One of the biggest surprises of 2024 was the return of wrestling veteran Big Boom AJ. He wrestled QT Marshall at the AEW Full Gear pay-per-view’s Zero Hour. AJ managed to get the win. It was later revealed that he had wrestled the whole match with a broken foot.
While speaking to Cultaholic, AJ shared how he broke his foot during the training session.
“Here’s what happened. It was probably about 1:30-2 o’clock in the afternoon. Every wrestler, we probably get about 15 minutes in the ring just to kind of feel it out before the next guys have to get in. So I was testing the ropes, moving around a little bit, and I knew at some point I was going to go to the top rope that night. So I really wanted to kind of get a feel for climbing the ropes, feel the ropes, see what it was like standing in the middle of the arena up on the top rope. Just as I was up there, another group was coming in and starting to do some work. So I felt it up there and everything was good. At that moment I had my ankle straps on.”
At the time when AJ broke his foot, he did not realize that his foot was broken.
“It was time for me to leave the ring, others were coming in. I go to jump down and I landed on somebody’s foot. I didn’t know it was broken and I’ve got to tell you, Tom, I was feeling so good coming into that match. I had been doing physical therapy, I had been training just right. Everything was feeling great.”
Big Boom AJ on his family allowing him to fulfil his dream
AJ’s family left to catering, allowing him to perform and not focus on his injury.
“Everybody did the right thing. Big Justice, he watched me walk away and went to catering, Mama Justice went to catering, Ashley went to catering. They all knew there was no stopping me. They all did the right thing and they let me do my thing that night. It was a big night for me, for the family, for every wrestling fan out there, and I wasn’t going to take that moment away from anybody,” AJ added.
AJ also mentioned that while wrestling QT Marshall halfway through the match when he was firing up was the moment he felt his foot was broken.
“The one moment that I felt it was QT whipped me to the other buckle and I knew I was gonna pop out of that buckle and I knew I was gonna come out with a clothesline. I was just gonna take that bump and take that shot and I was gonna come out firing. When I came out firing and pushed off that foot I felt it [laughs],” AJ stated.
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