Former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston has discussed Big E’s recent broken neck and called the situation the “scariest night” of his long career.
Big E suffered a scary injury on the March 11th episode of SmackDown when he took a belly-to-belly suplex from Ridge Holland in a match that also involved Kofi Kingston and Sheamus. Instead of flipping all of the way over and landing on his back, the New Day member landed on his head and neck.
In a video shared on social media, the New Day star later confirmed that he had broken his neck, but later revealed the good news that he wouldn’t require surgery for the injury.
Now speaking to Hot 97 Kofi Kingston has discussed the frightening situation and says Big E’s injury was a reminder of how quickly things can go wrong:
“It was easily the scariest night of my career. Obviously, the injury didn’t happen to me, but I was on the inside of the ring. I see E go for that spear that he does, and he missed it, and he was on the outside there and then him and Ridge, go for that overhead suplex and I see them go up and they looked a little like wonky. But I never saw the impact.”
“So I didn’t really — I didn’t know, you know, I went over there and I was like, ‘Okay, everything looks fine,’ he’s down and everything, and then the match goes on. After everything went down, just the ref was like yeah, I don’t know if he’s okay. I was like, what’s going on all sudden, the paramedics and everything start coming out.”
“It was just really really scary because it’s a reminder of how quickly things can take a turn for the worst. Every move that we execute, there’s always an element of danger to it and luckily, for the most part, we come out unscathed, but in those moments — literally looking at my brother in the face as the paramedics are putting the neck braces and everything on there, putting him on the stretcher, you know, it was very scary.”
Kingston added that he was one of several WWE Superstars that followed Big E to the emergency room and says despite suffering a broken neck, his tag team partner was incredibly lucky:
“Myself, Woods, and a bunch of the boys went to the hospital right after and we’re just waiting. With COVID protocols, they don’t really let a whole lot of people inside the emergency room. So we’re literally outside, it’s raining, we’re outside the emergency room, and we’re just waiting for word.”
“It’s so strange to say, ‘Luckily, he only broke [his C1 and C6 vertebrae]’ Do you know what I’m saying? He put out a tweet that put everything into perspective yesterday where he said he went in to meet the doctor and the doctor said if he had broken his neck a millimeter in one direction, he would have had a stroke. If he broke his neck in a millimeter the other direction, he would have died.”
“The fact that he was so strong and he had so much muscle back there really really saved them and you know again like it could have been way worse. He’s just been in great spirits the whole time, so many people have gone to visit him, and just send him so many positive messages, which he really really appreciates for sure.”
“We really lucked out because like I said, it could have been a lot worse, and we’d be having a different conversation right now. But, yeah, it’s just rest and recovery, and we’re all just kind of taking it one day at a time. We’re obviously in contact with him every day and he’s in really good spirits. He does appreciate all the support these guys from everybody.”
Kofi Kingston was able to welcome back his other tag team partner Xavier Woods on SmackDown after his recent injury. Woods was able to pick up a quick victory over Ridge Holland in his return bout on the blue brand.