Chris Bey: ‘Never say never’ on in-ring return, details paralysis recovery, TNA & CM Punk relationships
Image: TNA
For the first time since breaking his neck and damaging his spinal cord last October, Chris Bey did an extensive interview where he provided specific details about both the injury suffered the day after TNA Bound for Glory and the recovery, relationships he has made after the fact, and if he feels he will ever wrestle again.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet for 90 minutes, Bey said he feels “mentally amazing” and that he is “mentally unbeatable” after the craziest last four months of his life.
The injury
Despite being sore from the pay-per-view, he said he was excited going into the post-Bound for Glory bout with The Hardys and that spot where he got hurt is one he’s done a million times.
The injury took place on a neckbreaker where he and Matt Hardy missed each other by “an inch.” He knew something was wrong, but thought it was a stinger. He felt numb, “weird” as it was a feeling he never experienced before and was upset at how the spot looked, not realizing what had happened to him.
“You don’t know what’s wrong. You just know something’s not right,” he said.
He was watching the others do their spots and was preparing to get involved, but he said he was mentally doing something different than what his body was actually doing. He reluctantly said to go to the finish where Jeff Hardy was to give him a swanton, but then asked the ref to have him do something else. Hardy then “missed a leg drop by a mile and pinned me.”
Doctors checked on him and his fingers were shaking, but he couldn’t squeeze them. His arms were hot and he couldn’t feel his toes which is when he realized it was something serious, adding he has never had surgery before, never suffered even a broken bone, and wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be feeling.
As he was taken to the ambulance, he asked Ace Austin to start calling people as news was making the rounds. Austin rode with him to the hospital which was later filled with TNA personnel and talent who had to be told to leave at one point because there was so many of them.
He said he knew the situation was “real” when he was rolled over and saw his new boots, tights and kneepads stacked neatly but never felt them being taken off his body. He was in “so much pain” waiting for the surgeon to arrive after being told they were going to operate on his neck.
The surgery was a fused C6 and C7 done through the front of his neck and a fused C6 to T1 through the back due to damage done to his neck and spinal cord.
“They put me under, I woke up the next day and it was day one,” a phrase he has used since then as he viewed this as the first day of his new life with a new obstacle to overcome.
The recovery & inspirations
He was told the quickest portion of recovery happens within three-to-six months and that they would have a better understanding of his physical situation within a year-to-18 months after the injury. Bey retold the story he mentioned in his first social post since the accident, saying they gave him just a 10-25% chance to walk again.
“Look at me now,” he said.
He said he was grateful to be alive, but that for 24-48 hours after the injury, “I was messed up,” not wanting to believe what had happened to him but that his odds for walking were better than 0%. It was go time after that, inspired by his father’s work ethic and life advice of how you can’t become a victim to your distractions.
The lead-up to the video he shared earlier this year where he got up out of a wheelchair and walked admittedly “wasn’t pretty” and took a lot of therapy, mental will and “a lot of days where I wasn’t better than the day before.” He said his process to walk again started about three weeks before that video and that he wanted to make it look as normal as possible as he didn’t want to be embarrassed by looking shaky.
He said he was in a wheelchair from three weeks after his surgeries until mid-January and overall spent two months in the Detroit hospital, flying home on December 28th. During his stay, he felt like “I was in a time capsule, watching Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas go by” and that everyone was doing their thing, working in wrestling, continuing their lives and he was just “stuck in this bed.”
He said his fingers and hands started to move a few days to a week after the surgery, but he didn’t have dexterity and worked on how to grip things. He said his fine motor skills are still “not great” and that he is working on things like removing bottle caps.
Things began to change on December 3rd when his PT person came in and after stretching, he was able to move his adductor (hip) muscle which is when they begin to get “excited”. He eventually started moving his legs in different positions and his muscles slowly began to re-fire up over time. He eventually made it into a standing frame to begin to prepare his body for being upright and did six hours of PT daily three times a week, adding extra sessions whenever he could.
Support
He recalled a conversation he had with WWE star CM Punk about the odds of walking again who told him, “I think that diagnosis applies to humans and you’re not human.” Several times in the interview, he talked about Punk, mentioning a tattoo he got after a 2023 conversation (“Every day above ground is a good day”) and to approach every day with gratitude.
He also spoke about conversations with TJ Wilson, Adam Copeland and Sean Waltman about their various neck injuries and recovery, saying they are “a rare club of people. We’re all so different and everyone has made it through it.”
He spoke on how much Punk’s shoutout as part of the WWE Raw Netflix debut meant to him, saying he was “surprised, humbled, grateful” and he couldn’t believe through what he was doing, he made that much of a mark on people. He said everyone was blowing his phone up about the acknowledgement and that he couldn’t believe Punk or anyone was thinking about him that much.
“No words for it,” he said.
Bey was brought to tears recalling the support that saw a GoFundMe reach its goal quickly and that continues to see contributions being made to it. He feels that deep down, all of us want to be cared about, even those with tough exteriors.
Since he is unable to earn money doing what he loves and can’t yet do certain things with his hands, the money affords him time “to figure something out. At least, it gives me that opportunity to not have to stress about how to survive and keep a roof over my head.”
He confirmed that TNA covered all medical expenses and that someone from the company (from talent to executives to those who work behind the scenes) checks in on him nearly daily.
“They did so much more than I ever would have anticipated or expected,” adding he can’t understand why people think they wouldn’t have and that family isn’t even the right term to describe how they have taken care of him.
A return, next steps
After getting in the best shape of his life prior to the injury, the 29-year-old said he is back in the gym and has put on ten pounds after losing 30 while hospitalized. Where he once hit over 300 pounds on a bench press, he did 95 recently and felt good about it.
He said he still has “so much difficulty in real life” from simple things like putting lotion on his face to functioning while his girlfriend is out of town. He sometimes thinks to himself about why this is all happening to him and realizes that he is “built for it” and that the injury taught him God “doesn’t give you what you ask for. He gives you an opportunity to prove that you want it.”
On a potential return, he said, “Never say never.” The day after the surgery, he was content and understanding that his in-ring career was likely over and didn’t see a world where he could come back. He felt like he “passed away” in a sense but over time, motivation came from wanting to have a family and being able to both stand and play with his future kids.
“The thought of never being able to achieve that broke me and drove me,” he said, adding that if his in-ring career was over, that was fine. He just wanted to walk again.
He said he recently mentioned to his girlfriend the idea of wrestling again and that maybe if he took five years off, he could come back in his 30s and do what he loves.
“And that’s where the greatest story every told begins,” he said, later saying “If I can do that, I can change the world.”
He said the “greatest story every told” term is his life story from the aforementioned day one as he is unaware of anyone coming back from full paralysis to getting back in the ring.
“Should I be the one to do it, how could it not be the greatest story ever told?,” he asked. “As it is, it’s a great story that has motivated so many people and inspired people to chase their dreams and change their lives. Now I have this catastrophe of an injury, should I overcome this injury and get back to that world? It’s the greatest story ever told.”
WWE
He talked about his lone WWE match on an episode of 205 Live and that people within the company were trying to get him a tryout. He got a TNA offer the next day likely because of the match and “sat on it” for a while before signing which is what he ultimately wanted.
He talked about the WWE/TNA crossover and said it’s beneficial for everyone involved.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.