WWE: Nikki Bella To Undergo Potential Career Ending Neck Surgery This Week
WWE Diva Nikki Bella is set to undergo possible career-ending neck surgery this Wednesday (January 27), according to E! Online. In her exclusive interview with E! News, the longest reigning Divas Champion discusses her injury and subsequent surgery in greater depth.
“I have basically a broken neck, a pretty bad herniated disk. What makes mine a little bit difficult than most people is that I have some disk behind my vertebrae so with a lot of prayers we’re gonna pray that the doctors can get the piece behind my vertebrae with just a bone fusion.”
Nikki has apparently been experiencing neck pain since July 2015 and decided to go for an MRI on October of 2015 once the pain continued to grow and irritate her. This MRI confirmed Nikki’s suspicions about a potentially serious injury and she stopped competing in the ring immediately upon getting the results.
“Right when we saw that we knew OK no more ring work. So it’s just been a wear and tear and what we do it’s entertainment but there’s a reason why we say, ‘Don’t try this at home.'”
Nikki commented on how long she will be out of action for as well as mentioning the pain of her current situation, such as not being able to travel anywhere.
“As of now I will be in the hospital just for a day or two. But unfortunately I will be at home with a neck brace for three months, no travel. I can barely be in the car because of the spot where my injury is in, my C6 my C7, I have to try as much as I can not to move my neck so it can heal.
“In six months time is when I will get that final X-ray to be like, ‘Hey look you can get back in that ring and kick some ass.'”
Although Nikki sounds very positive about making a comeback and being able to wrestle again, she acknowledges that this surgery can potentially end her wrestling career. Nikki states that she will know after her surgery on Wednesday whether or not her career is over.
“There is a potential that this is career-ending. We will only know that when I get out of surgery on Wednesday and then basically how the bone heals Wednesday. So that’s been tough but I truly have such hope that I will get to compete in that ring another day, I really do.”
It sounds like Nikki’s ‘Rack Attack’ finishing move contributed to her neck injury, so she’s stated that the ‘Rack Attack’ is officially retired.
“Unfortunately yes. For now the ‘Rack Attack’ will be officially retired. I’ve been told by doctors to never do that again so we do feel that because my injury is in such a unique place in my spine we do feel that it could’ve come the ‘Rack Attack’ so the girls in the future better watch out for my killer forearm because I might not be hitting them with the ‘Rack Attack’ but I’ll definitely be hitting them with that forearm.”
Her ‘Rack Attack’ finishing move can be seen in the following clip from WWE’s YouTube channel.
When asked about a future beyond World Wrestling Entertainment, the former two time Divas Champion had this to say:
“WWE is my home and I will always stay with the WWE in some part, whether it’s an ambassador or maybe one day you’ll see Nikki Bella as a GM and no one can touch me.”
Nikki’s surgery and recovery process will be shown on upcoming episodes of E! Network’s Total Divas.
The Total Divas star goes on to talk about how her support system of her mother, sister Brie Bella, and boyfriend John Cena have helped her tremendously in keeping her spirits up and preparing for surgery. She also talks about dealing with the anxiety of surgery and possibly never getting to wrestle again, as well as discussing how much her ‘Bella Army’ means to her. To check this out and more, you can read Nikki’s interview in its entirety by clicking right here.
She also added this long post on Instagram talking about her health.
Mark’s reaction: Let another person be added to the list of wrestlers who will miss this year’s WrestleMania. Although it seems like the WWE was been prepared for this since Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks for the Divas Championship is most likely set in stone for WrestleMania 32. Not to say that it’s not possible for there to be two Divas matches at WrestleMania, it just historically hasn’t been done too often (if ever, that’s a good one to look up). Even if Nikki’s recovery goes well and she can return to in-ring action, I don’t see her hanging around for too much longer. She’s been saying for a while now that she wants to get started on having a family and move into operating her own fashion line with her sister Brie. I think Nikki’s big run as the head of the Divas division has officially come to a close, while wrestlers like Sasha Banks, Paige, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley begin to take over.
Like she mentioned in her interview, being an ambassador for the company is something that I can definitely see her doing in the future. Best of luck on a safe surgery!