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Xavier Woods On How His Achilles Injury Happened, Learning How Long He May Be Out, Questioning His Value While Being at Home

December 19, 2019 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Xavier Woods WWE Image Credit: WWE

– On the latest episode of New Day’s Feel the Power, Xavier Woods opened up about his Achilles injury and his reaction to it. Woods suffered a torn Achilles tendon during a match in Sydney in October and is expected to be out for several months still. Talking about the injury on the podcast, Woods discussed how the lack of a timetable for his return and having to sit home and watch WWE move ahead while he can’t contribute has been difficult on him from an emotional and mental level.

Highlights from the discussion, and the full podcast, are below:

On how the injury happened: “We were in Sydney, we were in Australia. First match of the night, it’s me and E. against Revival. Ended up doing a backflip at the beginning of the match, and as soon as I landed, I felt like somebody had kicked me in the back of the foot. Went to take another step, and I realized I couldn’t push off of that foot. And immediately, the thought shot across my mind that it was my Achilles because I could — that’s where I felt it. And so I got to the back, the doc said, ‘It’s most likely a torn Achilles.’ And when I heard that, there were a lot of different emotions that went through my head. Because a torn Achilles or ruptured Achilles is an injury that takes a very long time to come back from. So knowing that I could possibly be out for up to a year.”

On learning how long he may be out.: “So we’re literally all the way across the world, I’m away from my family and I get this news. So I have to fly from Syndey to Atlanta the next day, then go from Atlanta to Birmingham to get surgery. And the doctor tells me, ‘Here’s the breakdown. You tore it in an instant, it’ll take me 14 minutes to fix it, you could possibly take up to a year to feel good on it again.’ Which is absolutely terrifying to me because ever since I was little, this is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with this much passion and enjoyment. This is like my dream, my life goal. So at this point in time, where I still feel like we’re running in our prime, especially on TV, like we’re doing stuff. We’re having a great time, we’re having a great run as New Day. To have an injury that will take me out for an extended period of time is something that has, I guess, kind of shaken me to my core.”

On when he’s set to return: “There’s no real timeframe for when I will come back. It’s honestly kind of scary. Because yeah, there is a possibility that if I do everything right and everything goes well, and I ice it and I do the PT, and all the other tendons are strong around it. Maybe I’ll be back in 4 or 5 months, cool. But maybe not. Maybe I’ll be back at like, Survivor Series next year. But maybe not, maybe I’ll be back by ‘Mania the year after next. But like, maybe not. So the chances of that are very low that I would come back that late. But just the fact that there is a percentage chance that could happen, for lack of a better term, like, it just makes me sad.”

On having to sit at home and watch the company continue forward: “The other day I sent a very long, heartfelt text because I was deep in my feels. Deep in the feels very early in the process. But I feel like it’s a tube of toothpaste thing … At that moment in time, like, it is the factor of the show just goes. And it’s almost a thing, it’s almost a feeling of, like, ‘Was I worth anything on the show when I was there?’ Because if the show can just go on with nobody — I’m not saying that nobody cares, but just going on like business as usual, it really makes you remember everything that you were told before you got here. Or before you got into any company or into any physical type of job, whether you’re playing football [or] baseball or whatever. It’s a machine, and no one is bigger than the machine. Like, you go down, the machine still works without you. You are not that important to it and that, that’s one of the things that hurts. And I think that’s in any sport. And so, it’s just — you can put on a happy face and say ‘Oh, I’m doing this and doing that.’ But at the end of the day, it’s like, I want to wrestle. And not being able to do that, not because of a choice but because it was taken? That’s what hurts.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE’s Feel the Power with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.