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WWE News: Update On Finn Balor’s Recovery and WWE Return

By Mark Suleymanov
Published on: 03:52 PST, Oct 15, 2016

Two months after suffering a severe shoulder injury, and undergoing a subsequent surgery to repair the damage, former WWE Universal champion Finn Balor is doing well in his rehab, according to Daily Wrestling News.

Balor has split his rehab between the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and with Dr. Jeffrey Dugas in Birmingham, Alabama. DWN’s report states Balor is “progressing very well” and that he is “optimistic” in regards to his eventual return. Balor originally suffered a labrum tear after taking an errant powerbomb from Seth Rollins during his bout at SummerSlam on August 21 in Brooklyn, New York.

After defeating Rollins, Balor became the inaugural WWE Universal champion — but due to the injury, he was forced to relinquish the title the following night on RAW. Shortly after undergoing surgery, Balor revealed on The Ross Report that the injury was worse than originally thought (via Wrestling Inc).

“Obviously, we get a lot of scans beforehand, which it showed a pretty good labrum tear, but I guess, when they went in with the scope, they found, I guess, a labrum tear that was, like, 180 degrees, which was, like, twice as big as they expected. Plus, there were some bicep issues, some pectoral issues. There were actually some bones broken in there, so they were kind enough to give me the bones in a jar, which I have on my mantle right now. It’s a nice little decoration.”

With the injury’s severity upgraded, so was Balor’s estimated time of recovery. Initially, the “Demon King” was set to miss close to half a year of action.

“I guess the original diagnosis was four to six months, but, I guess, when they found out the extra problems in there, they said it’s going to be a hard six,” Balor said. “Now, I could try and shave some time off that, but I’m not going to. If I’m ready before six months, I’m going to make sure, when the time comes around and six months is there, I’m going to be better than ever.”

The former Prince Devitt in New Japan Pro Wrestling was drafted to the RAW brand just weeks before the injury. With the WWE Universal title around his waist, it was expected that he would become a fixture of the WWE product. But after the injury, the biggest concern has been when he will be able to return.

Many hope Balor can recover in time to return as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble. However, as Balor said, he is likely looking at a “hard” six months before he recovers. At this stage, he has approximately four months left; making his return likely closer to the end of February.

DWN’s report adds that WWE officials hope Balor can return by Wrestlemania 33 but if he continues at his current pace, he could return before then. He took some steps to speed up the recovery by undergoing a stem cell transplant procedure in late September.

The procedure, as Dr. Dugas describes in the video above, is intended to strengthen the shoulder by taking bone marrow from a different of his body and injecting it into the repaired shoulder.

“We discussed the possibility of a stem cell injection to help with the cartilage defect to see if we could form a more robust tissue by adding some of his own biology there,” Dugas said. “We obtained the bone marrow from the wing bone of his pelvis.”

It’s still too early to tell if Balor can speed up his recovery but he is trying everything to do so.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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