Joaquin Wilde On Making It To WWE Following 2017 Injury, Says It Should Have Killed Him

Joaquin Wilde has found success in WWE as part of Legado del Fantasma and the LWO, but he nearly didn’t make it after a 2017 injury as he recently discussed. Wilde suffered a serious injury after he did a 450 splash onto Laredo Kid during a show in Mexico City back when he was working as DJZ, which ruptured his colon and required surgery. Wilde talked about the experience on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, and you can see some highlights below:

On his mom’s reaction to his success: “She’s relieved. Yeah, especially after the whole stomach injury I had in Mexico. That was the point where my mom was like, ‘All right, you don’t have to keep doing this. You have a college degree, you don’t have to continue chasing this dream? Haven’t you done enough?’ But yeah I don’t know. Maybe I’m just stubborn and I had to see it through. Had to continue this journey, see if there really was a light at the end of the tunnel. And yeah, she’s very thankful that there was.”

On finding success after the injury: “It’s unbelievable. Yeah, I think sometimes, like — because it wasn’t just that this injury happened, it should have ended my career. It should have ended my life. I remember speaking to a gastroneurologist two months after this injury happened. And when he looked at my X-rays, I told him my story, whatnot. He looked at me and said, ‘I feel like I’m talking to a ghost right now. You should be dead.’ And I just thought to myself like, ‘Why was I given this second chance? Why was I spared, why am I still able to wrestle? Why am I still alive?’ And I just always thought, it’s because there must be something left for me to achieve in this business. And yeah, I guess WWE was that thing and here we are I’m so glad that it all worked out.”

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