The fact that we’re not currently covering Impact on a weekly basis around here might be related to recent additions to their roster, but it certainly has nothing to do with Brian Cage, a great wrestler with a fantastic look and no shortage of charisma. Cage won the Impact World Championship from Johnny Impact this Sunday on the Rebellion PPV, in a match that was the culmination of a long messy feud that featured heel turns for both Johnny and his wife, Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie. Just in his moment of triumph however, Cage was struck by real-life bad luck.
As reported by WrestlingInc, Cage suffered an injury to his back during the match, when he took a Spanish Fly to the ramp from Johnny Impact. Cage was rushed to the hospital after the match, with many fearing the worst. In an update, WrestlingInc adds that the back injury is no worse than a small fracture, and Cage should be fine, but at the doctor’s insistence, he’s currently sitting out Impact TV tapings. What that means for the Championship going forward is unclear that this time. This weekend will be the second TV taping he’s missed, and there’s certainly a chance he can’t be off TV for much longer without relinquishing the belt.
WrestlingInc also has this transcript from an interview on Busted Open Radio, where Brian Cage described his own experience of the injury:
Right when we hit, I’m rolling and the pain shoots down through my leg. It’s a feeling I’ve never had before in my life. I’m instantly thinking, “ruptured disc” or whatever. “My back is fucked, I’m going to have to have surgery or something.” Then I’m thinking, “Maybe it’ll go away,” and just trying to enter the ring after that moment, I’m bleeding and what not.
Rolling into the ring, turning my hip over hip and trying to get up, I felt like there was no strength there and the pain shot down my leg again, and I’m like “crap.” But it felt almost a little bit better, so maybe it will subside here in a second, like a flash thing. Then I think I was in the corner and I evaded Johnny, and there was no movement, like, I couldn’t. I felt so slow and robotic in my mannerisms and movement because of the pain.
A back injury is always scary, but it sounds like Cage is going to be okay, and we wish him all the best in his recovery.
