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WWE Superstar Braun Strowman announced Friday that he underwent surgery to fuse the C4 and C5 vertebrae in his neck.
Strowman made the announcement in an Instagram video accompanied by the following caption:
“Road to recovery starts now!!!! Level one fusion on my C4/C5 vertebrae was in the great hands of Dr. Cordover at Andrews Sports Medicine was a great experience considering. Thank you to WWE for always taking the [utmost] care of us. This was very scary to find out about having to have done and they were there every step of the way reassuring that I was going to have the best care possible. This will take a little bit of time to heal from. But I assure you (in the words of the Terminator) I’ll be back!!!! Thank you all in advance for the well wishes.”
Strowman’s announcement came after PWInsider.com’s Mike Johnson reported that Strowman was in Birmingham, Alabama, to get checked out with the belief that he may require surgery.
The Monster of All Monsters had not been seen on WWE programming since the May 1 episode of Raw when he and Ricochet defeated Alpha Academy in a tag team match.
Strowman, 39, initially signed with WWE in 2013 and made his debut on the main roster in 2015 as part of The Wyatt Family.
He went on to enjoy a great deal of success in teams and individually, holding the Raw Tag Team Championships twice, and the Universal and Intercontinental Championships one time each.
Despite that, Strowman was released from his contract in 2021 amid a deluge of WWE budget cuts.
After Triple H succeeded Vince McMahon as WWE’s head of creative, Strowman returned to the company in September 2022.
Strowman was a singles wrestler at first, but eventually began teaming with Ricochet, and they had been a duo for the past several months until Strowman’s neck injury landed him on the shelf.
While neck surgery is serious for any athlete, there is a history of pro wrestlers managing to return from it and continue their careers.
Edge, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Lita, Saraya and Tommaso Ciampa are just a few of the wrestlers who have made successful recoveries and comebacks over the years.