History Main / GameBreakingInjury

** Wrestling/ShawnMichaels injured his back after landing spine first on a casket during a match with Wrestling/TheUndertaker at the 1998 Wrestling/RoyalRumble. After dropping the WWF title to Wrestling/SteveAustin at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XIV'' he wouldn't return to the ring until ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' 2002 against Wrestling/TripleH. That match was intended to be a one-off, but it went so well that Michaels returned full time, and would remain active until losing his "Streak vs. Career" match against Undertaker at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXVI''. Unlike the two following examples Michaels never announced his retirement, and some (notably Wrestling/JimCornette) dispute exactly how game breaking Shawn's injury actually was.[[note]]Cornette believes Michaels was more or less faking the whole thing, but Vince went along with it because this way Shawn wasn't around to cause trouble in the locker room, but was still under contract and couldn't jump to WCW. [[ArchEnemy Cornette absolutely hates Shawn Michaels]], so this isn't exactly an unbiased opinion[[/note]]

** Wrestling/ShawnMichaels injured his back after landing spine first on a casket during a match with Wrestling/TheUndertaker at the 1998 Wrestling/RoyalRumble. After dropping the WWF title to Wrestling/SteveAustin at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania XIV'' he wouldn't return to the ring until ''Wrestling/SummerSlam'' 2002 against Wrestling/TripleH. That match was intended to be a one-off, but it went so well that Michaels returned full time, and would remain active until losing his "Streak vs. Career" match against Undertaker at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXVI''. Unlike the two following examples Michaels never announced his retirement, and some (notably Wrestling/JimCornette) dispute exactly how game breaking Shawn's injury actually was.[[note]]Cornette believes Michaels was more or less faking the whole thing, but Vince went along with it because this way Shawn wasn't around to cause trouble in the locker room, but was still under contract and couldn't jump to WCW. [[ArchEnemy Cornette absolutely hates Shawn Michaels]], so this isn't exactly an unbiased opinion[[/note]].

* Both Wrestling/{{Droz}} and Wrestling/{{Hayabusa}} were paralysed in the ring due to botched moves. Hayabusa eventually regained the use of his lower body (albeit needing a cane to walk), but Droz only regained the use of his upper body and arms. Hayabusa passed away in 2016.

* In week 16 of the 2022-23 NFL season, the game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals had Bills safety Damar Hamlin suddenly suffer a cardiac arrest after making a tackle, and was immediately hospitalized, forcing the NFL to declare the game a "no-contest", something which hasn't happened in modern NFL history.

** Zoro recently suffered a major Game-Breaking Injury from [[BearsAreBadNews Bartholomew Kuma]], and in each of the two or three major encounters since the injuries have slowed him down considerably.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop: TheMovie'' early on has Spike fighting the BigBad Vincent in a train. Spike is an impeccably flawless fighter but gets beaten quite badly by Vincent's equally skilled but much stronger style. Spike takes several brutal blows but continues fighting until Vincent hits him with a particularly bloody blow, at which point the fight is over: it continues for another minute or so, but it's a CurbStompBattle.
** The climax has Spike taking a gunshot wound to the stomach right before his second fight with Vincent. For the most part, he doesn't feel it until his opponent grabs at it, which ''immediately'' cripples Spike, and makes the fight very one-sided, [[spoiler: especially once Spike starts getting affected by the nanovirus, with the implication that he's dying]].
** In the series proper, in ''Ballad of Fallen Angels'', Spike effortlessly takes out most of the goons in the church on his way to fight Vicious. The last mook, however, nails Spike with a gutshot, which forces his back to the wall, gasping in pain. [[{{Determinator}} For five seconds]]. And then he runs to fight Vicious.
** The same happens in the series finale, as when Spike is StormingTheCastle, he is shot in the arm, which puts it out of action. Barely slows him down though.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has an extremely bizarre relationship with this trope through the main character Touma. It seems if an ally deals a crushing blow to him, he'll be unable to continue fighting and will fall, but if an enemy is fighting him, he can lose a whole arm and be bleeding out and still move and talk like absolutely nothing is wrong. The animation indicates he's suffering from his injuries, but he never shows any fatigue or damage from blows that would naturally kill a person until '''after''' he wins.

* ''Anime/MyHeroAcademia:''

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' once had his [[ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} back broken by]] ComicBook/{{Bane}} putting him out of action for quite a while. In fact, the Game-Breaking Injury was Bane's entire plan to get Batman to the point where he could give him that broken back. He deliberately got all the other villains in Gotham causing chaos in a very short period of time, thereby ensuring that Batman wasn't running at anything close to 100%.

* In ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'', [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus]] ends up having her back lacerated by a [[EliteMooks Kryptohusk's]] eye beams, which cause enough nerve damage that it permanently paralyzes her.

