Source: Pro Wrestling Report (podcast)
In a recent interview with the Pro Wrestling Report radio show, Mr. Anderson said he’s still waiting for medical clearance to return to TNA after last month’s concussion. Anderson says the the feeling was something he’d “never experienced” in his life.
“The chair shot itself – it sucked, obviously. I felt foggy afterwards, but I really didn’t feel the effects until – I took one week off and I got back in the ring and I was wrestling A.J. and I just couldn’t think on my feet. I’d like to think I’m pretty good at improv’ing and coming up with things on the fly, but I just could not think of anything. And I think A.J. was getting kind of frustrated because he didn’t know what was going on. I got back to the locker room and I told D’Lo (Brown), who was the agent, ‘I have never experienced that in my life and I’ve experienced a lot of concussions. And D’Lo told me ‘You’re on the first flight back home tomorrow, get checked, and take as much time off as you need.”
Anderson said he was worried he had a broken neck.
“My neck’s been killing me and I was really concerned because about six or seven years ago, I actually fractured a vertebra in my neck. I was just experiencing the same kind of pain and I was like, ‘Please don’t let it be another broken neck.’ I had a CT Scan of my brain and my neck and my brain must have – I think it shrunk a little bit, but it’s okay and there’s no bleeding on the brain. Nothing with the neck, so I think it’s just muscular.”
Mr. Anderson says wrestlers just can’t work as many dates as they used to.
“You can’t wrestle 250 days a year anymore. I applaud the guys who came before us in the business, but science has changed and scientists have found out that this stuff – concussions – can give you long-term, lasting effects. I don’t want to be telling the same story over and over again when I’m 50. I want to be able to take care of my kids and have conversations with my wife and not experience Muhammad Ali syndrome.”
They didn’t take the same kind of abuse the guys take now, go watch an old WWE match from the 80’s and you can tell those guys could work everyday of the year and not get hurt. You need to be careful taking a blind chair shot!