Half-tonne fighting bulls have skewered or trampled all three matadors at Madrid's Las Ventas bullring, forcing the spectacle to be cancelled.
For the first time in 35 years, the San Isidro festival, which opens the bull-fighting season in Spain, had to be suspended on Tuesday because all the matadors had been injured.
"In the 68-year history of San Isidro, two bullfights have been suspended for gorings of matadors, both in 1979," said a statement issued by the Las Ventas bullring.
The first bull on the program, a black, 532-kilogram animal named Deslio, knocked over matador David Mora during a pass.
Mora tumbled to the sand beneath his cloak but the bull immediately returned to its prey, head down, ramming its horn deep into his leg and tossing him over repeatedly.
Mora suffered two gorings including a 30-centimetre gash in the thigh and another in the armpit, a medical report from the bullring said.
The second matador, Antonio Nazare, appeared before the shocked audience to finish off the animal with the sword.
Nazare then faced his own opponent, however, a 537-kilogram brown bull named Feten. The animal dragged the matador along the sand, injuring his knee and forcing him to seek treatment in the bullring hospital, the medical report showed.
Finally, the third matador, Saul Jimenez Fortes, entered the ring to fight the same bull.
The animal skewered him in the right leg and the pelvis, leaving three 10-centimetre deep injuries, the bullring doctor said.
Fortes managed to kill the beast.
In a Spanish bullfight, three matadors spar with a total of six bulls - two each - before putting the animals to the sword.
Bullfighting has been on the decline for years in Spain, with a 2010 survey in El Pais showing 60 per cent of respondents opposed the practice.
