Express manager Jim Cornette up the scaffold.Cornette then was put in a spot where he actually fell off of the scaffold after hanging on to the bottom of it. He was supposed to be caught by Big Bubba Rodgers, however, Rodgers was in the wrong place and was nowhere near catching Cornette.
As a result, Cornette suffered a nasty knee injury that required him to be helped out of the ring and backstage. You can check it out in the video below:
Road Warrior Animal recently spoke to Hannibal TV about the incident, and he called it one of the 'funniest' moments in wrestling (quotes via Wrestling Inc.):
"One of the funniest moments in wrestling! You got to understand the story man, it's funny as hell. God rest his soul too, Boss Man, right? Boss Man and Hawk were like this (crosses fingers), they road together - and I say that in a sense cause those guys rode with the smokers.
"They loved to get high. So they got high the night before the Scaffold match. Boss Man got high as a kite. Nobody could tell because he had sunglasses on. So I'm holding on to Cornette, and I give Cornette props, he's afraid of heights. Definitely afraid, he doesn't fly.
"He drives everywhere or takes a train. He holds onto the Scaffold and I say 'Jimmy you got it?' He says 'Yeah, I got it.'
"I told Boss Man, I yell down and go 'Hey, you ready?' I'm thinking 'How is Boss Man going to catch Cornette?' If he does catch him, Cornette is like a 250-pound sack of crap, he's going to kill him.
"Then I tell Boss Man 'You ready?' I said 'Okay,' and I said 'Go!' Boss Man standing like this, and he's three feet off and misses Cornette. Cornette falls and hits - both knees went 'POP!' like a big two-by-four, you hear them both go.
"He blew out both knees in that one deal. He was screaming! And Hawk and I are belly laughing on the Scaffold. He's lying in pain, but it was so funny, you had to see Bubba standing there like this, and then staring like this watching Cornette hit.
"You had to be there and be involved in the match because it was so funny. We laughed our butts off at that."
What are your thoughts on Cornette's nasty fall from the '80s? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the third episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here!
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