Subhojeet Mukherjee on January 24, 2024
Cora Jade recently made a comeback to WWE’s NXT after a prolonged hiatus, teasing a possible departure before ultimately returning to take charge. She will be away from WWE television for a long time due to an ACL injury and now Booker T made it clear he doesn’t believe the injury was due to training.
Cora Jade recently suffered torn ACL during a WWE NXT Live Event earlier this month, causing significant concern among fans who feared a prolonged absence from action due to the injury.
Jade was then spotted wearing knee brace after her injury. While speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T discussed Cora Jade becoming the latest WWE NXT star to suffer a torn ACL, noting that this has become a concerning trend at the Performance Center, particularly among female talent. Booker T questioned whether the training or the work style was more responsible for the injuries.
“A lot of the young talent are getting injured these days. And I was reading an article about the way the training may be taking place these days may be having something to do with injuries with the talent on the roster. And me personally, I really don’t agree with that. Because they’re not getting injured in training, they’re getting injured when they’re working. I mean, right or wrong? I mean that’s just my point on that.”
“But my thing is a lot of young talent — just like say for instance Solo Ruca, Nikkita Lyons, and now Cora Jade have had injuries. And the thing is, a lot of the guys have had injuries as well. And the thing is, I’m wondering, is it more of the training or is it more of the work style? Because I’ve heard some of the ladies say they want to work just as hard as the men? They want to be able to do dives and do stuff, take just as many risks as the man.”
Booker T emphasized that injuries were occurring during matches rather than training sessions, expressing his belief that the current generation of wrestlers seems to prioritize taking risks and throwing caution to the wind. Booker T reflected on the shift from a mindset of ensuring longevity in the business to the current willingness to take high-risk maneuvers regularly.
”I remember back in the day, the business was about going out there and making sure you can do it the next day. But today, these young wrestlers seem like throwing caution to the wind is just something that they do on a regular basis. And I say that because one of my guys, he actually wanted to jump off the scaffold one night, where we put the television cameras, he wanted to jump off of it.’‘
”And I go, ‘What sense does that make?’ ‘Oh, it’d be a great spot.’ Yeah, but you might crack your skull and go to the hospital. You know, for me, a lot of things happen these days I think because of the risk that’s being taken more so than anything. But aside from that risk — It’s not even about risk sometimes. It’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”
Booker T highlighted the unpredictability of injuries, citing examples like RVD’s routine backflip move that led to a sudden knee injury despite its repeated successful execution in the past. Booker T ultimately attributed the increasing injuries to the evolving wrestling style characterized by a greater willingness to take risks.
”You can — I watched RVD do that little backflip over a guy. Guy goes for the backdrop, and RVD would do a little backflip and land on his feet and hit the ropes, whatever. I watched RVD do that move, I don’t know, at least 100 times just in our career, you know what I mean?”
”I’m sure he did it more than that. And one day he did it, and he blew his knee out just like that. I mean, and he didn’t do anything different than he had done for him probably 500 times, perhaps. So, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. And when I see someone try to make an analogy as far as why people get hurt — like I say, I just think it’s a style more than anything.”
Cora Jade also underwent surgery for her ACL injury recently. It was also confirmed during last week’s episode of NXT television that Cora Jade will be out of action for almost year due to her ACL injury. We’ll have to wait and see what WWE will have planned for Cora Jade upon her triumphant return.
What do you think of what Booker T had to say? Do you feel the training regime is responsible for NXT’s latest slew of injuries? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
January 24, 2024 9:20 am
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