Ty’s time is up
Tyson Kidd’s future in the WWE is hanging by a thread despite his tweet about the Royal Rumble.
WWE pay-per-view special: Royal Rumble Sunday 5 Feb e.tv (*194) 10:15
Make no mistake: Tyson Kidd is never wrestling competitively in the WWE again. He’s lucky to be alive after Samoa Joe broke his neck in June 2015 and Tyson (real name Theodore James “TJ” Wilson) says that “only 5% of people with this injury survive – even then they’re quadriplegics” [his doctors say it’s as bad as the 1995 injury that put Christopher Reeve in a wheelchair].
CUTS LIKE A KNIFE
The 36-year-old wrestler needed his C1 and C2 vertebra (the bones right at the top of his spine) fused and they’re held together by four screws and a rod! Tyson’s break is worse than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Edge’s neck injuries and both wrestlers had to retire following their neck surgeries. It’s so bad that almost © two years later Tyson admits that he can’t feel his head and “I can’t turn my neck – I have to turn my whole body to see things”.
TWITTER TALES
WWE fans are antsy to have Tyson back, especially since he’s been seen on the wrestling company’s reality show Total Divas (2013- current; see more on p65) with his WWE Diva wife Natalya. In early January 2017, Tyson replied to a fan’s tweet about being involved in the Royal Rumble match with “Yep, #17 – Don’t tell anyone”, but according to sources, “That’s never going to happen. It wouldn’t be safe for him or the WWE – that’s not a risk that anyone’s going to take”. Plus, Tyson’s contract as an active wrestler expired in December 2016 but no announcement has been made about his career or retirement. He did reveal that he’s been banned by the WWE from appearing in the current sixth season of Total Divas, adding that “ask them [the WWE] why. I don’t think they want this [injury] situation explained”.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Tyson hasn’t been sitting back doing nothing though. He’s still undergoing rehab and he has kept in shape with gym work. He’s also made it clear that he’s not done with wrestling [he’s still listed as a “current Superstar” on wwe.com] and sources say that “as the final graduate of the legendary Hart Dungeon training facility, it would be a sin to lose him. Tyson is too good a wrestler and it will be a shock if he isn’t made a trainer at the WWE’s performance centre in Orlando, Florida in 2017”.