WWE’s Viking Raiders Praise JD McDonagh’s Toughness After Scary Injury

WWE Superstars Ivar and Erik of The Viking Raiders recently called their fellow wrestler JD McDonagh a “stud.” They praised him for continuing a World Tag Team Title match earlier this year after McDonagh suffered serious injuries. McDonagh had been out of action since January following the incident.

In that match, where McDonagh teamed with Dominik Mysterio against The Viking Raiders, McDonagh performed a high-flying move to the outside. He hit his head hard on the announce desk, which later turned out to cause a punctured lung and broken ribs. During a talk with Gorilla Position (per Fightful), Ivar and Erik remembered that moment.

Ivar: “What a stud. So I couldn’t see it when it happened, and I’m not even sure if you saw it.”

Erik: “I didn’t.”

Ivar: “Maybe heard it. I heard it. We laid out and I kind of went over to him and he wasn’t moving and I’m like, ‘Oh boy.’ I squeezed his foot, nothing. Squeezed his foot again, nothing, and I crawled over to him like, ‘Hey man, are you okay?’ And then he goes, ‘Yeah, yeah. I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ So I go, alright. I guess he’s okay. But I didn’t know his ribs were hurt at all until, I don’t know, almost all the way through the match. Because I ended up, like, punched him in the stomach. That’s when he told me to be easy on his ribs. I’m like, ‘Oh, all right.’ All right I guess. But man, he muscled through it.”

Erik: “I don’t know any of us had any clue how bad he was injured and how close it came to disaster. Like, how incredibly close…”

Ivar: “None of us could see it.”

Erik: “We didn’t see it. We didn’t know…

Ivar: “And then, to WWE’s credit, they made sure to check on him. Everyone thought it was his head. So they checked with him. They checked him for a concussion during commercial break. They made sure he was okay. He kept saying he was okay.”

Erik: “And he just said, ‘I got the wind knocked out of me,’ or, ‘I couldn’t breathe. I’m good, I’m good, I’m good…’ Like Ivar said, what a stud. He was just like, ‘Yeah, I can’t breathe’ and goes up and does a shooting star press — or moonsault.”

Ivar: “Which was supposed to be a 450, but he made the modification because his ribs were so hurt. Which I don’t know if the moonsault is gonna really… Man, what a stud. That’s all, man.”