Kurt Angle Recounts 'Bad Scenario' After Breaking WWE Star's Arm

As the popular saying goes: "This is professional wrestling, not ballet." Which can be translated to: "Injuries aren't a matter of 'if' but 'when.'" But one WWE superstar had an unfortunate knack for getting injured by up-and-comers during the height of his career. Bob "Hardcore" Holly was scheduled to face WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle on a 2000 episode of "WWE SmackDown," but an ill-timed moonsault ended up breaking Holly's arm and caused a panic. Angle has stated in the past that he took over the match from that point, but Holly says that wasn't exactly the case and it played out a bit differently.

Kurt confirmed that he indeed started "freaking out" as soon as he discovered Bob had a legitimately broken arm. As they tried to communicate and decide where to take the match next, both men were talking over each other frantically. "We were trying to both communicate, so we were both speaking and I was trying to – I thought he should leave the match because he was injured," Kurt said on the latest "The Kurt Angle Show." "And he wanted to leave the match because he had a broken arm and he was limited. So, I should have just listened to him but instead, we were both talking."

Living up to his reputation of being tough as nails, Holly didn't want to take the match to an early finish. "Yeah, Bob wanted to keep going. He's crazy. Me, if I broke my arm like that, I'd be like, 'I'm done.'"

Holly and Angle ended up finishing the match with some slight variations to the planned finish. After in the hospital, Bob was taken to, Angle recalled running into the doctor that took x-rays of Holly's arm. "He's like, 'Come here, look at this.' I look and it was Bob Holly's arm, and both bones were broken, completely broken all the way. So I come into the hospital room, and Bob was going, 'Hey, I don't think it's that bad.' I said, 'Bob, it's broken. I'm sorry, man, but you have a compound fracture. This thing, it's barely hanging on your arm."

Naturally, discovering that he would be off the road indefinitely wasn't news Holly wanted to hear. Angle remembers seeing him deflate as if "he had just lost everything in the world."

Angle gained a sort of reputation after the fact for being somewhat reckless inside the ring – an image he spent his career trying to alter. "This was a careless spot that I didn't practice – I never practiced doing a moonsault. I never figured where the person should be laying when I land on because I never landed on them before."

As mentioned, this wouldn't be the only significant injury that would plague Holly's career. On the September 10, 2002, episode of "WWE SmackDown," a botched powerbomb delivered by Brock Lesnar left Holly with a broken neck that shelved him until November 2003. "Bob Holly, he should have a better career and he should blame myself and Brock Lesnar because we both injured him at the highest points in his career," Angle acknowledged.