Kyle Fletcher returned to an AEW ring at last night’s (Jan. 14) Collision Maximum Carnage taping (spoilers here), which will air on Saturday night. It was Kyle’s first match back since he was dumped straight
down on his head and neck by Jon Moxley with a top rope sleeper suplex at the Worlds End pay-per-view in late December.
Fletcher’s landing on his neck was so scary that WWE’s William Regal took to social media to warn wrestlers to stop “doing this STUPID stuff” if they want “a decent quality of life” after wrestling.
In an interview earlier this week with Wide World of Sports, Fletcher responded to Regal’s criticism, acknowledging it was a “very dangerous” spot.
“Of course, I have to take it [criticism] on board. Obviously it didn’t go to plan, I understand all the points that everyone is making – it was very dangerous.”
Fletcher said he felt okay in the moment as it happened, but the fact that the referee checked on him multiple times after the landing did catch his attention.
“In the moment, it’s hard for me because I’m not watching it happen, I’m the one actually experiencing it. I didn’t see how nasty the landing was, I was just going off how I felt and to me, it was just one of those ones where I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.
It was a bit higher on the neck than I was intending, but it didn’t hurt and I felt fine.
The referee came over and usually they will check on you once and you’re like ‘yeah no worries, it’s all good’ but then he came over a second time and asked again, which makes me think that there was maybe someone in his ear saying ‘make sure he’s OK’.”
Fletcher said he’s had some time to think about and learn from what happened.
“I didn’t get to see the replay that everyone else saw and it wasn’t until later that I looked back and thought that was a little bit silly, wasn’t it? But you live and you learn.
Coming out of it, maybe I’m a bit battered and bruised, but it’s nothing more than I’m used to dealing with as a pro wrestler.
I’ve had a couple of weeks, a little bit of time off and time to reflect and set some resolutions…”
What do you think is the main lesson to learn from Kyle Fletcher’s nasty landing on his neck at AEW Worlds End? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.
