“The Machine” is ready to start operating again.
Brian Cage is gearing up for a comeback.
During a recent discussion with Muscle & Fitness, the pro wrestling star spoke about getting cleared for his long-awaited in-ring return, as well as his AEW status.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On being cleared for an in-ring return and the process of getting cleared: “I haven’t made my return yet. I just got cleared fully from everyone to be able to come back so then, there’s the hopes of that too, of like, okay, this is a perfect way to press restart and start new and come back and re-debut in a good way, in a new way, bigger way, whatever, and make the best of a bad situation. I had the match to get cleared yesterday, and one of the things he wanted me to do was get up to just the second rope and jump off. The other guy, he moves, and I just have to land on my feet… which is, like, nothing, right? But in my head, I go, can I do that? I’m like, I don’t know. It’s not that crazy, but you don’t know… I have post-surgery knees. I’m like, wait, can I? I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out, and yeah, I did it. It was totally fine.”
“My first day back in the ring, I was rehabbing with my physical therapist while we were doing box jumps, all different jump stuff and I’m feeling good, and out of nowhere, for no reason, on a box jump, somehow I strain my back… Which makes no sense, right? I feel like maybe because I did so much glute and hamstring-heavy leg day beforehand, they were so sore, so maybe there was just no, my posterior chain couldn’t absorb the impact, so my lower back — I don’t know. It made no sense. It was like I did a crazy heavy deadlift… And now my knees aren’t killing me, but my back is killing me, and I’m like, ‘Well, I can’t not go,’ and of course it’s gonna happen now. So for the next two days, I had to go through that, and my back was killing (me), holding me up. I’m like, ‘No, I’m still gonna go through, I’m still gonna push through.”
On AEW status: “I can’t wait, and I don’t know when or where or even how. There’s a few different possibilities… It’s almost too much now because the longer it is and the more I get hyped up — I said I’m listening to music — I don’t wanna have too high of expectations. I’m almost worried about that, like, hyping myself up too much to be let down where it won’t be as good as I want it to be.”
