Riley Shepard isn’t just “The Gladiator of the Geeks.” She’s a warrior.
The last two years have been anything but ordinary for Riley Shepard. According to Shepard, it’s been rather challenging.
Heading into Women’s Wrestling Army’s July 2022 Battle Of Technicians event, Shepard learned that she’d be squaring off with a “bucket list” opponent in the form of LuFisto, a 27-year veteran of the business. Naturally, Shepard was greatly excited about the opportunity. On the day of the event, though, an in-ring accident rendered Shepard briefly unable to walk.
“It was the main event on the show. I was riding high, obviously very nervous because I wanted to show up and show out. Unfortunately, there was just a fluke,” Shepard told WrestleZone’s Ella Jay. “I went to go hit an uppercut on [LuFisto], my knee planted when I pivoted, and the other part went the other way. My meniscus completely tore, and not only did it tear, it flipped and went into the knee joint. It was a bit of a hot mess. We were in Chicago. I’m from the East Coast, so traveling back, I had to be wheeled out of the ring on a chair dolly.”
RRMS Diagnosis
Coming off her knee injury, Shepard knew that the recovery process would be quite extensive, both physically and time-wise. Unfortunately, this recovery was further complicated with an onset of additional health concerns, specifically dizzy spells and pain in Shepard’s stomach and ears, in the summer of 2023. Describing the pain as “debilitating,” Shepard then sought out help from medical experts.
Three ENTs, two hospital visits, two neurologists, one determined primary care doctor, one MRI, and a one-week inpatient hospital stay later, Shepard finally had some answers about her health; five lesions were found in her brain, and Shepard was diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis.
“I’m lucky where it was caught early,” Shepard said. “I am getting infusions every six months that help to treat it. The point of those infusions is to get a little bit better, a little bit better. It stabilizes the lesions on my brain. Hopefully keeps other lesions from coming in and things like that, so that is the hope, that it stabilizes.”
“I’m going to knock on all of the wood at this point. I’ve gotten really lucky the past 4 or 5 months. I haven’t really had a dizzy spell that has been debilitating. There’s been days of lightheadedness, but nothing [too overwhelming]. I can go to work,” Shepard said.
Currently, Shepard’s MS is in a state of remission, with one of her lesions recently shrinking, while another has stabilized. As Shepard points out, there is always a possibility for the disease to relapse. Until then, though, Shepard plans to continue forth with a positive mindset.
Shepard Paints Question Marks Around Her In-Ring Future
As Shepard continues to battle her RRMS, she recently returned to the Worldwide Wrestling Dojo, led by Cheeseburger, Sumie Sakai, and Preacher. There, with the patience of the trainers, Shepard began in-ring training sessions aimed at testing her limits, both in relation to her previously torn meniscus and her RRMS.
“I’m like, ‘maybe just don’t hit me in the head too much, but my knee is fine.’ It’s more the brain at this point, but we’re still doing this thing,” Shepard said. “It was really cool to get back into the ring and start to test my limits of what’s safe for me and what’s safe for others because it’s a dance, it’s two people. I want to always be safe, not just for myself, but for the people I’m in the ring with. So that has been a learning curve.”
Following her training sessions, Shepard developed a tentative in-ring return date. In June 2024, however, she was struck with another health issue — one that has now made her reconsider her in-ring future.
“I tore my ACL in June. I got the surgery July 25th. Anyone who went through reconstruction, it’s a 9-to-12-month recovery, return to sport. I had always told myself that if I ever re-tore my ACL [after the first ACL injury in 2018], I wasn’t going to come back because that recovery is really rough,” Shepard said. “It’s a mental and physical toll, but I’ve done mental and physical tolls so much this past two and a half years at this point that it’s like, okay, I can make the decision [about potentially returning to the ring] now, or what I can do is use this as a reset.”
RELATED: Riley Shepard Wants To Wrestle For Ring Of Honor, TNA In Potential In-Ring Return
