Kyle O'Reilly talks about returning to the ring after an extended absence due to injury and complications following neck fusion surgery.
Kyle O'Reilly returned to AEW television at AEW Revolution after being sidelined since June 2022 when he was forced to undergo neck fusion surgery and then had to deal with complications following the surgery which caused him to lose the feeling in one of his arms.
O'Reilly's return was in doubt at one point, but now he's back and ready to challenge Roderick Strong for the AEW International Title at AEW Dynasty.
For Kyle, the road to recovery was all about taking it one step at a time and in a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp, he details his road to recovery and the blessing in disguise that allowed him to spend more time with his newborn daughter.
"To really be patient. All I could really do was everything that was in my power, which was rehabbing, staying positive, and knowing that eventually it would get better. That’s a huge mental hurdle to get over and that’s half the battle in getting well. Just to know that if I stayed the course, eventually things would get better. I didn’t expect it to take as long as it did, but I wasn’t expecting the complications to begin with. At the end of the day, it ended up being a blessing for me because I got some special time at home with my daughter, who was six months old when I got hurt, and now I’m going back and she’s over two. I got to spend all that quality time at home with her and playing that stay-at-home dad role. I found that I’m a better dad than I ever was a wrestler. There’s always that as a backup plan. Just staying the course, be positive knowing I would get better, and eventually I would get back in the ring and back on pay-per-view and here I am."
Fans can learn more details about Kyle O'Reilly's return to AEW here.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynasty as it airs on April 21. Check out the full card here.
Check out the entire interview with Kyle O'Reilly embedded above.
