WWE: Star suffers concussion on live TV

Wrestling star Enzo Amore suffered a concussion on live TV during WWE Payback last night.

The crowd favourite was injured during a No 1 Contenders Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship after being hurled through the ropes by Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillains. His face and left arm caught on the bottom rope as he slid over the apron and the back of his head slammed into the mat.

Amore dropped to the floor and lay motionless under the skirt of the ring. The match was immediately called to a halt by the referee while fight partner Colin ‘Big Cass’ Cassady looked on anxiously as Amore was treated at ringside.

Although he appeared to respond well to the attending medics, Amore was put into a neck brace before being escorted away on a stretcher.

The 29-year-old was taken to a local hospital in Chicago where he underwent a full examination. Two hours after his unscheduled exit from the Allstate Arena, the WWE confirmed via its official Twitter account that the star had been “diagnosed with concussion, all other test have come back negative”.

It comes at the end of a week in which the WWE has returned to the courts in the latest chapter of a long-running legal battle over the effects of concussion. A group of former WWE stars is demanding some financial compensation for ill health allegedly brought on by suffering repeated concussions over the years.

It was also announced that the brain of former WWE Intercontinental Champion Joanie “Chyna” Laurer is going to be sent to a concussion specialist after her sudden death at the age of 46 at her Chicago home.

Although the coroner is investigating her death as a possible drugs overdose, her manager and close friend Anthony Azaldo said an expert analysis would help discover “what made Chyna tick”.