On the March 11 episode of WWE SmackDown, Big E suffered a broken neck after landing awkwardly following a belly-to-belly suplex on the outside from Ridge Holland. As a result, Big E suffered a fracture to his C1 vertebrae and C6 vertebra. Surgery was not required in order to fix the fractures.
On July 4, Big E said he feels tremendous and revealed that he will be re-evaluated in March 2023 at the one-year mark, noting that surgery was still off the table.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Big E was asked if he would wrestle again.
"It's really one of those 'wait and see' things," he said, noting once again that he would be checked in March 2023. "I really can't say. I don't know whether I'll be back in March at 100% or if they'll look at say, 'Maybe you should be doing something else with your life.' For me, March of next year is very far off, so I don't want to spend a lot of time worrying and stressing about that. I’ve been with this company for 13 years. That means a lot of Saturdays and Sundays in Poughkeepsie and Kalamazoo and most random towns. But, now I get to live my life a little bit and see some friends and I’m enjoying just being human.”
Asked if he was content if his wrestling career should be over, Big E said, "Yeah, I think so. 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 am programmed. If I spend hours or days or weeks kind of mourning where I'm at in life, and not being what I wanted to be, that doesn't serve me."
Big E will be back around wrestling at WWE SummerSlam as he helps scout college athletes at WWE's upcoming tryouts.
Fightful continues to wish Big E the best in his recovery.
