WWE's Ivar Says He's Been Lucky To Avoid Retirement, Provides Update On Current Health

After sustaining his second major neck injury in the spring, newly-crowned WWE World Tag Team Champion Ivar was preparing himself for the potential end of his in-ring career. Fortunately, the symptoms of Ivar's latest injury weren't too bad, so the surgeon allowed him to rehab it without surgery, which in turn, paved a path for him to eventually return to action. According to Ivar, this series of events stemmed from pure luck.

"I do have another opportunity. It's like the theme of my career," Ivar told "Insight With Chris Van Vliet." "It keeps happening where things happen and it's 'Oh, it's a career-ending injury,' and it's like 'Oh, wait a minute, maybe not.' I'm lucky. I'm on, not my ninth life, I'm well past that, I'm on my 12th life, pretty much."

In storyline, Ivar's latest neck injury came at the hands of Gallus, who beat him down on the May 14 episode of "WWE NXT." In actuality, Ivar started to experience more neck problems in the lead-up to WrestleMania 40, specifically when he took a European uppercut Ricochet on "WWE Raw." While briefly rocked from the impact, Ivar felt okay to continue his work on the road, with subsequent matches on "Raw," "WWE NXT," and "WWE Main Event." Things took a turn, however, when he challenged Oba Femi for the NXT North American Championship on the April 30 episode of "NXT" and lost all the strength in his right arm. An MRI later revealed that Ivar sustained another herniated disc, but instead of shooting toward his cervical cord, it spewed out away from it.

When asked about his quality of life following his latest neck injury, Ivar noted that he's been feeling pretty good overall. However, he does carry forth permanent nerve damage and pain in his hands.

"As far as everything else, I got most of my mobility back in my neck. It's a little stiff now because I have another herniation, but I still have very good range of motion," Ivar said. "I credit that to yoga pretty much. Then all my strength is returned to my arm. I have no problems there, so it's really just the nerve pain right now from the original injury that I have that's permanent. But I have good days and bad days. Some days I can really feel it. It goes down my arm a little bit, and some days I can't feel it all, kind of all depends."

Ivar, alongside his tag partner Erik, returned to the ring in October, defeating Alpha Academy's Otis and Akira Tozawa to advance in a WWE World Tag Team Championship tournament. The War Raiders eventually won the entire tournament and subsequently challenged Finn Balor and JD McDonagh for the very titles. An interference from The Judgment Day prevented a War Raiders victory in this instance, but earlier this week, the pair bounced back, claiming their first WWE tag title reign in five years.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight With Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.