Many wrestlers have suffered neck injuries in the ring, but for Lita, a stunt gone wrong on a popular TV show nearly left her paralyzed.
There is no question that anything neck related is the worst type of injury in the world of wrestling. One wrong move can easily damage someone’s spinal cord and lead to paralysis. Many WWE the wrestlers have had to retire early due to their neck problems. Some come back, but it depends on the extent of your injury and how your recovery is going. Many have made successful returns after years of retirement, but at the same time, others have not. One such star who returned to the ring after a neck injury was Lita. Fans may not even remember that she was out for over a year due to this injury, which she sustained on the set of a TV show.
Lita was injured while practicing a hurricanrana on the set of ‘Dark Angel’
In 2002, Lita did an acting job in a television series called Dark Angel. She was playing the role of Thula. During the season finale, she had to perform the hurricanrana for a scene. Lita was rehearsing this move with Jessica Alba’s stunt double. She wanted to do it in steps. The first thing Lita asked her was for her not to buckle up when she made the move, but the double did exactly that and Lita landed on her neck.
At Stone Cold’s Broken Skull SessionsLita said that right after landing, she felt shock waves in all of her appendages and felt like she had just died. She couldn’t move her body at all, but the stunt team didn’t realize the severity of her injury. She was told that she must have had a “sting” and asked her to take a break. They all ignored her for the next few minutes and chatted about her life. They then asked Lita if she could get up, but she couldn’t and they asked for their help to get to a sitting position. Lita first thought that she must have broken her clavicle. The team told her that she would “go over the stunts for the rest of the day.” All these minutes, she Lita was avoiding the truth. She said: “I wanted to be okay, but she wasn’t.”
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin helped Lita after her injury
Lita went to several doctors because her neck was not improving despite taking several doses of Medrol Dosepak. After taking an X-ray, she discovered that she had suffered three cracks in her neck. Ella lita had to do a fan signing for her fans that day, and when she returned to the hospital she was told that she would need immediate surgery to repair her injury. She was not allowed to move much because she had floating bones in her neck and she was in danger of becoming paralyzed if she sneezed or coughed.
As the surgeon told her about the surgery, all Lita could think about was how Dean Malenko also had the same injury and couldn’t fight again because of it. She started crying there, and the first person she called out to was Stone Cold himself. That’s because Austin also suffered a terrible neck injury a few years back, but he kept fighting. Austin then flew with her to San Antonio to Dr. Youngblood, who had performed surgery on her neck.
Lita returned to a WWE ring over a year later
Lita underwent surgery and missed over a year and a half of in-ring action before finally returning to the ring in 2005. During this time, she spent most of her time in animal shelters as a volunteer, becoming It became a full time job. to her. A few months later, she returned to WWE as a color commentator on Sunday night heat, but this turned out to be a horrible experience for her as she just had to sit there and talk about her fellow wrestlers but couldn’t wrestle. Lita initially thought that she would be ready to return to the WWE ring in about a year, but then she felt that she was not ready and asked for a few more months to fully recover.
She returned to team with Trish Stratus against Gail Kim and Molly Holly. She continued wrestling for a few years and then retired afterward. Survivor series 2006, where she lost her Women’s Championship to Mickie James. Since then, Lita has made several in-ring returns to WWE. The last game of hers happened in elimination Chamber 2022, But he hasn’t ruled out another comeback.