Bron Breakker’s nasty neck landing at a recent WWE live event has Jonathan Coachman wondering why the spot was happening in the first place. The former WWE commentator believes somebody could get heat backstage over what happened, and he pointed to LA Knight as one possibility if Knight was actually responsible for the botched spot.
Speaking on The Coach & Bro Show, Coachman reacted to footage of Breakker crashing down around his neck and upper body during WWE’s October 17 live event. Breakker was attempting his top-rope Frankensteiner on Knight when things went wrong, leading to the frightening landing.
Coachman admitted he couldn’t tell exactly what was supposed to happen. However, if Knight made the mistake that caused Breakker’s fall, he believes nearly injuring somebody WWE views as a major star is exactly the kind of thing that can create backstage heat.
“Not quite sure if he was supposed to land there or whatever was supposed to happen. Someone’s getting heat for that, and I’m guessing it’s LA Knight. That’s the kind of stuff, if indeed it was his fault and you almost hurt one of the cash cows, that’s a way to get heat. I’m not saying he has it.”
Coachman was careful not to claim Knight actually has backstage heat, since he doesn’t know who was responsible for the spot going wrong. His bigger problem was Breakker attempting the move at all during a live event.
Breakker regularly uses the Frankensteiner, but Coachman already considers it dangerous. With Breakker working late on the card and the ring potentially getting slick as the show went on, he couldn’t understand why the risk was necessary at a non-televised event.
“If you’re Breakker, and I know you do that move — that move, which I think is dangerous — and he’s doing it, he’s always on at the end of the show, and everything is slick, why are we doing that move in front of 6,000 people in Hawaii at a house show?”
Vince Russo took the conversation in a different direction and put more of the responsibility on WWE’s producers and agents. Russo argued that the mentality backstage has changed from the days when protecting important talent was treated as protecting the company’s ability to make money.
According to Russo, agents also don’t necessarily know everything wrestlers plan on doing during their matches anymore. Even when they do, he doesn’t believe most producers today approach risky spots with the same business-first mentality he remembers from previous generations.
“Number one, this isn’t the way it used to be, where the talent was in on the entire match. So there’s a lot going on in the match that the agents don’t even know about. Number two, even if the agents knew about it, nine out of ten times, agents today are not gonna say what you just said, Coach, because that’s not the way they think.”
Russo specifically brought up Vince McMahon Sr., Vince McMahon Jr. and Pat Patterson while explaining his point. In his view, Patterson would have looked at a dangerous move through the lens of what an injury to an important wrestler could cost the company.
“You gotta understand, man — when people were under Vince Sr. and Jr., everyone thought first and foremost: business, business, business. Pat Patterson thought, ‘If you do this move and you get hurt, we’re gonna lose a lot of money.’ That’s how they thought.”
Russo then made a much harsher claim about what he believes WWE’s mentality is today. He argued that the roster is deep enough that losing somebody to injury doesn’t carry the same concern because another wrestler can simply take their place.
“That’s not the mentality anymore today. If you get hurt, someone else is up — that’s the mentality today.”
Coachman wasn’t convinced Breakker necessarily gave the situation that much thought. Since the Frankensteiner is already a regular part of his matches, Coachman believes Breakker may have simply gone through his normal routine without stopping to consider whether this was the right night to attempt it.
“I think he just did the move since he does it in almost every single match he does, and he probably doesn’t think about it like that.”
That explanation only strengthened Russo’s criticism of WWE’s agents. He argued that protecting wrestlers from taking unnecessary risks is exactly why experienced producers are supposed to be there in the first place.
“But that’s what you’re supposed to have agents for. They are supposed to do the thinking for you.”
Russo also questioned whether somebody who has never been a major drawing wrestler is really qualified to tell top talent how to structure matches. He said that being a producer used to require experience at a high level because agents were expected to understand not only wrestling, but how to protect matches and wrestlers that made money.
“That’s why, Coach, everyone used to say, in order to be an agent, you had to be a top guy. In order to be an agent, you had to be someone who could sell tickets, because whatever matches you are agenting, you want them to be able to sell tickets.”
For Russo, that’s where the problem comes back to the people overseeing the match rather than simply Breakker himself. He questioned how someone can be considered an expert at laying out matches without ever having experience as a proven draw.
“Well, if you never sold tickets and you’re supposed to be the expert when laying out the match, what kind of expert were you if you never sold tickets? It’s the truth!”
Breakker was able to finish the October 17 match after the scary landing, but WWE has not confirmed that he suffered an injury from the spot. Coachman’s suggestion about Knight potentially getting heat and Russo’s claims about WWE’s current producer mentality are also their opinions rather than confirmed reports about what’s happening backstage.
Still, both men came away from the footage questioning how such a risky situation happened at a house show in the first place. Coachman sees the possibility of somebody taking blame for nearly hurting one of WWE’s biggest young stars, while Russo thinks the incident exposes a much bigger problem with how wrestlers are being protected.
What do you think about Jonathan Coachman and Vince Russo questioning why Bron Breakker was taking that kind of risk at a WWE live event? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
