Erick Rowan has gotten quite good at no-selling injuries.
Professional wrestling presents an inherent risk of injury, as performers put their bodies on the line to entertain fans. In one instance, Erick Rowan suffered a torn bicep during a tag team bout at SummerSlam in 2018. Until now, Rowan “never made a story out of it.”
In a recent with Wrestling News Co’s Steve Fall, Rowan recounted the painful situation. “All the times I got injured and you saw me off TV was because I was having surgeries,” he said. “Every time I was off TV for a period of time it was because I was having a surgery. You never saw cameras around me. I was by myself at the hospitals, getting the surgery, flying back home, miserable, and doing the rehab every day, sometimes twice a day. Nobody ever talks about it.”
“I remember when The Bludgeon Brothers, when we had won at SummerSlam, I tore my bicep. They (WWE) gave me one day off so I could hopefully deal with the pain, and then we did a SmackDown versus The New Day where we used ladders and all sorts of stuff. In the meantime, I don’t have a right bicep that’s attached to my arm.”
Rowan’s injury took place in a match on the SummerSlam 2018 match card. The former SmackDown Tag Team Champion revealed that the injury occurred when New Day’s Xavier Woods did a flip dive onto him, causing Rowan to plunge into a cameraman and his arm got caught in the fall. Rowan later told his partner, Jon Huber (aka Luke Harper), “I’ll see you in 4 to 5 months.” That wouldn’t be the case, however, as he only had one day to shake off the pain.
Just two days later, he found himself back in the ring for a No Disqualification Tag Team Championship bout against The New Day, who beat Rowan and Luke Harper for the titles in the TV match.
“We get to the back [after the match], and I think Jon was selling his shoulder just from the match. We get to the back and Road Dogg sees me first and he’s like, ‘Hey, is Harper okay?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s fine,’ — I let out the largest f-word I’ve ever let out in Gorilla — ‘but I’m f***ing not.’ Then I just took off and I went to the trainer immediately and I said, ‘Yep,’ and I showed him my bicep and he’s like, ‘Yep, you tore it, wrapped it up some ice.’
“I think maybe 20 minutes later, Road Dogg comes [in]. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. You’re both just so good at selling.’ He’s selling his arm, and I’m not selling my bicep at all,” Rowan recalled.
More must-reads: