The WWE Universe misses Big E. The New Day definitely misses Big E. And the man himself no doubt wishes he could be back in the ring entertaining people on a regular basis.
Perhaps that day will still come, but he’s still unsure when it might be. That’s the big takeaway from his appearance this week on Busted Open Radio, when the former WWE Champion spoke again about his recovery from a serious neck injury suffered last March (h/t Fightful for the transcription).
I wish I had more information for you. Right now, there is really no timeline. I’ve been to a few different doctors who have looked over my scans. I don’t have any issues, I feel great, but I broke my C1 in two different places, it’s called a Jefferson fracture and because of the nature of the fracture, it takes longer to heal. Initially, they told me three months. I thought three months and I would be back to wrestling, but things ended up being more complex. There are chances I might take with a broken forearm or finger. An ACL (injury), I’ve had before. I started wrestling when I was 23, and at the time, I was like, ‘If I die in the ring, doing what I love, so be it.’ I’m 37 now and you see life differently and you have other things to think about. I’m trying to make the best decision for myself and my health moving forward. I don’t have any answers.
It’s understandable that given the nature and severity of his injury, Big E would want to make sure that he is doing as much as humanly possible to understand the potential risks if he were to resume wrestling. It’s also human nature to have different priorities in life as you age.
On top of that, Big E has shown that he can be a fantastic ambassador for WWE and pro wrestling in general. The “Power of Positivity” isn’t just a gimmick for him, and his passion for both the business and life in general is infectious.
That said, what matters most is that he feels great and it doesn’t appear the injury will have lingering affects on his day-to-day life. On the question of whether he can ever return to the ring, as the great Tom Petty once said, the waiting is the hardest part — and that goes for WWE fans and Big E too.