Dalton Castle Opens Up About Back Injury He Suffered During ROH World Title Run
Professional wrestlers are known to work while hurt from time to time; however, whenever anyone gets a serious injury, they should probably take it easy, right? Obviously, the answer is yes, but just like in every other aspect of his presentation, Dalton Castle does things a little differently.
While appearing on a recent episode of "AEW Unrestricted," the former Ring of Honor World Champion talked about winning that title with a broken back. However, he didn't know that it was broken at the time. "The Part Peacock" assumed that the regular wear and tear of the mat wars was a little worse than usual. And knowing sometime in advance that he would be crowned champion, he was more determined than ever to push through until it was his time to shine.
"I had broken my back a year prior and was unaware of what the injury was," he said. "I just kept ignoring it and dealing with it. I remember for months, I would show up to shows and I would just lay on an ice pack until my music was playing and just go out there and pretend to wrestle somehow. And I knew down the road what the plan was for me, so I couldn't just take time off or tell anybody. I just had to deal with it, which looking back is a really stupid mentality, but also it's why my career is where it is today, so I don't know how it would have been if I went the other route. I don't really regret it. I regret having such weak bones. That's all."
Coming to a cross roads
Despite his back injury getting progressively worse over time, Castle said that he felt no pain at ROH Final Battle 2017, when he faced Cody Rhodes for the ROH World Championship, due to the adrenaline rush from the excitement of his grand entrance and his gracious opponent. While that was a night to be proud of, the pain caught up with him later on.
"I'm the one who's the face of the company and my back is broken," Castle recalled. "I had all this ambition and I want to do so much with this position, but all I can do is try to hold on and fight through it. It was almost like each week I was fighting harder than I was the last because I'm starting to lose a lot of my ability. Then it got to the point where I wasn't able to get out of bed while I was still champion. So I can't even walk, how can I be World champion? It went on for a few weeks, then finally after six months, they said they were going to take it off me, which was such a gift for me, for my health."
Castle said that losing the title and taking time off was a disappointing experience as he wanted to compete, but he understood why he had to be relieved of his duties as the face of the company. After he delivered a triumphant title reign at less than 100%, the ROH star is excited to find out what he can do now that he's fully recovered from the injury.