In June 2015, a taping of WWE Superstars went tragically wrong as a Muscle Buster by Samoa Joe would result in Tyson Kidd suffering a serious neck injury. Nearly a decade later, Kidd has never returned to the ring, a sign of just how dangerous even a practiced move can be.
On the Insight podcast, Joe reflected on the moment in question. Calling the spot the “largest regret in my career,” Joe recalled realizing that something had gone horribly wrong after he saw the reaction of Kidd’s tag-team partner.
“The only thing that even hinted that there’s something wrong is when Cesaro looked back up at me. I know when Cesaro is concerned and then I was like, ‘Oh my God, I hope everything is okay.'”
It makes Joe “sick to this day” that Tyson Kidd is no longer wrestling and he praised the Canadian as an “amazing human being” with a great mind for the business. Despite having used the move countless times before with no issue, this one mistake left Joe ready to retire the Muscle Buster.
“I didn’t want to [continue using it]… I didn’t want to replay the car crash in front of somebody. So I did my best to distance myself from it.”
Joe wouldn’t embrace the Muscle Buster again until his return to WWE NXT where he would become the first-ever three-time NXT Champion. As for Kidd, he has become a highly-respected WWE producer who recently come close to a return to the ring.
Joe and Kidd’s situation reflects the inherent dangers every wrestler, no matter where they compete, put themselves in when they wrestle. For Joe, all it took was a move he’d done countless times without issue to end a career, a fact Joe lives with every single day.
