Luchasaurus has opened up about the shoulder injuries that have kept him sidelined from AEW action since December.
The longtime AEW star appeared on the latest episode of Talk Is Jericho, where he detailed how the injury originally happened and why he’s now facing surgeries on both shoulders as he works toward an eventual return.
According to Luchasaurus, the issue dates back to the December 17 episode of AEW Dynamite, where he competed in the Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royal shortly after celebrating the New York Knicks winning the NBA Cup.
“I was supposed to go maybe do a Santa Claus thing (at AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash), but you have to be ready to wrestle,” Luchasaurus explained. “When I got too excited because the Knicks won the (NBA) Cup, I was drinking on the plane and up all night. I didn’t sleep. They finally won something! I waited 40 years for this. We get there and Tony (Khan) is like, do you want to be in this battle royal? I’m not going to say no to the boss, who just flew me out here. ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”
He then described the exact moment things went wrong during a sequence involving Shelton Benjamin and Ricochet.
“It was a fun spot with Shelton Benjamin, he threw Ricochet to me and I caught him in a chokeslam,” he said. “Somehow, my shoulder went ‘pop, pop.’ I had a partial tear when I wrestled [Jack] in 2022, that’s how dangerous he is [sarcasm], because when he works his friends, they tell you to hit the big guys as hard as you can.”
Jack Perry, who also appeared on the podcast, joked that a mentor of his once encouraged him to “lay it in” against bigger opponents.
Luchasaurus went on to reveal that he had been dealing with shoulder problems for years before things finally worsened late last year.
“I partially tore the rotator cuff and worked through it,” he said. “We did a PRP injection and band-aided it for a while. Four years (later), they both went. It happened. I got the first one done in February. The surgeon wanted to wait six months, but we’re trying to do a faster timeline because we want to get back.”
He admitted the recovery process has been difficult, especially with plans to undergo another surgery sooner than originally recommended.
“I’m going to do the next one three months after, which is a little scary, but I want to get back as soon as I can,” he continued. “I wanted to do them both at the same time, but as soon as I got one done, I realized it would have been insane. It would have been a disaster.”
Luchasaurus was written off television during the AEW Worlds End and Dynamite: New Year’s Smash shows after attacks involving The Death Riders storyline surrounding Perry.
