WWE News: Tyson Kidd Nearly Died From His Neck Injury
While injuries are not a foreign concept to WWE superstars, it proved to be a nearly fatal concept to former WWE Tag Team champion Tyson Kidd.
Last month, Kidd suffered an undisclosed neck injury during a non-televised match with Samoa Joe. Initial reports were unclear, labeling his injury as everything from minor to severe. However, as the Inquisitr reported, Kidd eventually underwent neck surgery and his estimated recovery time was reported to be 14 months.
While devastating on the surface, Kidd took to Twitter and explained just how severe his injury is, claiming that only 5% of people survive the type of injury that he sustained.
5% of people survive this injury. 16 staples, 4 screws and a rod later and luckily I survived to tell my story. pic.twitter.com/hXpXpA0aAF
— TJ Wilson (@KiddWWE) July 7, 2015
But according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via WrestlingNews), the reason for Kidd’s injury being nearly fatal is because of how high the break in his neck was. Had it been any higher, Kidd would have likely passed away at the young age of 34.
However, what saved Kidd was the fact that he is an athlete with an extremely muscular neck. Therefore, any average person would have likely not been able to survive.
The injury could not have come at a more inopportune time for Kidd. He was in the midst of arguably his most successful tag team run alongside Cesaro. The duo captured tag team gold and quickly became one of the WWE’s best tag teams. But the injury ended their partnership.
Several people have blamed Joe and his Muscle Buster finishing move for nearly finishing off Kidd for good. Among those to blame Joe were WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart. He believes that the Muscle Buster is a dangerous move and is to blame for Kidd’s injury.
“It’s (Joe’s Muscle Buster) extremely dangerous. The move that Samoa Joe did was reckless, and the way they rushed that match beforehand in the back without giving Tyson time to prepare was mistake. Tyson is, pound for pound, one of the best wrestlers in the world. And that includes his mind. If you went behind the scenes at WWE, Tyson is an intricate piece of so many other matches. It’s a shame that a guy who is that talented and given so much to the company is hurt, but I just hope it’s not so serious that his career is over.”
Despite Hart’s assessment, it has been said that Kidd’s injury was more of a freak accident than Joe’s fault.
It is unclear if Kidd will ever be able to return to the WWE in a wrestling capacity. Several wrestlers including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Edge and Kurt Angle have been able to return from severe neck injuries. But it never came without difficulty and in Edge’s case, it ended his career.
Kidd has proven himself to be able to return from injury in the past. A torn meniscus in knee in 2013 took Kidd out of action for most of the year but he was able to return. Therefore, it would unfair to pronounce his career over just yet.
Fact.
[Image via WWE]
