Jamie Hayter made her return to AEW at AEW All In, coming out during the Zero Hour Pre-Show to take out Saraya and her family.
Hayter had been sidelined since AEW Double or Nothing 2023 when she lost the AEW Women's Title in short order to Toni Storm.
After spending 15 months on the sideline, Hayter doubted if a return was going to be possible.
"Absolutely," she told Renee Paquette on Up Close when asked if she thought she might not return. "Sometimes, it wasn't necessarily the injury. It was, 'I don't know if I want to.' It got to a point where, 'I don't know if I even want to do it again.' I don't know why. I think it was just the pain and everything that happened. I really wasn't sure. It's almost like I had to find myself again. Find my purpose and find my passion to do it again."
Asked what she was able to sink her teeth into to find her purpose and passion again, Hayter replied, "I think when the pain for my injury kind of subsided a little bit. That's when I could see the light a little bit more. I was in pain constantly. It was not a fun injury. I was bed-bound for months. I couldn't do anything. All I had was watching stuff on my phone, lying in bed, and reading some books. When the pain subsided and I could start to move again, for me personally, being physical is my enjoyment. That's what I do best. Getting back into a gym. The first time I got back into a ring, I felt alive again. The first time I hit my body on the mat again, it felt good. Honestly, it was just being back in the ring. I couldn't visualize myself in it. I watched AEW at home and I couldn't imagine myself doing it. I couldn't imagine myself being in front of however many people. It was a weird space to be in. When the cogs started turning again and things started to fall into place, 'Oh, I can.'"
Finally, Hayter detailed the extent of her injury.
"I completely herniated two discs in my back. I wasn't even aware of the injury until it was really bad. Until I couldn't walk. I couldn't even stand up straight. My body was at an angle. I couldn't laugh, sneeze, cough, sit down, stand in the shower, lay on my back. I couldn't do anything. I thought it was a sciatica at first. I kept going to the gym and kept wrestling. I did a sky dive on my birthday because I felt really good that day. 'I'm going to do it.' After, 'Oh, maybe I shouldn't have done that.' I wasn't aware of the significance of the injury until I couldn't walk. 'I'm in too much pain 24/7.' It would wake me up in the middle of the night. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," she said.
Hayter officially returned to the ring on the August 28th episode of AEW Dynamite, defeating Harley Cameron.
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