Joey Janela Gives Injury Update, Talks Breakup With Penelope Ford
Late last year Joey Janela performed a move that he had done thousands of times before, except this time the move ended with Janela severely hurting his knee. He underwent surgery and estimated that he would be out for a full year but there's hope he could return sooner.
Janela updated fans on his recovery as well as his relationship with Penelope Ford when he spoke with Wrestling Inc. on today's episode of our WINCLY podcast.
"I feel good. The knee seems to be coming along," Janela said. "I was behind schedule but now it seems that I'm on par with schedule. I don't think I'm behind anymore but it was a rough situation and I never dealt with an injury like that. Just a lot of therapy and mental mind games.
Even while injured, Janela signed on with AEW but he doesn't know if he'll be able to return for their debut event, Double or Nothing, in May.
"That's up to the doctor ? no idea yet," Janela admitted. "The way my MCL was torn, it really exploded. It's up to the doctor's orders and I don't want to get back in the ring and blow out my knee again especially at this time [with AEW] and making some real money."
Janela said that the injury was more than just a physical thing and it affected him mentally as well to be hurt during the prime of his career.
"I kinda wanted to disappear out of the spotlight for a little bit but that didn't happen," Janela stated. "I did commentary and people liked it so I stuck with that. With this injury and after surgery it was a lot of me just depressed and chilling in my dark room?I live a sad life. I'm a sad boy."
It was also shortly after the surgery that Janela revealed that he had broken up with Penelope Ford and he gave an update on his current status with Ford.
"We're just friends at the moment," Janela said. "It is what it is. We dated on and off for four years. The last time we broke up, we broke up for about eight months and no one knew because we didn't put it out there.
"That's hard to do when people on social media are tagging you and saying you and your girlfriend are not together or seeing other people. We got back together and we split up again."
The on-again, off-again relationship is currently off, but Janela wouldn't mind it being on-again in the future.
"I wouldn't mind mending that fence but I know her DMs are exploding right now," Janela stated. "It's hard for me but it is what it is. At least we hung out on Valentine's Day, both being single. We still fight like a couple every two hours.
"It's very complicated because we've got contracts?so we've just got to make sure we're professional and nothing gets in the way of the success we've had. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. ...The next logical step for me is to start dating celebrities and whatever."
Fans find the Janela-Ford relationship to be extremely interesting and Janela admitted that if it was on reality tv, it would be the "most-watched" show.
GCW Presents Joey Janela's Spring Break in two parts this year, April 5 and 6. Both nights will be streamed live via FITE. Joey will also be performing at AEW's Double or Nothing on May 25th, which will also be streamed via FITE.
You can listen to Joey's full WINCLY interview in the embedded player below. In it Joey also discusses signing with AEW, GCW as the modern day ECW, Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, comparisons to Chris Jericho, wanting deathmatch wrestling go mainstream and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here.
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