WWE Star Braun Strowman Opens Up About Spinal Stenosis, Surgery, Rehab

A month after he and Ricochet wrestled the Alpha Academy on "WWE Raw," Braun Strowman announced that he had sustained a serious neck injury that required him to have fusion surgery for his C4 and C5 vertebrae. Given the severity of this injury, Strowman would be sidelined for the next 11 months, before returning on this week's episode of "Raw." During a recent interview on "Insight With Chris Van Vliet," Strowman opened up about his injury, which was revealed to be spinal stenosis, and his rehabilitation that followed surgery.

"I only had nine millimeters of clearance around my spine between my C4 and C5 vertebrae," Strowman said. "I didn't know that and I got hit wrong during a match and my head whipped back. When my head whipped back and pinched my spine, it felt like a lightning bolt shot out both my arms and my arms went limp. So if you watch the match back, you can see in the match where it happened. There's a point where you see me, my arms dropped to my side, and I kind of look around really weird and I find my hands and stuff start to move again. And I'm looking at my hands and I go to take off running and I'm all wobbly, my balance is off and things like that. We got the match finished and got in the back, and it felt like someone was pouring boiling hot water down both of my arms. It was on fire."

After doctors later diagnosed him with spinal stenosis, Strowman recalled calling WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who suffered a similar neck injury from a reverse Tombstone Piledriver given to him by Owen Hart at the WWE's 1997 SummerSlam event. Despite Strowman's initial worries about his future in the ring, Austin assured him that everything would be okay. And eventually, it was.

With the help of WWE, Strowman said he received the "best surgery" at Andrew's Sports Medicine and a productive period of rehabilitation at the WWE Performance Center, which ultimately paved the way for his return. For this, Strowman remains forever thankful.