ROH Star Dalton Castle Wrestled With Broken Back Thinking He'd Pulled A Muscle

Working through injuries is all part of the business. Some may linger longer than most. For "The Party Peacock" everyone knows in ROH and AEW as Dalton Castle, reality didn't set in on the severity of one one of those injuries right away. In an interview with "What Happened When," the former ROH World Champion recalls what he thought was a pressing pulled muscle, when really, it was something much more serious.

"I wrestled for quite a long time with a broken back, undiagnosed," Castle revealed. "I broke my hand in the middle of it...I think it was 2016...I just pulled the muscle, is what I initially thought. Like, I had this, I was traveling in freestyle. I was professional wrestling, but on the side, I would still train in regular wrestling. And I just was this real hard go with this guy. And he cranked his neck the same time my back popped...And then I woke up in the middle of the night in the worst pain of my life, where I couldn't lie down, couldn't sit up, couldn't move...it was, like, electric."

Castle mentioned that when he spoke with his doctor, after successfully bending over to touch his toes, his doctor thought his back was inflamed. On the contrary, the pain was so excruciating for Castle, that before every match during that time, he was seen lying on ice packs seconds before hitting the ring. Dropping the ROH World Title to Jay Lethal in a four-way match that had Matt Taven and Cody Rhodes also participating, Castle left in June of 2018 to return more soundly that October.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "What Happened When podcast with Tony Schiavone and Conrad Thompson" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.