Big E spent years putting his body through hell for wrestling, but when it finally came time to accept that his in-ring career was over, there wasn’t some massive internal battle. After everything he had already endured, walking away actually became the easy part.
Speaking on The Haangout, Big E explained that he absolutely loved wrestling and often felt like being inside the ring was exactly where he was supposed to be. However, the meditation and mindfulness work he started doing in 2020 helped him become comfortable with letting that part of his life go.
“I always want to say this with a caveat of I had the time of my life when I was in the ring. Truly, there were so many times I felt when I was in the ring I was exactly where I was supposed to be, where God had guided me to this point in life, where this is exactly what I was supposed to be doing.
But honestly, because of my time in 2020, really working on myself, getting into meditation and mindfulness, it really was not a hard decision for me because I just had gotten to a point where I think I was just able to accept that this was the right decision.
Meditation really is just a lot about letting go. A lot of what guided meditation teaches you is letting go of things that don’t serve you anymore.”
The bigger reality check came after Big E broke his neck. When doctors asked him to list all of his previous injuries, suddenly hearing everything together made him realize just how much punishment his body had already absorbed by his mid-30s.
“I’m telling them: torn left ACL, torn right ACL, broken right patella, torn left meniscus, torn left pec, herniated disc in my low back, herniated disc in my neck, and now this broken neck.
I’m in my mid-30s at the time, and I had put my body through all these things.”
Big E had also seen enough former football players and wrestlers struggling physically later in life to know that wasn’t the future he wanted. As much as he loved being an athlete, continuing to chase another comeback wasn’t worth potentially spending his 40s and 50s dealing with constant pain.
“And I told myself, I did not want that life for myself. As much as I love being an athlete, I love being in the ring, I love being on the field, love being in the weight room, I don’t want to be 45, 50 years old and have to live in a body that is wrecked and to regret all the time I spent doing what I loved.
So I just knew if I wanted quality of life, it was important for me to kind of get off this hamster wheel. Plus, honestly, it’s just exhausting to go through that whole cycle of injury, surgery, rehab, doing that over and over again. I was just so tired of it.”
There was also one medical opinion that really stuck with him. Big E spoke with the spine specialist used by TJ Wilson and Natalya, and he says the doctor practically begged him not to wrestle again even if he eventually received clearance.
“And he almost begged me not to get back in the ring. He said even if, you know, even if you get cleared, it’s my C1. It is the most important vertebra when it comes to, you know—when I broke my neck, doctors told me I was this close to stroke, paralysis, or death.”
That made the risk pretty damn difficult to justify. Big E loved wrestling, but not enough to gamble with dying in the ring or potentially spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
“And look, what we do is fun. It pays the bills, but at that time, I don’t want to die in the ring. I don’t want to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life in my mid-30s and have to live that way for another who knows how long.”
Thankfully, leaving the ring didn’t mean completely leaving WWE behind. Big E has found another lane through broadcasting, something he never imagined doing when his wrestling career began but has since grown to enjoy.
“So the great thing is there are still other ways to be involved with the product. So for me, when I really thought about it and when I tried to forecast what I wanted life to look like in the next five, ten years and beyond, I just thought, you know what? It is time. It’s time.”
For Big E, there doesn’t seem to be much wondering about what might have been. After years of surgeries, rehab and one injury that could have ended far worse than it did, he’d rather protect the life he still has than risk everything trying to squeeze another run out of his body.
Do you think Big E made the right call by putting his long-term quality of life ahead of another run in the ring? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
