Freak Injury Friday: Susie Spirit

Was watching some ancient Simpsons when I saw Homer watching a video called “Football’s Greatest Injuries” and wondered, “Why hasn’t anybody ever tried to make a wrestling column out of that?”  How about we all find out the answer together?

We kick things off with what was perhaps the most horrific Diva injury of all time, and possibly the most celebrated.

Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW) was a national cutural juggernaunt in the 80’s, a gritty low-budget, exploitative, decidedly non-PC all-ladies wrestling show that might be considered the ECW of its time.  It would take an entire documentary to talk about the impact GLOW had on wrestling, so if you’re so inclined I suggest that you watch this one.

By far the most famous match in GLOW history was this tag team match between Susie Spirit and Debbie Debutante va Meena and Mika, aka The Headhunters.  The following match contains some very graphic footage;  parental discretion is advised.

The injury in question occurs at around the 3:15 mark.  Spirit attempts to do a Sunset Flip on Mika, when things go horribly, horribly wrong.  In fact, they go so wrong that GLOW shows this same footage again and again and again, from as many different angles as possible for many months to come.

Far from killing the promotion, this injury seemed to make GLOW and its clumsy wrestlers even more popular.  Sadly, like ECW, management blunders ultimately led to the demise of GLOW at the height of its popularity…yet somehow, David Mclane is never thought of in the same vein as Paul Heyman.

P.S. Susie Spirit would go on to recover, but as The Headhunters were no longer with the company upon her return, they had to create a new one to allow Susie to get her revenge.