Few people really know what it’s like to be a WWE Superstar. Each night, they put their bodies on the line to entertain audiences around the world. It takes toughness, both mental and physical, to prepare for and endure competing in the ring against some of the most brutal, sadistic and strongest athletes in the world.

Watch Superstars' toughest matches



To dive a little deeper into what makes these incredible competitors tick, we asked 10 of WWE’s top Superstars to reflect on their careers and tell us their single toughest match. Some interpreted that to mean the toll a physical bout took on their bodies; others recalled grueling contests that drained them mentally. Read on to discover these brutal matches, presented by Hulu, and learn what was going through these Superstars’ minds as they endured them.

Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler — World Heavyweight Championship Match: No Way Out 2012

Dolph Ziggler attempts to the steal the show and the World Heavyweight Championship in a hard-hitting match against Sheamus.

“In New Jersey, it was supposed to be Sheamus and [Alberto] Del Rio for the World Title, but Del Rio got concussed and I was a last-minute replacement. Keep in mind, I was a bad guy who lost all the time. Going into a match with Sheamus is going to hurt no matter what. Going into a match where you think the entire crowd in New York is going to be cheering the bad guy and booing the good guy, I was getting ready for the fight of my life.

“The crowd was unbelievable. They were into everything. It went back and forth and they were sucked in every step of the way. My favorite part of that entire thing was I asked Vickie Guerrero to give me a little kiss before the bell rang. I turned around, and here came that kick we saw take out Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds, and I ducked out and rolled underneath. The crowd went crazy and I thought, ‘What a great start to this match.’ We beat the crap out of each other. We had 20 minutes to tear the place down, and damn it, we did it.” — DOLPH ZIGGLER

Watch Ziggler and Sheamus beat each other up on WWE Network

Triple H vs. Kane — Steel Cage Match: Raw, Feb. 1, 1999

Triple H meets Kane inside a Steel Cage in the main event of Raw. With the odds stacked against The Game, how can Triple H escape the cage?

“Probably the toughest match I ever had to endure was a Steel Cage Match against Triple H on Monday Night Raw. It was in Tucson, Ariz., in 1999, before X-Pac and I had teamed together. He was still part of DX at that point. Towards the end of the match, X-Pac slammed the cage door into my head. When he did, I got a very severe cut and was knocked out. I was able to finish the match, but in all my years I’ve done this, that was the hardest I’ve ever been hit. I was bleeding pretty heavily, but I was wearing the red suit and the red mask, so no one could see. Just getting through that was tough. Luckily, the match didn’t go on for too much longer, but it was really difficult, because I was basically just going on instinct at that point. I didn’t finish well, but the match was good, surprisingly.

“We’ve redesigned the cage since, but there was a jagged latch on the cage door that stuck out, and that’s actually what hit me. It was a defective piece of equipment, but we didn’t realize it. And now they’re designed completely differently where there’s nothing like that on the door anymore.” — KANE

Watch Triple H bloody a masked Kane in an Attitude Era war

The Undertaker vs. JBL — WWE Championship Last Ride Match: No Mercy 2004

The Undertaker battles JBL in a Last Ride Match for the WWE Championship. Find out who survives this brutal encounter.

“I had a Last Ride Match against The Undertaker at No Mercy 2004 in the Meadowlands. I wrestled The Undertaker tons of times, but that’s probably the most physical match we’d ever had, and probably the most physical match I had in my career. I had two black eyes, tons of stitches.

“I had two friends that I’d given tickets to, and they were right behind the announce desk. During the match, Undertaker picked me up on one announce desk and chokeslammed me through the other. There’s a photo of them raising their arms with huge smiles on their faces as I’m descending about 10 feet onto this announce table. Even my two friends I brought to the match and gave them free tickets were rooting for The Undertaker.

“To me, Undertaker is the consummate pro, and we wrestled each other literally somewhere between 100 and 200 times in my career. He never had an off night. He always came ready with his A-game. There was never a time he went out there and phoned it in. It made you want to be better, being out there with him.” — JBL

Watch The Undertaker and JBL pull out all the stops on WWE Network

Team Hell No & Ryback vs. The Shield — TLC Match: WWE TLC 2012

The Shield make their WWE match debut against Ryback, Daniel Bryan & Kane in a TLC Match.

“My first-ever match in WWE was The Shield’s first-ever match in WWE, which was a Six-Man TLC Match in Brooklyn. To debut on that stage with a sold-out, raucous house, live on a pay-per-view in a TLC Match, nobody else’s debut match will be that much of a trial by fire as The Shield’s debut match was.

“TLC Matches are difficult to prepare for, because there are so many elements to take into consideration, so much stuff that can go wrong. There are a lot of guys to worry about. You gotta know where your partners are. You gotta worry about your opponents. And you’re trying not to get hurt, but you know you’re going to have to take some risks.

“Once you get out there in front of the crowd, all of your jitters go away. As soon as you make the first contact, especially with steel, it’s like getting through that first hit in a football game. You get through that first snap and you’re in a fight and you’re in the game. Then it’s fun. You don’t want the bell to ring. You don’t want the match to end. It’s a great place to be when you’re out there. It’s getting yourself in the right space of mind, and getting your game plan and strategy together is the hard part. I don’t wake up until I’m punched in the face.” — DEAN AMBROSE

Watch The Shield's in-ring debut on WWE Network

Paige vs. Emma — NXT Women’s Championship Match: NXT ArRIVAL

Paige defends her NXT Women's Title against her longtime rival Emma.

