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Fresh off the reveal that Nikki Bella will undergo neck surgery this week, WWE.com spoke to the former Divas Champion about her injury and recovery.
Nikki explained the extent of her injury and the procedure that she hopes will fix the issue:
“I have a pretty badly herniated disc in my C-6 and C-7. And, on Wednesday, I will be getting surgery. We are hoping that a bone fusion will fix this injury, which makes mine a little more complicated than others [because] a piece of my disc is behind my vertebrae. We are hoping we can go around the vertebrae and fish it out, but we won’t know until I’m out of surgery on Wednesday.”
She also shared how long she’s been dealing with the injury, revealing that she started to feel its effects last summer:
“I started feeling it in July, right before the Australian tour. There was something different with my body and the more and more I kept wrestling, the more I knew something was off. It was probably a week before Night of Champions that I knew something was definitely wrong and I needed to get an MRI.”
Her recovery, she says, will start with a three month period in which she’ll be restricted from travel. In all, she’ll be out of the ring for six months:
“I’m going to have to be in a neck brace for three months. I won’t be able to travel and during those three months, we’ll start to see if the bone is accepting the fusion [with X-rays], but I will not be able to set foot in a wrestling ring for six months.”
Nikki credits hey boyfriend John Cena with pushing her to get the initial MRI. She admits that his own injury will provide her with motivation during her recovery:
“The reason why we were able to catch it now is because of him. He always taught me that health is No. 1. Without health, we’re nothing. He’s the reason I got the MRI, and I know he’s the reason I’ll be back stronger than ever. He’s been there for me every step of the way, and he’s helped me make it positive. I honestly don’t know what I would do without him, and I hate that he’s injured, but now I’ll get to have him every day to help me get back. It’s going to be awesome. Like living with a personal life coach.”
She also revealed that Total Divas will be filming throughout her rehab:
“The cameras never stop filming, so you’ll get to see this whole process step by step. Unfortunately, they’re not allowed to go inside doctors’ offices with me, but they’ve been there on the car rides, when I walk in, when I walk out. I even filmed a meeting with one of the doctors. They’re going to be there for the surgery and they’re going to be there for my whole rehab.”
Read the full interview on WWE.com.
