AEW Star Big Bill opened up about his journey to recovery and how one former WWE star deserves “all the credit in the world.”
Big Bill hasn’t been shy about discussing his battles with addiction in the past, and his struggles led to severe health consequences, including suffering a siezure. Thankfully, Big Bill is now approaching the 5 year anniversary of him becoming sober, and he’s enjoying a successful career in AEW.
Speaking on a recent episode of Talk is Jericho, Big Bill opened up about his journey to recovery, pointing to former WWE star Shannon Moore as instrumental in helping him get the assistance he needed.
“January 2020, I went to rehab for the final time. Shannon Moore, works with WWE recovery, he is a Godsend. That guy has saved so many lives. He deserves all the credit in the world. He was huge and instrumental with me. He got me back into rehab a few times.
This time, I was watching the Super Bowl, the one where Pat Mahomes finally won his first, I was looking around like, ‘These people are all fucking losers. I’m not like them. I’m leaving.’ I left and went back to my room. I told Shannon, ‘I’m leaving. This is not me.’
Little did I know, I’m just like these people. He said to me, ‘You owe me. I’ve done so much for you. You owe me one more week. One more week. If you want to leave next Sunday, you can leave, but you owe me at least one more week after all the shit I’ve gone through for you.’ I agreed, and that week, something clicked.”
“I Completely Surrendered” – Big Bill
Continuing, Big Bill said that his life started to improve when he finally committed to getting sober after this encounter with Shannon Moore.
“I completely surrendered, as they say. Just gave up and gave in. I was told, ‘Just stop fighting people.’ Not mentally fighting people, but what you’re told to do, just do it. ‘Go clean up this trash.’ ‘Why? What is the purpose?’ Stop asking what purpose does it serve and just go do it.
Something clicked that week and that’s when everything started getting better. I finally gave in to the program, which I thought was stupid prior to that and I hated going to meetings. I finally realized these people are just like me. Everyone’s stories are a little different, but the blueprint is exactly the same for everybody in here.
Finally, I started listening to people, got a sponsor, did everything I was told, and I guess that was the beginning of my next journey, which was coming back to wrestling. Getting sober was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life, but it was the best thing I’ve done. It’s like I have a new lease on life now. I’m not killing myself with alcohol, and I have a second chance.”
In recent news, Big Bill explained why he wasn’t a huge fan of his AEW name when he first started at the company.
h/t Fightful