Chris Bey Opens Up on Career-Threatening Injury and Potential Return – Chris Bey recently appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, where he discussed his severe injury that temporarily left him paralyzed. The TNA star detailed the terrifying experience, his recovery process, and whether he sees himself stepping back into the ring.
Bey’s Injury and Recovery
On October 27, 2023, during Impact Wrestling tapings, Bey suffered a serious neck injury while teaming with Ace Austin against The Hardys. The injury resulted in him being stretchered out and undergoing emergency surgery.
In January, Rob Van Dam confirmed that Bey had sustained a broken neck but was no longer paralyzed. Last month, Bey shared a video of himself walking, revealing that he had undergone a C6-C7 neck fusion and a C6-C11 spinal cord fusion. Initially, doctors gave him only a 10%-25% chance of regaining mobility.
Chris Bey on Whether He Will Wrestle Again
When asked if he believes he will ever wrestle again, Bey gave an emotional response, detailing the thoughts that ran through his mind after the injury:
“Never say never, right? The day after day one, the day after the surgery, I was very content and understanding that my career was over. I didn’t see a world where I came back to wrestling. I was laying there, couldn’t move anything from the neck down. It felt like I had passed away, because there’s all this love for me online, they say you get your flowers when you’re gone. There’s all this love for me online that everyone’s telling me about and everyone’s calling me and having people reach out to me who I’ve never my wildest dreams imagined reach out to me. They’re making video packages about me. It was like I was watching and spectating my life and my life is now over, and wrestling is my life. It was my life. It is my life. It still consumes me.”
Bey then shifted the conversation to his long-term goals outside of wrestling and how they motivated his recovery:
“In that moment I was like okay, wrestling is over. I want to one day have a family. I want to be able to one day stand and run and play with my kids one day. Family was something I never thought about in my early 20s, but in my later 20s now being 29 is very important to me. It’s something that I want so badly, not now, but one day, and the thought of never being able to achieve that broke me. That broke me, and that drove me more than anything because I had a great eight years in wrestling. Eight years, that was it, but I did so much in eight years that lived my wildest dreams. I feel like I made an impact on the world. I was able to help train, coach, and motivate people who are in the game today. It’s a dream career, if it had to end, if it’s over now, cool. I want to walk, I want to stand, I want to be able to function.”
However, with his progress in recovery, Bey has begun to entertain the possibility of wrestling again in the future:
“And then maybe a couple weeks ago now I’m walking again and I’m back in the gym. I told my girl, I was like, what if I do wrestle again one day? I’m still young. What if I took five years off, if I took four years off and came back in my mid-30s? It’s possible. It’s been done before. Nothing’s impossible, and that’s where the greatest story ever told is born.”
While there is no official timeline for a return, Bey’s progress has been remarkable, and his determination remains strong. Whether he steps back into the ring or not, his story is already one of resilience and perseverance.
Chris Bey Opens Up on Career-Threatening Injury and Potential Return
