Big E is grateful his injury did not turn out worse than it did and says there’s a lot of life left to live.
It was this past March that former WWE Champion Big E suffered a broken neck after taking a belly-to-belly suplex on the outside of the ring. The latest update from E is that he’s able to life his every day life without a neck brace on, but his C1 is not forming bone quite yet.
He’ll be reassessed in March of 2023. TMZ recently caught up with Big E for an interview and asked him if he’d be content with not wrestling again. E explained that he does not want to spend time worrying or being stressed about his in-ring future so if it is done, so be it.
He added that he’s grateful the injury did not turn out worse than it did and there’s a lot of life left to live regardless.
Yeah, I think so [I’d be content if I was not able to wrestle again], because I just — honestly, my philosophy as a human being is learning to be content with whatever life brings you. I’m so grateful to not be in a wheelchair but if I was, I would have to adjust to life in a wheelchair. That’s just how I’m programmed because if I spend hours or days or weeks kind of mourning where I’m at in life and life not being what I want it to be, that doesn’t serve me. Again, it’s like that old premise of drinking poison and expecting your enemy to die, doesn’t make sense. So worrying about it, stressing about it only hurts me, it’s not useful. I think I’ll be at peace with whatever happens. Whether I can wrestle again, I’ll be at peace with that. If I can’t wrestle again, so be it. My limbs work, I get to do this [Big E moved his fingers] and it’s like, I very easily could have — it could have been very different for me and there’s a lot of life to live regardless.
E will be present at the upcoming WWE tryouts during SummerSlam week in Nashville, Tennessee. The opportunity was offered by Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
He said he’s excited to see what the participants have to offer and thinks he can be of assistance seeing as how he was a former college athlete and can relate to those participating. E is hoping WWE can discover future Bianca Belairs and Montez Fords.
I’m excited about it [being a part of the upcoming WWE tryouts in Nashville during SummerSlam week]. Triple H actually called me a few days ago and said, ‘Hey, is this something you might be interested in?’ There was no pressure at all and I jumped at the chance, one, because I’m tired of being in the house every day. It’s a little annoying. But also, man, so many — I wanna preference this by saying so many of my favorite wrestlers are men and women who spent time on the independent scene. But, this tryout is just for college athletes, former college athletes and I connect with that because I was 23 years old, a failed former college football player. Mojo [Rawley], you got further than I did [Big E smiled]. But you know what it’s like — my point is you know what it’s like to be done with your dream. I love football and it was done and then as an athlete, I’m 23 years old, I was in grad school at the time, I’m trying to figure out my life but now man, you invest so much of your life into your sport and it’s just done and I know for so many of us it’s, ‘Now what do I do with my life? I’ve worked so hard, I’ve invested so much of my body in being an athlete’ and I connect so deeply with so many young men and women who will be in the same position and I’m excited to — you know, I don’t have the best wrestling mind in the world and I’m grateful for the Norman Smileys who will be there and for the NXT staff, Triple H and so many people who do this for a living and have a great eye for evaluating talent. I’m just there to really lend my experience. The cool thing is it’s great to hear from the OGs of the game who’ve been around forever, but also, it’s kind of cool to hear from someone who has been in a similar position, who has been 22, 23 and their sport is over and now they’re trying to pivot and they’re trying to see, ‘Hey, can I be great at this WWE thing? Can I give it my all?’ So that excites me because I just so resonate with that perspective and the beautiful thing is, man, WWE changed my life. I’ve been with the company now 13 years and I’m financially comfortable, I’ve been able to travel the world many times over. I’ve met some of the most incredible people on planet earth because of this. This opportunity has completely changed my life and my hope is at that tryout, we can find a bunch more future Biancas and Montez Fords and so many of those athletes and I know for a lot of the hardcore fans, I know they really want the independent wrestlers and I have such a huge soft spot for them in my heart as well.
Big E’s New Day brethren Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are currently involved on-screen with The Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik) who made their return to the main roster in late June.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit TMZ with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
