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Former WWE Superstar Rich Swann will face Eric Young for the IMPACT World Championship tonight at IMPACT Wrestling's Bound For Glory pay-per-view. Ahead of the match, he talked with Tommy Dreamer on Busted Open Radio (h/t Wrestling Inc), where he spoke about being on the shelf with horrible leg injuries, which nearly ended his career.
Readers can also check out Sportskeeda's interview with Swann's opponent, the IMPACT Wrestling World Champion Eric Young, right here.
Former WWE Superstar Rich Swann on his near career-ending injury ahead of IMPACT Wrestling's Bound For Glory
Rich Swann opened up on the injuries that he had suffered that saw his wrestling career nearly come to an end. Rich Swann had to go through a horrifying experience before he could return.
"So, after I broke everything, what was it? My ankle, my foot, my fibula, my L5, L6. After taking all that, I got to the car with one of my buddies, and then, we drove to Houston, because we had two more shows before then and I waited. I was like, 'Aw man, hopefully, this is just a bad sprain'. Even though I saw my foot just turned sideways and it was hanging. I waited a couple of days and finally, I went to the hospital in Dallas on that Sunday and the doctor was saying once they gave me the X-Ray, oh man, you're definitely going to need surgery, but the thing was, they weren't doing anything on that Sunday. They weren't doing any surgeries really, just because of the COVID-19 and everything."
Rich Swann revealed that on top of everything else, he found out that MRIs showed that he had suffered back injuries as well. As a result of all of this, Rich Swann had to fly home after the hospital.
"It just really started to take its head and so, I get back home a week later to Orlando and I finally get that surgery and also, as they're giving me the X-Ray, the MRI, my back was fractured as well. So, as I'm getting this, they're telling me, 'Your fibula's broken and the bone just poking right out the skin. It was such a clean break. It was almost a compound fracture, almost went through the skin. With the foot and everything, the right side of my ankle was lodged up into my shin, the lower part of my shin. My left side of my ankle was lodged up into my calf. The top of my foot was peeled off. It was horrible. I flew home as well. So, that was another scary thing because based on the things we've seen...I waited a little bit too just because I was a little bit nervous about that, but I got that all fixed up and the road to recovery was something."
Rich Swann admitted that there was a time when he was afraid he would never wrestle again. This went so far, that doctors advised him to find another career, but Rich Swann refused to let it be the end of wrestling for him.
"So, I looked at myself in the mirror and I said I told people that I could do it before and I'm going to do it again. So, I busted my a-- as hard as I could. Did above and beyond what the physical limits were supposed to be to do the physical therapy and it worked out. It paid off and the doctor, he told me and he was like, 'Wow, I just want to know what you've been doing kid because it looks like you're going to be able to go.'"
