Tyson Kidd talks about his return to the WWE, his surgery and CM Punk's shout-out

Last December, Tyson Kidd suffered a serious knee injury including tears in his right ACL, meniscus and MCL— that threatened to sideline the mat technician for as long as a year.

The Hart Dungeon-trained grappler returned to the WWE on Monday Night RAW.

Here are some highlights from the interview with WWE -

On his return alongside his wife -

“It was a very unique experience. Obviously, we’ve done mixed tags before with The Hart Dynasty and things of that nature, but now our relationship is very open and public thanks to “Total Divas.”

“I think the only way it could have been better would be if Nattie and I got Fandango and Summer Rae in a double Sharpshooter to top things off [laughs]. But, looking back, it was as close to perfect as anything I could have asked for.”

On the time spent during rehab -

“At around the midway point, I thought my knee would never be the same again. After about three or four months, I could go to the gym normally, and I could start to run on a treadmill, but I knew I couldn’t wrestle and take impact. I couldn’t jump off the one foot and stick a landing. I knew it wasn’t there. But I remember thinking, “Is my knee ever going to be 100 percent?”

“I went so long — 17 years — without getting hurt. And I always thought one of two things would happen when I got hurt: It was either going to hinder the hell out of me forever, or I’d heal fast from it. And during rehab, I remember thinking, “Uh oh. This is going to be the ‘hindering me forever’ type of scenario.” Then, month five kicked in, and all of a sudden I had these drastic improvements.

“I got medically cleared to train in the ring at the seven-month mark on August 5 in Green Bay, which is actually where I got hurt last December. So I really came full circle. It was bizarre.”

On the support he received -

“I don’t really want to put anybody on the spot — but I’ve received a lot of texts and phone calls from guys. There were quite a few, but I’ll throw Mark Henry out there as a guy that’s actually called me.

“With most guys, we just text. I’m not really a phone guy. But Mark actually called me a couple of times and Rey Mysterio as well, just seeing if I was OK. When I was in physical therapy I texted Rey, because he tweeted something about needing surgery, and then he called me right away.”

On CM Punk -

“When I got hurt, before I got the MRI, I was going down to the school at NXT [now the WWE Performance Center] and doing some pre-surgical therapy on my knee. Punk was down there too, rehabbing his knee. I told him about my MRI, and the same day I got the MRI I went to my doctor, and Punk told me to text him as soon as I was done to let him know how it went.

“Punk and I have always gotten along, and he’s always been friendly to me. I met him in Ring of Honor on the independent scene in 2003. When he said that workhorse thing, it blew up my Twitter, and now I have people tweeting me every day using #workhorse. That was definitely going through my head the whole time.

“I remember thinking, “if my knee is never the same again, but I tried my hardest, then that’s just how it is. But if my knee isn’t the same again because I didn’t try my hardest, then that’s me letting everyone down — including myself.” And that’s just not the kind of person that I am.”

On what he wishes to accomplish now -

“My main goal is to leave everything I have out there in that ring at every arena.

“This is a second chance for me. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect, and a lot of time to think about things that I’ve liked so far and things I’ve let fall to the wayside. I won’t waste a single opportunity — even the ones that don’t look like opportunities at first.

“This injury has given me the chance to sit back and study the product for almost a year, and I feel like I’m more aware of everything now. But I’m done watching from home.”