If Christian Cage did not act on instinct, Maven could have had his final WWE match then and there.
The Tough Enough winner has recounted the time he broke his leg during a match with the AEW star on an episode of SmackDown in 2002. Reacting to the match on his YouTube channel, Maven pinpointed a baseball slide gone wrong as the moment when he knew he would be out for some time:
“There it is. That makes me cringe. The move is called a baseball slide. I played baseball for the better part of 17 years of my life. The fact that I broke my leg on a baseball side is God proving that he has a sense of humour. At this point, my leg, I knew it was broken. On a baseball slide you are supposed to jump and put your lead leg out. It’s called a baseball slide but you are not supposed to slide on your legs. My boot gets caught on the canvas and immediately I break my ankle and my fibula.”
Continuing to watch the match back, the former Hardcore Champion described how an audible had to be called so he could alert referee Teddy Long that his leg was broken:
“I threw Christian out right there, that wasn’t the called spot. He immediately knew when I threw him out just to follow. Christian is a professional, he knows what is happening in the ring. I am alerting the ref, Hey I’m hurt, my leg is broken. My leg was pretty much snapped in two spots at this point.”
Maven resumed the match by diving to the outside but overshot, resulting in him falling out of the ring headfirst. If Christian Cage was not positioned correctly, things could have been much worse:
“He saved my life there. Thanks, Christian. I was going down on my head. If he doesn’t catch me there, that’s not a good day for me.”
For better or for worse, wrestlers always pride themselves on finishing a match when injured wherever possible. Ending the recap of the match, the former Hardcore Champion revealed what Vince McMahon said when he heard the news:
“When Vince found out that I broke my leg, someone said, Vince, Maven broke his leg during the match. And Vince’s reaction was, Did he finish? I am very happy to this day to say the answer was, Yeah he did. I don’t know what would have happened if I wouldn’t have finished.”
More often than not, wrestlers have been injured after executing more basic manoeuvres. This was seen in 2016 when Neville [PAC in AEW] also broke his ankle after performing a similar move to Maven in his match against Chris Jericho.
Maven would be out of action for 6 months, returning to Raw in November 2002.
Christian Cage Set For TNT Title Defence On AEW Collision
Now one of the most hated heels on the AEW roster, Cage is arguably doing some of the best work of the year as seen with his brutal promos on Jack Perry and Nick Wayne. Following a successful defence of the TNT Championship at WrestleDream, Christian Cage is scheduled to face Bryan Danielson with the title on the line on October 14th.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit Maven’s YouTube channel and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.