On the March 11, 2022 episode of WWE SmackDown, Big E suffered a neck injury when he landed on his head following a belly-to-belly suplex from Ridge Holland. Big E fractured his C1 vertebrae and C6 vertebrae, but didn't suffer any ligament or spinal cord damage.
Big E stated throughout the process that he would have to wait a year to get checked again before a potential return to the ring was discussed.
A year has passed, and Big E has given an update on his status.
"Still haven't gotten the one-year check ups yet. We're actually going to do that when we get back home after WrestleMania. Early April, during that first week, we'll get another set of scans. Right now, the issue was, the thought was after three months I should be ready, but because of the nature of my fracture, I broke my C1 in two places, and it's a Jefferson fracture. Sometimes, unfortunately with that injury, thankfully there's no displacement, so we didn't need to have surgery and all the bones were still in place to hopefully heal together properly. It's healing fibrously, meaning it's connected enough that I can walk around and no one is concerned that I'm going to be in any pain or have any issues, but it's not ossifying yet, it's not turning completely into bone. To deal with the rigors of bumping and doing what we do on a nightly basis, you want to make sure your C1 is completely ossified, it's all bone, and it's in the best shape possible. The plan is to get more scans at the first week of April, have the doctors review them, and make a decision from there. Your C1 is an important bone and I want to make the best decision health-wise for myself. You don't want to rush. I've been in rehab for nine months, working on strength and range of motion and all of that has been great. That's where we're at right now. We'll get the scans and move on from there," he said on Busted Open Radio.
Big E previously stated that he would be good with whatever the doctors decided in regards to his in-ring future.
Big E has been helping with NIL tryouts at major WWE events during his time away from the ring. He is part of the NIL tryouts during WrestleMania weekend.
Fightful will continue to update fans on the status of Big E as more is known.
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