“Emma is such an incredible competitor, and we’ve known each other for so many years. We have really similar backgrounds. We both started at 13, both traveled the world together, and both did all this crazy stuff at such at a young age. Being in the first NXT pay-per-view and making history together, we just wanted to go all-in. We went absolutely wild.

“We did a double-suplex, and women don’t usually do that nowadays. It’s not such a big deal, but to us it was, because the crowd went crazy. At that point, we were both tired and had goosebumps. We knew, ‘Wow, this is it.’ That feeling after the double-suplex was the best feeling in the world. They were all chanting, ‘This is awesome!’ Who gets that nowadays? All the women down there are absolutely incredible, but we’ll see when they come up here.” — PAIGE

Watch NXT's first live special on WWE Network

Seth Rollins vs. Austin Aries — ROH World Championship Match: ROH Final Battle 2009

“My toughest match ever was a match that went to a 60-minute draw with Austin Aries in New York City, which is notoriously a very difficult crowd. Wrestling for an hour after two-and-a-half hours of other matches that tore the house down was very challenging, especially for me. It was early on in my career, and I really wanted to make a name for myself at that point.

“I’d never done an hour before. That was crazy to me. The prospect of having to wrestle for 60 minutes was daunting. I was probably 23 or 24 years old, and just trying to survive most of the time in front of that crowd. Mentally, it was the toughest one I’ve ever had. It was a learning experience more than anything. I was able to look back on it and take a lot from it, even though it wasn’t my best effort. I’ve had longer matches since then, so if I had went out there now and had that task in front of me, I’d feel much more prepared for it.” — SETH ROLLINS

MORE: How one independent wrestling organization impacted WWE

The Rock vs. John Cena: WrestleMania XXVIII

John Cena and The Rock prepare to square off in their "Once in a Lifetime" match at WrestleMania 28.

“The Rock in Miami, just because it took a year to make, plus it was his home turf. It took a year; I don’t think anybody’s ever known their opponent a year in advance.” — JOHN CENA

Watch the Once in a Lifetime encounter on WWE Network

Goldust vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper — Hollywood Backlot Brawl: WrestleMania XII; The Brotherhood vs. The Shield: WWE Battleground 2013

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Goldust use everything from dumpsters to moving cars as they tangle in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl at WrestleMania 12 on March 31, 1996.

“The toughest I’ve had is the Hollywood Backlot Brawl with Roddy Piper. Hands down, without a doubt, it was the most strenuous, physical fight in which both of us ended up in the hospital afterwards. It wasn’t in a wrestling ring — it was a real fight. When your adrenaline’s going, you don’t feel it as much, but as soon as those cameras stop rolling, it sinks in, and you realize what kind of damage you’ve caused. I broke his hand, I had a major concussion. They took good care of us, and we went to the hospital, but we did some stuff in that Backlot Brawl before we ever got to the arena that hurt like crazy. It skyrocketed my career and I’ll never forget it.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust fight for their careers in an epic tag team encounter from Battleground.

“Right up there with the Backlot Brawl as a close second, if not a tie, would be me and Cody [Rhodes] vs. The Shield at Battleground. We let it all hang out, man. There wasn’t anything in that match that didn’t hurt. The Shield was hot, and I was champing at the bit to try to get another good spot back here in WWE. All of us put our bodies on the line. It was tough. I was very sore, and it took about two weeks to recoup from that match. It takes everybody in that ring to make some magic, and Goldust was back better than ever.” — GOLDUST

Watch the Rhodes' brothers emotional bout on WWE Network | Watch Goldust's melee with Roddy Piper on WWE Network

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match: Survivor Series 2002

Relive some of the most intense moments from the very first Elimination Chamber Match.

“The night before the Elimination Chamber I got zero sleep. My palms were sweaty all day just thinking about what I was going to injure going into that situation. It’s one of those matches where it’s not if you’re going to get hurt, but when you’re going to get hurt. So much steel comes into play in a match like that, you have to suck it up and hopefully come back in one piece. I don’t think any man can match up to the structure of the Elimination Chamber.

“I’d been in Steel Cage Matches before, but nothing compares to the structure. Not only is it a cage, but you have steel grates, very sharp edges. Just to fall a certain way, you might need an elbow replacement. There’s no way you can prepare for it. You just have to say to yourself, ‘Weather it as long as you possibly can.’ It could be a history-making night or a career-ending night. When I came out of it, I was just glad it was over with.” — BOOKER T

Watch the very first Elimination Chamber Match on WWE Network

Daniel Bryan vs. Takeshi Morishima — ROH World Championship Match: ROH Manhattan Mayhem II

“The toughest match I had was against a Japanese wrestler called Takeshi Morishima in 2007. We were in New York City and I detached my retina five minutes into the match. I wrestled for another 12 or 13 minutes without being able to see out of my left eye. It’s one of those things that’s just scary if it’s never happened to you before. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?’ Not only that, but your balance is off a little bit, and your perception is off. That was the toughest.” — DANIEL BRYAN

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