Matt Taven Says He’s Had Knee Surgery During Pandemic, Talks Mindset When Working Injured

On the latest ROHStrong podcast, Matt Taven discussed his health status and revealed that he was able to quietly undergo knee surgery while things were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Taven has been dealing with an ankle injury and he noted that the lockdown has given him time to rehab the injury. He also talked about how he worked with a bad knee for a long time stemming from his knee surgery four years ago, and what the mindset is for talent when they find themselves working through injuries. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

On getting knee surgery during the pandemic: “That’s one of the weirdest things about this quarantine, is that I’ve been able to quietly rehab my ankle surgery. But also I got knee surgery as well during quarantine and have been able to rehab that while everything is going on. Its been a little difficult because since everything is closed down, I haven’t been able to get into the P.T. office, I really haven’t been able to talk to my surgeon except over Zoom and Skype. Which is a little different, it’s hard to explain things that are going on and how you’re recovering over the computer instead of really showing someone and letting them see how you’re recovering.

“So, you know it’s — I think I’m doing great. I feel like I’m ready to go. I haven’t been able to get a doctor to say, ‘You’re cleared,’ just because of everything that’s been going on right now with quarantine. But if it was up to me, and this might be my own stupidness from not learning from previous mistakes. Because I always seem to go out there to the ring no matter what condition I’m in. But right now if you were to ask me if I was ready to go, I feel like I am. I’m just waiting for a doctor’s okay. And hopefully, everything can kinda get lifted as far as lockdown. And probably my most important thing that I’m looking forward to is getting back into a doctor’s office so they can tell me I’m good to go.”

On his mindset when he was working with the ankle injury: “You know, it’s — I think it’s a thing that’s just in us as wrestlers in general. This isn’t like an easy thing to get into, and it really takes a toll on your body. And whether you’re hurt-hurt or just out there wrestling you feel pain, you know what I mean? You come back to the hotel room and your back’s sore, your knee’s sore, and you just king of find a way to work through it. So it’s just kind of something ingrained in us to always push through. And for me personally, I was stuck — like really kind of struggling with two different things. I had knee surgery on the ACL, and both meniscus on the left side of my left knee four years ago.

“And I think I kind of came back too early from that injury, and really never let my meniscus heal the way it should have, and I was kind of dealing with that the entire time since coming back. So the last four years I’ve been dealing with a knew that would, from time to time would lock up. Middle of the matches, I couldn’t get my knee to bend. And it’s just something that I never talked about, I just kind of kept going out there, icing it when I could and knowing that one day I’ll have a chance to get it fixed. And unfortunately with wrestling it’s not like we have an offseason or anything. And if you don’t want to be forgotten, you don’t step out of that spotlight if you can.”

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