* In Big Fish Games' point-and-click adaptation of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', original protagonist Literature/HerculePoirot sprains his ankle early on. Therefore, it falls upon you, [[AmateurSleuth Antoinette Marceau]], to uncover [[EverybodyDidIt the big twist]]. [[spoiler:And [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated the other big twist]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', Connor suffers a Game-Breaking Injury with the final battle with Charles Lee. [[spoiler: He chases him into a burning ship that was under construction and gets a piece of wood impaled through his stomach. Said injury disables him from even running for the rest of the game and even in the after game, his animation shows he's still injured.]]
** In the same game, our hidden-blade-equipped player characters from the period get into a fight. One receives a stab wound through his wrist and ends up being forced into fighting with just a sword. He's still formidable, but when both combatants are stunned by a nearby cannon blast and end up grappling with each other, he is forced to use both hands to try and strangle his opponent and is thus vulnerable to a throat stab. [[spoiler: And that's how Connor killed his father Haytham.]]
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' did a similar trick with Ezio being shot at the beginning of the game removing any chance of free-running forcing him into following the tutorial's linear path. He quickly gets patched up but doesn't regain his full climbing ability until late in the game and only after buying climbing equipment indicating he never fully recovered.
* The popular FightingGame ''[[VideoGame/DefJamSeries Def Jam: Fight for New York]]'' managed to integrate this strategy into their gameplay mechanics. Characters who specialized in the ''submission'' fighting style were able to target their opponents' limbs, and their overall durability was represented by a separate life meter. If the opposing player used a weakened limb to punch or kick, then the damage would '''greatly''' be reduced. These mechanics are likewise carried over into the ''Kurohyō'' spin-offs of the ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' series, developed by the same company responsible for ''Def Jam''.
** When [[spoiler:Crow stabs you in the back after you storm his joint]], you start the battle off with half health.

* This is OlderThanPrint. In Myth/KingArthur legends, this is how Sir Gawain of Orkney dies. He had an old head wound that was nearly fatally reopened in a fight with Sir Lancelot. Lancelot refused to fight him while he was wounded and sent him to his tent to recover. Ironically, he was nearly healed when news that Mordred had taken over Camelot came. He insisted on going to war with his king but had his head wound reopened AGAIN in a small skirmish with a bunch of untrained peasants on his way to a ship. He died minutes after the fight was over.

* Bill Buckner was actually off the field for much of the sixth game of the 1986 world series, because of his severely injured knees. Manager John [=McNamara=] reportedly sent him out because he thought Buckner deserved to be on the field for the Sox series win... [[NeverLiveItDown/{{Baseball}} Whoops]].

** Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, expected to possibly challenge for medals on vault and floor, tore her ACL (again) in training. It would be another four years (and yet ''another'' ACL tear) before Andrade finally saw major success at the World or Olympic level, when she won silver in the all-around and gold on vault in the Tokyo Olympics.

** Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, expected to possibly challenge for medals on vault and floor, tore her ACL in training.

Not to be confused with a GameBreakingBug, which refers to broken game code, or a GameBreaker, which usually has the opposite effect on those who possess one. Also not to be confused with InjuredPlayerCharacterLevel, which can be seen as a gameplay version of this trope that's usually only temporary.

Not to be confused with a GameBreakingBug, which refers to broken game code, or a GameBreaker, which usually has the opposite effect on those who possess one.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhCapsuleMonsters'', after being mauled by Flower Wolves, nearly suffocated in ice, and losing his Summoned Skull, Yugi's grandpa is in rough shape by episode 5.

* In ''Manhua/BowlingKing'', this happened to main character Shautieh Ley literally every time he played for most of the series; In his game with Edgar, he had contracted a fever and was running on several days without sleep. In his match with Jen Ni, his elbow was broken by some of Jen's thugs before the game. In the qualifying game for the God's Hand Cup, he accidentally drank some milk before the game and, being lactose intolerant, well... In the semifinals, he had twisted his ankle falling down some stairs. With the exception of the first one, he won every time.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', this is how Jonathan Joestar met his end. Dio managed to pierce Jonathan's throat, mortally wounding him and preventing him from using his Ripple, which relies on breath control. Jonathan is still able to pull off one last Ripple. It was so weak that it couldn't even fully destroy a single zombie, but it was enough.

** This also ultimately [[spoiler: ends Kenshin career as a swordsman at the end of the series. As Kenshin's fragile build can't fully withstand the pressures of his sword style which Megumi notes over time he won't be able to do anything major like he did in the past. Though Kenshin's fine with this as he wishes to settle down with Karou anyway]].
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop: TheMovie'' early on has Spike fighting the BigBad Vincent in a train. Spike is an impeccably flawless fighter, but gets beaten quite badly by Vincent's equally skilled but much stronger style. Spike takes several brutal blows but continues fighting until Vincent hits him with a particularly bloody blow, at which point the fight is over: it continues for another minute or so, but it's a CurbStompBattle.

** In the series proper, in ''Ballad of Fallen Angels'', Spike effortlessly takes out most of the goons in the church on his way to fight Vicious. The last mook, however, nails Spike with a gut shot, which forces his back to the wall, gasping in pain. [[{{Determinator}} For five seconds]]. And then he runs to fight Vicious.

