Former WWE Champion Big E gave an update on his injury during his interview on Ryan Satin’s “Out of Character” podcast.
Big E said, “So for those who don’t know, I broke my C1 in two places. It’s a Jefferson fracture is what they call it. I also broke my C6. I did that in March. So the last update, I talked with Dr. Maroon, who’s a Pittsburgh-based doctor and he’s worked with the company for a very long time. Essentially the issue right now is my C1 is not completely ossifying. It’s not completely forming into bone, but it appears to be healing fibrously. So it’s kind of contained enough, and I’m not a medical expert so I’m gonna butcher all these terms, but it’s good enough that they’re not worried about me and my day to day life. They’re cool with clearing me, like, I don’t need a brace anymore. They took surgery off the table. But right now, I’d be cleared to deliver normal life, and I am cleared to live a normal life. But I’m not cleared to be taking off and hitting suicide spears and to be taking back bumps because it’s the nature of what we do is very physical. It involves your neck and your spine and I’d like to keep that as intact as possible”
“So for me right now, the next step is they want to take a look at it again after a year and get some more scans. So we’re talking about like March of next year to see how it’s doing. We might also like along the way at the six and nine month mark, look at it again.”
“But the upside is right now I have no nerve issues. There’s no tingling, no weakness. I’ve been in the gym for two weeks after breaking my neck. They told me as long as your neck is in the brace, as long as you stay in the brace, you’re good for that. So yeah, I’ve been working out. I feel great. I’m just really grateful.”
“Honestly, I feel like in many ways, it feels like a bullet whizzing by my face, like I felt the wind of the bullet go by my head, and I’m very grateful to still be here, to still have the use of my limbs, and to still feel good. So that’s really my biggest takeaway is just gratitude, like I truly am grateful that I’m still here, I’m still kicking.”
Big E said he’s not in any hurry to rush back to wrestling:
“I started wrestling when I was 23, and you know, you just think of yourself differently when you’re 23. I had injuries, so I knew my body could fall apart on me or fail me, but there’s still this kind of that feeling of invincibility to a certain extent. But now when this happens, and I’m 36, now I start thinking about what do I want my life at 40, 45, 50 to look like?”
“So I guess that’s kind of where I was at, where I was able to take a step back from the career stuff, especially knowing I don’t have to make any career decisions anytime soon. I don’t have to rush back. I can kind of just step back and think about life. That’s what I thought about more than anything is just the things that were important to me, the people who were close to me, and how I wanted to pursue life down the line.”
“When the medical staff asked me for my injury history, it was kind of a sobering moment, because I feel great, and I don’t think about it often, but then it’s like, yeah, left ACL, right ACL, left meniscus, right patella, patella tendon, left pec. Those surgeries to the herniated discs in my lower back, herniated discs in my neck, broken neck in three places. It’s like, man, I’ve done a lot of damage to my body. I put a lot of miles on my body as well.”
“You see the O.G.s and the vets sometimes, especially at big events like SummerSlam and WrestleMania and they’re around. Some of them move around great and look great. But then you see some people too are really just physically struggling and I never wanted that to be me. I never wanted to be someone who needed a walker at 50 years old. I always wanted an active life. You only get one body.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Out of Character with Ryan Satin with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
