Juice Robinson made his grand return at All In.
The former IWGP United States Champion suffered a broken fibula during his match against Will Ospreay during the Continental Classic. It was the second injury during Robinson’s short AEW career and there was genuine concern about the future of the Bullet Club Gold member. But now that the scary part is over, Juice is ready to move his career forward and the returning AEW star sat down with Renee Young recently to detail his two injuries that put him on the sidelines for a good period of time.
“What made it more significant for me was the year before, I had another injury. I haven’t really went into detail about either of them, but I had spine surgery. I ruptured a disc in my lower back, and it was pressing on a nerve and I was having issues with my leg. I was having trouble using it. It was the beginning of what could have gotten much worse. It’s not only scary….we get hurt a lot, but spine, that’s like brain, heart….I’ve broken my hands, I’ve had [Jon Moxley] bite my forehead. That’s okay. A lot of different things, but spine. You need that. Every little thing is controlled by that stack of dimes. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. I was up moving pretty quick."
The spine injury wasn’t as hard as Robinson thought it would be, but his second injury was a long and grueling process that had Robinson second guessing his career for a moment.
“It took a while to get back in the ring, and then when I was, I was just ready to go, and I snapped my leg. That was a lot harder than the back. I didn’t realize it, but it’s hard to sit down for four to five months. Now you’re in a walking boot and it’s a long process. A lot of internal thinking. A lot of introspection. ‘What am I doing? How long have I been doing this? Where am I at in my career? What’s left?’ I’ve been doing this 17 years, which is crazy to think about for me because it’s not just what I want to do, this is what I do.
I want to do it as long as I can. When you do the math, 17 years, I’m about halfway through. What do I want to be known for? What am I known for now? I don’t even know. A lot of mental gymnastics and trying to make sense of things and be at peace with where I am, where I want to go. It’s hard. It’s a fresh slate. Part two of a two part series.”
We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds for Juice Robinson. Hopefully, he’ll be able to stay injury free and continue competing in AEW. Check out the full interview to get more detail on Robinson’s mindset about his career.