Exclusive: New Impact Wrestling World Champion Brian Cage Pulled From Impact TV Tapings
Wrestling Inc. can confirm that new Impact Wrestling World Champion "The Machine" Brian Cage has been pulled from this weekend's Impact TV tapings due to injury. Cage is currently at his home resting and recovering from an injury sustained at Impact's Rebellion pay-per-view last Sunday. This weekend's tapings will be taking place tonight and Saturday from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.
We can also confirm that Cage may miss tapings beyond this weekend. Cage was also not at last Monday's tapings in Toronto.
There is currently no word about the status of the Impact Wrestling championship. Cage may hold the title for the time being until he returns, or Impact could produce an angle at the tapings this weekend to strip him of it.
Cage won the Impact Wrestling World Championship by defeating Johnny Impact this past Sunday night at Impact's Rebellion PPV. During the bout, Cage appeared to suffer a back injury while taking a Spanish Fly from the entrance ramp to the floor. Following the match, and subsequent powerbomb from Michael Elgin, Cage was rushed to a local emergency facility in Toronto.
"Right when we hit, I'm rolling and the pain shoots down through my leg," Cage told Busted Open Radio the following afternoon. "It's a feeling I've never had before in my life. I'm instantly thinking, 'ruptured disc or whatever. My back is f—ed, I'm going to have to have surgery or something.' Then I'm thinking, 'Maybe it'll go away,' and just trying to enter the ring after that moment, I'm bleeding and what not.
"Rolling into the ring, turning my hip over hip and trying to get up, I felt like there was no strength there and the pain shot down my leg again, and I'm like 'crap.' But it felt almost a little bit better, so maybe it will subside here in a second, like a flash thing. Then I think was in the corner and I evaded Johnny, and there was no movement, like, I couldn't. I felt so slow and robotic in my mannerisms and movement because of the pain."
At the time, Cage thought that he would not have to miss any action, however that is not the case.
"[The Doctor] goes, 'I think you're going to be fine, you have severe inflammation and a bone bruise, there could be a small fracture there," Cage said. "I would like to rule that out, however, if there is a fracture, I don't seeing it being any major fracture. Even then, you can't do much more for that, just err on the side of caution."
Wrestling Inc. will be revealing another exclusive Impact Wrestling story today on our Friday video installment of the WINCLY. It will air at 2 pm CST via the Ringside Wrestling app. The app is free to download and is available to download on iPhones and Android devices.