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Ember Moon On How She Ruptured Her Achilles Tendon, Not Realizing It at First, Status of the Injury

January 8, 2020 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Athena Ember Moon Smackdown Athena Image Credit: WWE

Ember Moon appeared on Booker T’s Hall of Fame series and discussed the status of her Achilles tendon injury. Moon suffered the injury back in September, announcing in November that she was out indefinitely due to it.

Speaking with Booker, Moon talked about not wanting to rush back, how the injury happened and how she didn’t realize how bad it was at first. Highlights and the full interview are below:

On the status of the injury: “It’s weird, because I don’t want to rush back from this because of the likelihood of re-rupture. And it’s not a normal rupture, which like, rupture is ‘torn in half.’ But I also stripped it off the bone, too. So [Xavier] Woods just cracked his in half. I, you know, royally messed it up.”

On being brought into the Raw and Smackdown taping where the injury happened: “[laughs] I don’t want to talk about it. It’s so sad … so, I know this is gonna hit the dirt sheets. Ready? So, we were in San Francisco for a Raw and a Smackdown. And I don’t remember if there was a PPV before, but people were on tour or something and I was not. So they were like, ‘Hey, Ember,’ like a day before. I mean, Saturday night, Sunday morning, ‘Hey Ember, can you be at Raw Monday?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, well I’m — yeah, I guess I’ll be there.’ And I got really excited, because I was like, ‘Oh my god, are they doing something with me? They’re bringing me to Raw, yes!’ And so I get there and they’re like, ‘Yeah, you’re working Lacey. Lacey’s over, we’re doing this thing with her and Nattie.’ And I was like ‘[sigh] Okay.’ You know? And I love Lacey Evans. I’ve know her since day one, the first day that she walked in the PC. And I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s go girl. Let’s go out there and kill it.’ And she was just, ‘Yeah, whatever!’ And it was a really cool moment, because it’s the first time I got to wrestle her on TV.

On being put in a 24/7 Title segment on Smackdown where the injury happened: “And I had so much fun, made it to the hotel, getting ready to do SmackDown the next day. And they were like, ‘Hey Ember, you’re in the 24/7 Title run, because Carmella won the night before’. And I was like, ‘Oh, s**t. Y’all sure? Y’all sure y’all need me for that?!’ I just — you know whats weird, is like when you know you have a bad feeling about something? So I had a feeling and I was like ‘Oooh, do we? Okay cool, you know what? Team player, screw it. I got this. I’m in.'”

“I think all the other girls were wrestling that night. So I think it was me, Mandy, Sonya, Asuka, Kairi maybe? There were only like five of us doing this run. And so, we’re do the run throughs, and everything was nervous because it’s west coast, so we have way less time to prepare for the show … so we do the run-though, boom, right? And I told Truth, I was like, ‘Truth, you better run, I’m gonna catch you, Truth. If I catch you, I’m tackling you and you’re going down.’ And so when we actually did it, I literally caught them right before we went through the curtain. So they go through the curtain, and they didn’t realize how close I was behind them … So we go through the curtain. As I’m coming through, the curtain shuts, I open it, go through. Truth is dropping Carmella, and it’s like from me to you [just a couple of feet] and I’m going full speed. And I had to hit the brakes. I was just like, ‘Whoah,’ BOOM, and I felt a pop.”

On not realizing how bad it was at first: “It felt like a scratch. Like if someone just went like this [runs nails along her arm] on the back of your heel. And I was like, ‘Huh, that feels weird.’ Get this though. Made it all the way back to Dallas. So we had redeyes that night. And I remember [thinking], ‘Ooh, that feels a little weird.’ I went to the airport from the San Francisco arena. And I think it’s because I had my wrestling boots on still. I think it’s holding it all together, because there’s no way I should have made it home. But I wasn’t in pain. Didn’t have knee bruising, didn’t have any swelling. I made it all the way, landed in Dallas. And I’m getting off the plane, my foot just feels weird. And I can’t really put a lot of weight on it and stuff.

“Anyway, my husband comes and picks me up, I made it to the house and I pass out … I remember I slept from like 7 AM to 7:30 PM. I was so tired, and so exhausted. And I went to get up to use the restroom or something, get food. I don’t know, I was tired. And I just fell. And my husband comes up and is like, ‘Are you okay?’ I said, ‘My foot’s not working.’ He said, ‘Are you okay?’ I was like, ‘No, my foot’s just not working, I can’t put weight on it, I can’t walk.'”

On getting the injury diagnosis: “So we went and took pictures of it and called WWE because it freaked me out. And I was like, ‘Something is wrong.’ But I was in no pain, no swelling, no bruising, nothing … And so I called one of the doctors, was like, ‘Hey, something’s wrong.’ And they’re like, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘My foot isn’t working.’ [laughs] It was one of those really sad conversations, because it’s like I need to go get an MRI, I need to go to an ER, but I wasn’t committed to saying I was hurt …He goes, ‘All right, well we’ll get you an MRI tomorrow morning at this place. Just go.’ So I go to the doctor the next morning, and — because they basically thought it was a different tendon. Which they’re like, ‘Oh, you just sit out three weeks and you’re fine. This is what I think it is, but let’s go get an MRI, make sure, blah blah blah.’ So I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s only three weeks.’

“And then I get there, the doctor basically sits me down, he’s like, ‘What’s wrong?’ I tell him what’s wrong and he’s like, ‘Huh. How are you walking?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ And so he basically touches the back of my heel, and he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, you ruptured your Achilles.’ Just like — no MRI, no nothing. And I was like, ‘Mmmm…no.’ I did not believe him because I talked to them, they had given me the best-case scenario here, and I’m like ‘No, brother, we’re gonna do this MRI tonight.’ And so he said, ‘Well, I’m getting ready to go.’ And I’m like, ‘Well I’m-a need to get an MRI.’ So I go get the MRI, send it off to WWE, and I mean, they sent me a picture back, and it’s clear as day. Just, I mean, I am not a medical professional by any means, but looking at it, like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s torn.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Hall of Fame with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.

article topics :

Ember Moon, WWE, Jeremy Thomas