Lyra Valkyria looks back on a major injury from her time in WWE NXT UK.
In 2021 during her time on WWE's developmental brand in the UK, Lyra Valkyria would suffer a torn ACL that would leave her out of action for some time. Four years later, Valkyria is the WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion, and a staple of Monday Night RAW.
While speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Lyra was asked about about career setbacks, and Valkyria spoke about suffering a torn ACL injury.
"There's been a lot of points in my career where it felt very out of the frying pan and into the fire. I feel like so far, I've never let myself down on that. But I suppose a point where I was on the cusp of something and then it all fell flat was when I tore my ACL in NXT UK. I was on the road to coming back to another match with Meiko Satomura, who was the NXT UK Women's Champion at the time, and my whole world was who's going to be the one to beat Meiko? The talk of the locker room, the talk of everything, she was the ultimate champion, the ultimate person you wanted to be in the ring with. That was everything, the NXT UK Women's Championship. So then we were just coming back from COVID and wrestling in front of nobody. Actually, I heard Bayley tore her ACL, and this was right as the crowds were coming back. I was like that's awful timing, how awful. I did it one week later, and there's so much when I think about it. I did it from doing a sunset bomb from the corner, and I was at the show in Dublin where Seth Rollins did the same thing, where he tore his knee. So yeah, I saw his last match as the WWE Champion. If you told me back then that I was going to do the exact same thing, it's pretty wild. But I feel like I was on the road there to possibly, maybe becoming the NXT UK Women's Champion, or having that match with Meiko, that rematch that I never got, that I really wanted. But that's the one thing in my career where I'm like, I wonder what if?"
Lyra would then be asked if she knew at the time if it was torn, but Valkyria stated she thought she'd be fine in two weeks.
"No, I didn't even know what that meant. I'd never had any bad injuries. I know now you hear about a torn knee or something, it's big. I didn't know that. I'll never forget it. I was on my way into town to meet my now fiancé. I remember I finished the match, and I remember they wanted to put me on crutches going into the airport, and I was like, No, I'm fine. I thought it was one of those things where I'd be fine in two weeks. It'll be okay."
Valkyria was then asked if she was in pain due to the injury, noting that she questioned if she even needed surgery at first.
"No, like, in the moment, it was really bad. But then after that, I really did just think, oh yeah, this will be fine. The surgery messed me up so much more than the injury, it was the surgery that killed me, that set me back. But the actual injury, I was like, 'Do I even need surgery?' So they were like, 'You need a scan.' I didn't think I did. So I was like, Okay, we'll do this, and I felt so confident that it was going to be fine. The fact that the referee did the X and we had to pause the match. I remember actually thinking when we did the scan, I hope there's something there, just so I don't look like it was nothing. But I had no idea how bad it was going to be. So I was in town about to meet my fiancé, and I get a phone call and they tell me that I have a torn ACL and I'm like, 'Okay, what does that mean?' They were like, 'Oh, it's going to be surgery.' I'm like 'Surgery?' They were like, 'Yeah, you're going to be out for like nine months to a year.' I couldn't believe it. I remember I was standing in the corner shop, and I was just so shocked. There was tears rolling down my face, and I was like, I can't be out for a year. Then I remember I was meeting my fiancé there, and I remember seeing him and like grabbing him by the shoulder as he was walking by, and he just sees me on the phone crying, and he turns around he doesn't know what's happened. It was so rough. But I'd say that was a big down point. But now I kind of just look at it and be like no, it was a great struggle. When you're out, there's nothing more you want than to get back. So it forces you to think about why you do this, what you want from this, and when you're forced to be on the sidelines, it makes you appreciate everything so much more. It kind of just refreshes your work ethic and your drive."
Valkyria appeared on this week's edition of WWE Monday Night RAW, costing Becky Lynch a chance at entering the WWE women's Money In The Bank ladder match. You can read more about that here.
