Sad news for everyone who was hoping that Big E would return to beat the goodness back into Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.
Unfortunately, the former WWE Champion confirmed himself that he still hasn’t been cleared for a return. Big E spoke on the Mike Broomhead show about his severe injury and gave a dark realization about how real professional wrestling can get:
“I broke my neck, two-and-a-half years ago, in three places — including my C1 in two places, and I still haven’t been cleared. Thankfully, I feel great. I don’t have any issues, nothing like that. Didn’t need surgery. But I was in a hard collar for three months.
“But there are very real risks. We just had a suplex that went wrong, and I’ve been out since. But I’m grateful to have no issues, no pain, nothing like that. But yes, we do have very real injuries. So many of us have neck and back issues. So yes, the cost of what we do is very real.”
Despite the disappointing news, the 38-year-old seems to be in high spirits about life after wrestling. Big E is certainly doing big things (pun intended); He just celebrated the debut of a television show that he's featuring on with Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu called Laid.
Big E. stated on The Player’s Tribune podcast that he’s excited to explore outside of the wrestling business, though he’ll always have fond memories of being a wwe superstar:
“You know that thing I said earlier — how I’m someone who spent his past not being able to picture a future?
I can picture one now.
Which is ironic, I guess, since I broke my neck and can’t wrestle. But I’m at peace. And if that’s truly a wrap on my in-ring career……. I’m excited to explore the paths that are opening up for me in its wake. Whether it’s working for WWE outside of the ring, or it’s hosting, or acting, or voice work, or filmmaking, or so many other things. I feel like there are still so many parts of myself for me to discover.
I feel like I’ve spent the last 10 years with Woods and Kofi on this amazing, life-changing project: trying to perform a version of wrestling that’s in the image of all the things we love. And now I want to find out how far I can stretch that project past wrestling. I want to see if I can actually create some of those things we love.”
Hopefully this news can change in the future like it did for Daniel Bryan and Edge. If it doesn’t then Big E’s had a good career that he should be proud of.