Mark Cuban has built a reputation on taking care of business. 17 years ago, though, he learned that doing business in a WWE ring came with a few unexpected consequences.
During a new interview with “Build or Break,” the famous entrepreneur recalled his past experiences under the WWE banner, one of which involved him being launched through a table by the number one contender to the WWE Championship, Sheamus. This particular move left Cuban hurting for weeks afterward.
“They were like, ‘Okay, Sheamus has never hit the canvas. We know your rules. You get to put him down so he hits the canvas. But, on the flip side, he’s going to put you through a table,’” Cuban recalled. And I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s going to look cool on video forever.’ It was a real table. They told me, ‘He’s gonna put you right in the center of the table, it’ll just crack in half. But keep your head down, because if your head is up when you hit, you’ll break your neck.’ I’m like, ‘My head will be down.’”
“He puts me through…and we broke the table,” he continued. “I did my whole pretend I’m dead thing and got out of the ring. I was sore for two weeks. My back hurt so bad. Those guys deserve so much respect. It may be orchestrated, but it’s still athletic and it’s still painful.”
Cuban’s plunge through the table aired on the Dec. 7, 2009 episode of WWE Raw, which came just days before the company’s TLC pay-per-view. Cuban managed to shove Sheamus to mat in the midst of a stare-off. The enraged “Celtic Warrior” then reacted in kind, however, and sent the businessman crashing into the long board of wood in the nearby corner.
Years before, Cuban found himself on the receiving end of an RKO from Randy Orton at WWE’s 2003 Survivor Series event. When they later crossed paths again on Raw in 2009, Cuban secured his revenge by making a fast-count as the special guest referee for Orton’s match against Kofi Kingston.
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