* Utterly hilarious variation from ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}''. Yukine's gang prepares for a showdown with a rival group, and Nagisa suggest having a snack- [[LethalChef her mother's]] bread with [[VisualNovel/{{Kanon}} a certain infamous jam]]. The gang is instantly KO'ed, leaving Tomoya to fight solo.

** Also, Gaara delivered a major one to Rock Lee, not only shattering his left arm and leg, but ''pieces of the bones were embedded in his spinal column.'' If not for Tsunade, he would have lost his ninja career, his life's dream, and probably his spirit.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Gibbs calls upon his mentor Mike Franks to help with a case. While at Gibbs' house, Mike hears a noise, goes to investigate, and ends up [[spoiler: confronting the Port-to-Port Killer. Mike manages to shoot him in the leg but dies in the street after being stabbed with a scalpel. Gibbs later discovers that Franks was dying of lung cancer, and had only weeks to live]]. This is actually a ''double'' Game-Breaking Injury, since Franks [[spoiler: lost his trigger finger in a gunfight]] not long before this, which is why [[spoiler: the Port-to-Port Killer survived [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight bringing a knife to a gunfight]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', the Game Breaking Injury is death. When you get revived in the Nexus, it brings you back as a ghost that has only half the maximum health your physical self has. This is unavoidable in the tutorial since this is how you get bound to the Nexus in the first place.

** In ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', Nate wakes up at the start of the game InMediasRes with a bad gunshot wound that causes him to significantly struggle with climbing and, once you return to this point in the story and clear a fight, unable to do much more than walk after Nate's adrenaline wears off. Punching in the next Chapter will cause him to recoil in pain, he can't run and climbing it out of the question. Nate's back to normal by the time he starts the next level, though. As for how he got it, he was shot in the flank by [[spoiler: Harry Flynn]] shortly before Nate crashes the train he started the game in.

* In ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'', Sigrun gets a troll bite on her arm in Chapter 9, which doesn't really get to heal properly between getting dragged into fights and her own neglect of it when she is not in a fight. In Chapter 12, she decides to stop wearing her sling and use the arm normally despite it still disturbing her. During the massive attack in Chapter 13, a troll going for the tank containing the group's two non-immune members escapes her because her arm acts up enough to make her lose her grip on her knife, which in turns distracts her long enough to get swatted by the tail of another troll.

* Kirk Gibson was hurt in the NLCS in the 1988 season, and as a result, didn't start game one of the World Series. The Dodgers held him up out of the starting lineup, but in a surprising move, they called him to pinch hit against Dennis Eckersley with the game on the line. Gibson worked the count to 3-2 before getting the backdoor slider from Eckersley. Gibson's swing was visibly hampered, as he was mainly using his upper body to avoid straining his legs. But he managed to hit a walkoff homerun in his lone plate appearance that won the Dodgers Game 1 and set the tone for the rest of the series.

* During the 1970 NBA finals, Willis Reed played in game 7 with a torn hamstring, an injury which would plague him for years and lead to an early end to his career.

** Davey Allison's 1992 season as a whole counts as this, as at various points in the season, he had rib injuries, concussions, bruised lungs, contusions, broken arm, broken wrist, broken collar bone, etc. and nearly won the title that season.

* Figure skater Evgeni Plushenko was forced to withdrew only minutes before performing short program at the 2014 Winter Olympics because he aggravated his chronic spinal injury, in which the steel bolts implanted in his spine from the recent surgery ''snapped'' because of a botched-up jump in the warmup.

* In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Ash's Pidgeotto takes a hit from a Rattata in her wing joint that dislodges it, forcing her to sit out of the battle at the Pewter Gym.

* Kirk Gibson was hurt in the NLCS in the 1988 season, and as a result, didn't start game one of the World Series. The Dodgers held him up of the starting lineup, but in a surprising move, they called him to pinch hit against Dennis Eckersley with the game on the line. Gibson worked the count to 3-2 before getting the backdoor slider from Eckersley. Gibson's swing was visibly hampered, as he was mainly using his upper body to avoid straining his legs. But he managed to hit a walkoff homerun that won the Dodgers Game 1 and set the tone for the rest of the series.

A Game-Breaking Injury like this develops from damage a character had taken on in an earlier encounter, whether it be from an everyday accident or received while fighting off a few EliteMooks. The opponent will probably notice the character's weakened state and use this opportunity to turn the tide of battle. [[CombatPragmatist If they really want to ensure victory]], then the opponent will take every chance to aggravate the injury even more by relentlessly attacking it.

* ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' also has several characters falling prey to them: Wakabayashi, Misaki (''twice''), Tsubasa (also twice), Wakashimazu, Dieter M?r, Tomeya Akai, the Tachibana twins, Ishizaki, etc. And like in the Tenipuri case, there are players experts into ''causing'' those wounds: Hyuga (though he stops doing so soon), Soda, Stefan Levin...