Kyle O’Reilly recently looked back on the neck injury that kept him away from an AEW ring for nearly two years. Speaking on the Fellowship of the Gains podcast, O’Reilly detailed the long process from injury to his return in March 2024.
On the injury’s origin: “I had been dealing with neck injuries for years… There was one incident in a match, I think June 2022… and my arms and legs completely shut off and I couldn’t move for a second. It felt like an eternity” (per Fightful).
On learning the severity: “We thought it was my shoulder. I kept wrestling for another four months on basically a broken neck. Eventually, my arms started getting bad and weak. I had an MRI done on my neck and tons of compression on a bunch of nerves. ‘We’re gonna have to get surgery if you want to wrestle again.’ That kind of made the decision for me” (per Fightful).
On surgical complications: “For me, I did have a complication with the surgery and I ended up waking up with what they call C5 palsy… Because of the nerve compression on that nerve, it shut down everything on my C5 completely; bicep flexion and my shoulder completely shut off. It was rough” (per Fightful).
On his recovery: “I just remember the first time I did a full CARs rotation with my shoulder after eight months of not being able to move my arm, it was a huge victory. I might never wrestle again, it’s not a big deal, my priorities have shifted, but that was a huge emotional victory. ‘Okay, I will be able to come back. I might never be the same again but I’ve grown and evolved'” (per Fightful).
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.
