Marko Stunt Details Injury That Led To His Retirement, Making the Decision

Marko Stunt recently revealed the details behind the injury that lead to his retirement from the ring. The AEW star retired in November of last year that he was retiring. He cited health reasons for retiring, noting that he was told “prioritize my long-term health and step down from in-ring competition.”

Stunt appeared on Busted Open Radio for an interview. During the conversation, he talked about the injuries that ended his AEW run as well as his in-ring career altogether. You can see highlights below:

Marko Stunt on Not Thinking He Was Done After AEW:

“No, I didn’t think I was done at all. I’m never one to kind of just let things drown out, or I try not to, at least. I wrestled in the independents for quite a while. I ended up getting hurt pretty bad. There was one match I did in GCW, and I did a missile dropkick off the top rope. I didn’t have my contacts in at the moment. They had gotten ripped out the night before in a match. And so I had my glasses, but I can’t wear my glasses while I’m wrestling. I mean, I guess I could [laughs]. But that’d be kind of dumb.

“But yeah, my contacts had gotten ripped out so I couldn’t see very well. So I couldn’t — my depth perception was not right. I jumped off and I did the missile dropkick, and I ended up almost standing on top of the dude. And I kicked off, and I went backwards and hit the back of my head on on the mat and knocked myself out. And I don’t remember it. I remember seeing the video of it and it was pretty dumb, because I kept going and everything. I finished the match, I ended up — the finish of the match was me taking a brainbuster of all things.”

On How That Contributed To His AEW Exit:

“That kind of put me out, and that’s kind of what led to me being gone from AEW. Because I was supposed to wrestle on — we were going on the cruise that next week, the Jericho cruise. And I wasn’t gonna lie to him. I was like, ‘Guys, I did get knocked out the other day.’ So the medical team couldn’t allow me to wrestle. I had just gotten a few concussions prior to that, not too long before that. So they ended up sending me out for a few months, which caused my contract to expire. I got told that they were not gonna renew my contract and everything. It sucked, I was pretty devastated. And at that first instant, you kind of wanna give up and be like, ‘Oh well. I guess, I guess this is it for me.’

“But I tried not to do that for too long. I ended up going back and wrestling on the, independents and everything for GCW and a few other companies. And I had a blast doing that. I’ll always have love for, for GCW. They helped get me to where I was. They allowed me to have that publicity to be able to get to AEW. So I went back with them.”

On the Injury That Caused Him To Retire

“I wrestled with them for quite a while and then I — my back was really, really messed up. And I didn’t know what was really going on, my hips were bothering me. So I went to the doctor and got an X-ray. Because I did this match that for a show that me and my buddy put together here in here in Olive Branch. I did this stupid bump from — I did a run in, and I went to the top rope. And somebody came out and they shoved me. I did a front flip to the apron, but there was no padding on the apron. So I just hit the metal bar that was there.

“I ended up going to the doctor the next day, because I could barely walk. They did the x-rays and stuff, and I’d actually broken my back. My L-5 was cracked and had a chip in it. So I’ve still got a piece of my spine just floating around in there somewhere. They told me that my right hip was rotating forward. And so it was pulling my tailbone off to the side, which just causes a whole bunch of pain. And it’s pretty daily now [that] I deal with. But it’s one of those things where you just get so used to it that you’re like, ‘Oh, this is just a part of my life now. I’m just gonna hurt for a while.’

On Making the Decision To Retire:

“They did advise me to go ahead and hang up the boots. So I did, reluctantly, and [have] kind of just been going about life without wrestling recently over the past — I guess it’s been a year now since I retired. So I had to figure out what I’m gonna do financially. You know, I got a family now. I got a 16 month-old daughter. I gotta take care of her, I want to be able to play with her as she’s growing up. And you know, throw her around and just be able to pick her up and play with her. I can’t do that if I’m going out there and I end up getting paralyzed or something. Which is what they said is very likely to happen if I were to bump wrong.”

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