Big Show spoke with ESPN about his long, painful road back to the ring.
It turns out that he had 5 surgeries as a result of his issues with his hip that first saw a doctor put titanium cap on his ball joint and a titanium receptacle on the pelvis.
Then, he had a surgical infection, which is a low percentage occurrence. He underwent another surgery to clean it up, which saw a PICC line that connected through his arm to his heart to pump his body full of antibiotics, 3 times a day for 6 weeks.
“But the problem with an infection is that once it gets on the metal, you kind of have to take the metal out and start over. The infection is so smart now that it literally hides from antibiotics,” Show said. “I’ve learned more about infections and antibiotics and physical therapy than I ever, ever wanted to know.”
He believes that he may not have required 5 surgeries if it weren’t for an error in judgment. The reason for that mindset is due to him having the worry that a full hip replacement would have hurt his ability to wrestle.
“I was angry I had to have the surgery done, and I felt like my career was getting pulled away from me. It wasn’t on my terms,” he said, admitting that a full replacement from the start would’ve been the right way to go.
“Everything happens for a reason. It tested me. It tested my faith. It tested my commitment to myself as an athlete and a performer to push myself,” Show said. “[Last] Monday night was the culmination for two years of headaches. Two years of stress. Two years of doubt, and other people having doubt about whether I could be competitive again.”
