Former ROH Champion Red Velvet has opened up about the injuries that kept her out of action for an extended period.
Red Velvet made her in-ring comeback on the three-hour AEW Dynamite/Collision special in November. The ROH Women’s World Television Champion faced interim champion Mercedes Moné to determine the undisputed titleholder.
The unification bout main-evented Collision and saw Moné plant Velvet with an avalanche lungblower for the win, making her the undisputed ROH Women’s World Television Champion. Moné had previously defeated Mina Shirakawa at AEW WrestleDream to win the interim title.
Red Velvet on what caused her ROH hiatus
During a recent appearance on Busted Open, Red Velvet detailed the injuries she sustained over the summer. She explained that she was sidelined from in-ring competition due to injuries suffered during the AEW/ROH x CMLL shows in June.
“It’s just been a journey so, I was rocking and rolling in my reign,” she said. “Having a good reign and then we went to Mexico and unfortunately, I got hurt in Mexico. I completed the tour and everything. It wasn’t until I got back that I started feeling weird and we went to get MRIs and figured out I had some things with my neck (and) my shoulder was dislocated so, that began the healing journey that kind of came out of nowhere, and it was the first time I’m getting injured in AEW as a champion, so that was another thing to deal with, and recovery went great.
Red Velvet explains how she dealt with her injuries from a mental standpoint
“As soon as it happened, I just said to myself, especially after coming back from such a big knee injury that I was gone close to a year, this time around, knowing I wasn’t gonna be gone that long, I was like, ‘Okay, the injury happened. Let’s put it behind. Straight into healing and comeback. Because once you come back, you’re still a champion so it’s not like come back, see where you pop up. It’s gonna be like off to the races’ so, I just focused on that.
“Every time any injury happens, that’s also a signal to me that it’s not just a physical thing, it’s a mental thing in the body so, I took that time to center myself. But, throughout the injury — I watch AEW every week. If I’m home, I watch it. If I’m there, I watch it. I watch it all the time so I never feel away, even though I’m away. I’m always aware and seeing what’s going on…” [H/T: Fightful]
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