Independent MASADA has suffered significant burns to his face and body after accidentally setting himself on fire.
The 41-year-old wrestler was trying to perform a stunt where he would blow a fireball at his opponent but things went badly wrong as he ended up engulfed in the flames.
The match, which was a no holds barred affair with weapons encouraged, took place at XPW Wrestling’s King of the Deathmatch tournament in Pomona, California – stylistically a world away from – and footage has made its way online.
MASADA grabbed a flaming torch before pouring a substance in his mouth and trying to blow the liquid – and by extension the fire – at his opponent.
However, something went wrong and the flames instead went over his entire upper body, engulfing his chest, shoulders and face for several agonising seconds.
The blaze was put out and MASADA actually ended up finishing the match, although he was immediately rushed to hospital.
He was diagnosed with first and second degree burns all over his body, and he is still in the burn unit while he recovers from his injuries.
‘My face is healing up fast, just the rest is going to take a while,’ he told , explaining that while he has attempted the ‘spot’ before, he thinks the environment might have worked against him on this occasion.
‘I’ve done that spot a lot when I wrestled in Japan,’ he said. ‘But it was rushed and I think being outside had something to do with it.’
While the wrestler is set to miss a fair bit of time while he recovers, he has no intention of retiring in the near future.
While professional wrestling combines elements of live theatre, sports and entertainment, even the simplest of moves carry a very real risk with even the biggest and best in WWE suffering injuries on the grandest stage.
Just this week, NXT Women’s Champion and had to be taken backstage, although she returned to finish – and win – the title match.
