Will Ospreay believes he can officially say he beat John Cena at something. It wasn’t inside a wrestling ring, but after coming back from neck surgery faster than expected, Ospreay was more than happy to claim the victory anyway.
Speaking to SHAK Wrestling, Ospreay revealed that he returned from neck surgery in just five months and three weeks, beating the original six-to-nine-month recovery timetable doctors gave him. That was enough for Ospreay to immediately bring Cena into the conversation.
“I was able to do it in five months and three weeks, and so in that case I beat John Cena. Do you know what I mean? I’ve done it.”
Ospreay was clearly having some fun with the comparison, but getting back that quickly was something he took very seriously. He underwent surgery in September and was originally told he could be sidelined for anywhere between six and nine months.
“They said to me when this started, if you do it on this date, which was September, you’re looking between six and nine months. That’s tight. Real tight to get that—to get that back.”
The reason he was in such a hurry was AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. Ospreay says getting himself healthy enough to make it back for the show became the driving force behind his recovery.
“That was kind of the driving force behind my recovery, to be honest with you.”
The whole situation had started after the previous year’s All In, when Ospreay discovered that his neck problem required surgery. His surgeon allowed him to wrestle one final match beforehand, but only under strict limitations.
“I found out that I needed surgery like after that year’s All In. It was kind of like a decision where my surgeon said, like, ‘You can do one last match, but it has to be under these circumstances. You can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ And that was the first time I had worked with a lot of restrictions.”
Once the surgery was done, Ospreay threw himself into rehab and started exploring different recovery options in an attempt to get ahead of schedule.
“The fact that I harnessed in on my rehab and I looked at like so many different alternatives in terms of recovery…”
Five months and three weeks later, he was back. Ospreay may never have gotten John Cena across the ring from him, but he’s apparently found another category where he can claim a win over the 17-time World Champion—and he wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to brag about it.
What do you make of Will Ospreay claiming he “beat John Cena” with his recovery time? Let us know in the comments.
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