Alexa Bliss Feared Her Recent Concussions Would Force Her to Retire From WWE

Alexa Bliss will challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship on Sunday at the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view. Bliss has been heavily featured on WWE television both in and out of the ring over the past few weeks and if she were to win she’d be a six-time women’s champion. However just a few months back many fans were worried if Bliss would ever wrestle again.

Back in October Bliss was pulled from a match at the all-women’s Evolution pay-per-view, with reports later coming out that she was dealing with a concussion. While she’d continue to appear on television in non-wrestling roles such as her “Moment of Bliss” segments, the former champ would not return to action until late January at the Royal Rumble. After a tag match the following night and several live events, Bliss was once again pulled from in-ring competition and had Nikki Cross take her spot in the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.

Bliss said in a new interview with the New York Post that she herself was also concerned about her future in wrestling following the concussions, admitting that she feared she might have to retire at the young age of 27.

“Absolutely, I think after the second concussion I was very worried about not being able to get back in the ring, especially because I didn’t know what was going on with my brain,” Bliss said.

“There’s so many different types of concussions and I didn’t know that at the time,” she continued. “Each one had to be treated differently and the fact that I didn’t know what was going on with my brain and didn’t know until I saw the concussion specialist, it made me very scared.”

Bliss said that fear subsided after conversations with Dr. Michael Collins (a concussion expert based out of Pittsburgh) and Daniel Bryan, who had a history of concussions that initially forced him to retire.

“The stuff that he [Dr. Collins] taught me about concussions and injury has been so mind opening and mind blowing, actually,” Bliss said. “It made me feel like for the first time that I actually was in control of my own injury and actually well aware of what was going on in my brain and it made me feel so much better about returning to the ring because concussions are a scary thing.

“But the way they explained it, it made it seem tolerable and the fact that you could make a full recovery, and them being certain of that, just made me feel that much better,” she added.

The Stomping Grounds pay-per-view will take place at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington on Sunday night.