Eric Bischoff does not think Chelsea Green’s broken orbital bone should put her anywhere near the injury prone bracket, and says the two things have almost nothing to do with each other.
Green broke the bone around her right eye on the August 7 SmackDown, five days after winning the Interim WWE Women’s Championship in a ladder match at SummerSlam. She has given no timetable for a return.
Asked on 83 Weeks whether WWE might start to see her as fragile, Bischoff rejected the framing before addressing it.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, and I really don’t know anybody in WWE that are making decisions. So I can’t predict. But here’s what I would take into consideration before I would start throwing injury prone around. It’s a broken orbital bone. That’s not like a joint. It’s not like weak joints or any other type of injury.”
“A broken orbital bone doesn’t necessarily scream injury prone. Unlucky, yeah. Bad timing, yeah. But it’s not the same as having bad knees or a bad shoulder, or bad hips, or a neck. Something that can go out from under you, something that you can sustain an injury with in ways that doesn’t even look like it should have created an injury.”
“Bad knees are the worst. There are times when I can be walking across the lawn doing nothing, and if I step wrong or my weight isn’t in the right position, my knee goes out. That’s injury prone. A broken orbital bone is more like getting hit in the face with a brick.”
Nobody has publicly described Green as injury prone. The question was put to him as a hypothetical.
He was warm about her throughout, while making clear he has no connection to her.
“I don’t even know her. I’ve never met her, but man, do I feel bad for her. I can put myself in her shoes and imagine how she feels, and it’s not good. She has been through so much. The only thing that I can say is if she can find a way to hang in there and overcome this obstacle, she’ll have the respect of a lot of people. Fans, peers, old guys like me look at her and go, whatever success she enjoys in the future, she’s definitely earned.”
“She’s got so much charisma. Just the energy she brings, you can feel it. You can feel it in her social media posts. She’s genuine, authentic, passionate about the business and performing. She loves to perform.”
“And you want to see somebody like that succeed, and hopefully WWE management recognises that. I’m sure they do.”
Green was released by WWE in 2021 and returned in the 2023 Royal Rumble. She has described a broken arm, heart surgery and a broken ankle among the setbacks of a thirteen-year career.
Rhea Ripley, the reigning WWE Women’s Champion whose absence created the interim title, confirmed on August 6 that she has undergone knee surgery.
