Alexa Bliss Recalls Thinking Her WWE Career Might Have Been Over Due To Concussions
Alexa Bliss is opening up about her wrestling career potentially ending due to issues over concussions.
In a new video interview with BT Sport, the multi-time women's champion explained her mentality of working banged up and how head injuries changed that.
"You know, it was crazy, it was such a weird thing for me because growing up in gymnastics and cheerleading, you know and kickboxing, track, the whole deal. If we got injured in all-star cheer or gymnastics, we just wrapped it up and kept going," Bliss said. "You know there was one cheer competition I went out with a knee brace, I had a broken thumb. Ankle was sprained or something like that. And I just did all my tumble passes with one arm. You just keep going.
"And for being in the company for almost seven years now. No, seven years now and not having any injuries and then having this one particular stint of time where it was just back-to-back concussions."
Bliss suffered a pair of concussions while working with Ronda Rousey in 2018. Bliss admitted that she was concerned that her in-ring career might have been over.
"It was very scary because I didn't know if I was going to be able to get back in the ring again," Bliss recalled. "Because you know we've had a lot of WWE Superstars have to retire from that. And you know, I didn't want to be one of those. But with concussions it's such a dangerous thing because it could take a week to heal or it could take a year. You can't just wrap a brain up in a cast and hope it heals.
"It was definitely one of those things I was very concerned because I was experiencing really bad vertigo for an extended period of time," Bliss stated. "All of my other symptoms were gone but if I would change height levels, I would get extremely dizzy. And it didn't go away for a really, really long time. So that's when I got really concerned. And they were like, 'You can't be in the ring if you're having any symptoms at all.' And then you have to go through a whole concussion process after you stop having symptoms. So I wasn't able to get to that first step for a long time and that's what was very frustrating and really disheartening. And I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to get in the ring again because it was nine months that I wasn't in the ring."
You can watch Bliss' complete interview in the video embedded in the player above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit BT Sport with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.