Current Lucha Underground star and former WWE Tag Team Champion PJ Black has suffered a serious injury whilst BASE jumping, the second time in nine months that this has happened. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter have reported that Black, known to WWE fans as Justin Gabriel, broke both his leg and his hand in the accident, as well as losing a finger.
This follows on from Black breaking both his ankles BASE jumping in October 2016.
Black has understandably had to cancel all of his upcoming independent dates as a result, and whilst the 36-year-old from Cape Town hopes to be back in the ring in six months time, it remains to be seen whether his recovery will be so swift.
Edge and Christian also mentioned the injury on their most recent podcast, stating that the injury is why Black has been removed from the upcoming House of Hardcore shows in Australia.
For those who are unaware, BASE jumping (sometimes written as B.A.S.E jumping) involves jumping from a high fixed object (or a cliff) with only the help of a parachute or wingsuit. The extreme sport has been around since the late 1970s but received much attention last year, after 15 BASE jumpers died in August alone. BASE jumping has a fatality and injury rate 43 times that of parachuting from a plane.
Black (real name Paul Lloyd Jr.) has developed a reputation for the extreme, outside of the professional wrestling ring. Black has been a frequent BASE jumper and skydiver over the past few years, leading to the creation of his ‘Darewolf’ nickname.
It is unlikely that a second serious injury in nine months will change Black’s feelings towards these high-adrenaline pursuits. Black has discussed the injuries on his Facebook page, which can be found here.
Whilst it might be easy to say that PJ Black is thus lucky only to be injured, a broken leg and hand and a missing finger doesn’t scream ‘lucky’. It remains to be seen how long the former NEXUS member will be out for.
We would like to wish the South African Darewolf the speediest of recoveries.
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