WSVN-TV entertainment reporter Chris Van Vliet spoke with Tyson Kidd at That Wrestling Event in Orlando, FL on Saturday. He opened up about his neck injury and gave vivid details of what happened that night. He also talked about his new backstage role in WWE, whether he’d want to wrestle again, his thoughts on the crowd reaction during the Iron Man Match at Extreme Rules and more.
Here is the video and scroll down for the transcription:
His thoughts on the crowd reaction during the Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler Iron Man Match at Extreme Rules, a match that he produced:
“That’s them entertaining themselves. Obviously I would prefer if they didn’t do that but I can understand why they did that. They’re sitting there and you have a clock and they’re waiting to see towards the end. I would appreciate if they didn’t do that because if you actually take that part out of it, the match was amazing. And then that same crowd gave Seth a standing ovation at the end. So they appreciated the effort. I understand why but I just wished it hadn’t happened.”
How he’s adjusting to his new WWE role:
“I work backstage as a producer. I’ve been doing it for a year now and I love it. It took a little bit to get adjusted and back in the mix because I was away for two years. But yeah, it’s been awesome and I get to work with great talent. I love sitting and collaborating with people and just being creative and we are all throwing out ideas and next thing you know some magic is being made in the ring that I had a small little part in. It feels fulfilling and there’s no physical trauma to me. ”
Does he want to be able to wrestle again?
“When I get asked this I always say never say never. But I’m happy with my job now, I enjoy it. I actually love it. It took a little bit and sometimes the early morning meetings to try to get my workout in are tough. I do feel fulfillment with what I’m doing now so it’s hard to say. After being temporarily paralyzed, it puts a lot of things in perspective. I always say never say never because down the road who knows, but at the moment I’m more than content doing what I’m doing.”
What does he remember from the night he got injured?
“I remember everything very vividly. I lost feeling for about five seconds. Everything. Head to toe. Times ten. You just sit there in no control. I was in no control, I was at a higher power’s mercy. You’re just sitting there, all of a sudden your body feels like it weighs like 2 million pounds. But there was some weird voice telling me this isn’t permanent. Now in that five second span I’m thinking this little voice is telling me this but that doesn’t mean this voice is right though. But luckily, thankfully it was. I ended up going to a hospital then they transferred me to a different hospital. I stayed overnight then the doctor came the next morning and said ‘hey, I want to do emergency surgery on you.’ Fortunately with WWE we have access to the best of the best so Natty said to him ‘Are you the best?’ and the doctor said ‘No, I’m not the best but I can do it’ and she said ‘You’re not touching him.’ And I got airlifted a couple of days later from San Antonio to Tampa and the best guy happened to be in Tampa.”
Who reached out to him after his neck injury?
“As soon as I got hurt Kurt Angle reached out to me and Steve Austin reached out to me and Edge who I already had a pretty good relationship with.”
(Thanks to Chris Van Vliet for the transcription)
