The injury kept Hayashishita on the sideline for two months.
After September 18th, former World of Stardom Champion Utami Hayashishita was sidelined until November 28th. It was revealed by STARDOM that she had been dealing with a cervical hernia injury.
Utami spoke candidly about the injury while being interviewed by ENCOUNT. She shared that two weeks before she took time off, she had been in pain and had a narrow range of motion in her neck. She was able to wrestle passively, but one day when she awoke from her sleep, it was tasking to get up.
Hayashishita ended up staying with her sister and needed her help when she went to bed and woke up. When she ate, she would put a neck pillow on and use the nearest wall to support her neck.
About two weeks before I was out, I was in pain… Every time I wrestled, it was like, ‘This hurts…’ I had a narrow range of motion in my neck, but I was able to wrestle passively… I woke up in the morning and it was hard to get up… Even if I wanted to practice in the ring, I couldn’t carry a person. Of course, I couldn’t do ukemi or rope work… This meant I couldn’t compete, so I had to sit out the show.
I couldn’t even go about my daily life by myself, so I decided to stay at my sister’s house… When I went to bed and woke up, I got help from my sister… When I ate my meals, I would lean against the wall with a neck pillow… I couldn’t even turn around when called… And although I was extremely frustrated, I thought God had given me a break.
In part two of the interview, Hayashishita shared that she was concerned about making her return to in-ring action because she was thinking about the possibility of getting hurt again.
Of course (I was concerned about returning to the ring), I was worried that my body would not be able to keep up and that I might get injured again… I have always been a pro-wrestling fan, and pro-wrestlers have always been like superheroes that I wanted to be but could never become. Now that I have finally become one, I can’t quit so easily. There is something about professional wrestling that makes me think that way.
On 12/29 at STARDOM Dream Queendom, Hayashishita and Saya Kamitani are going to be defending the Goddess of Stardom Championships against the duo of Momo Watanabe and Natsuko Tora.
