SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported late Sunday night that Impact World Champion Brian Cage, who defeated Johnny Impact for the title at Impact’s Rebellion PPV earlier in the night, was rushed to the hospital following the match due to a back injury.
Cage appeared to get hurt on an outside spot early in the match, when Johnny Impact took Cage off the elevated entrance ramp to the floor with a Spanish Fly.
Cage joined Busted Open on SiriusXM on Monday.
“As soon as we hit, I felt the pain shoot down my leg,” he said. “It was a feeling I’ve never had before in my life. Immediately I’m thinking ruptured disc or something … my back is f***ed.
“I kept waiting for it to go away. Trying to enter the ring after that moment, rolling into the ring, turning my hip over hip, I felt like there was no strength there and I felt the pain shoot down my leg again. It felt a little better after that. Then I was in the corner and I was trying to move, and I just couldn’t. I felt slow and robotic in my mannerisms and movement. I knew it was serious. I didn’t know to what degree, I didn’t know if I’d need surgery or what? It felt nerve related.
“It doesn’t look like I’m going to be out. They said they think I’ll be fine, they think it’s just inflammation and a bone bruise. They do want to rule out a fracture, but they said if it was a fracture they don’t think it will be a major fracture.”
Cage was down for several minutes following the move, and it appeared that Impact and special referee Lance Storm were trying to stall, arguing in the ring while Don Callis said on commentary that Storm was telling Impact to get Cage back into the ring.
Cage eventually was able to get into the ring — bleeding from his face — but he appeared off for the rest of the match. A few minutes later, Taya Valkyrie and Johnny Bravo set up a table on the outside of the ring. Cage and Impact made their way to the table and it looked like Impact was going to lay Cage on the table, but Cage couldn’t get himself up. Impact was in Cage’s ear — Callis tried to cover by saying Impact was trash talking Cage — and they appeared to change the spot, with Cage powerbombing Impact through the table. It looked like it was improvised, because Impact’s entourage set up the table and then stood by and watched as he was sent through it.
Cage won the Impact World Title after a Drillclaw, where it looked like struggled to get Impact up all the way. Michael Elgin made his Impact debut after the match to confront Cage and gave him a sit-out powerbomb.