During a recent NXT house show Cora Jade suffered a leg injury during her match against Lyra Valkyria which ended abruptly once Jade got hurt. Shortly after, Jade took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a gif that reads, “I laugh to keep from crying.” Jade tore her ACL, an injury that will keep her out of action nine months.
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Jade had been off of television for a good portion of 2023 and reports revealed that it was because she was healing an injury she suffered in January. She eventually made her return and would wrestle through the summer including in a kendo stick match with former WWE Superstar Dana Brooke. After losing to Brooke she confessed she was “done” with NXT. Jade reappeared on NXT programming in December following her return at NXT Deadline where Blair Davenport won the Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge.
On January 16, four days after injuring her knee, Jade posted a photo in a brace hobbling around on one leg with crutches. A few days later she posted another set of photos from her hospital bed with the caption, “They say that your darkest hour comes before your dawn. TTYL”
Ahead of the Royal Rumble in Tampa, Jade appeared to be hanging out with with Jacy Jayne and Roxanne Perez over smoothies. CM Punk, who is well documented as Jade’s favorite wrestler, paid her a visit in the midst of his busy schedule. “We are in Orlando, I just landed. We are trying our damndest to surprise Cora Jade who just had an ACL surgery,” Punk said. “I just wanted to visit her really quick because that is a bum out. I’m bummed about it, I can’t imagine how she feels. She just came back, gets hurt right away, so she’s on the mend. And, I think, I don’t know why they’re at this smoothie cafe but we’re going to try and surprise her there.”
While Jade had an inkling that she was going to get a surprise from someone, she didn’t know it would be Punk. “They were being weird yesterday and they were like, cause they know like, when I’ll get annoyed. So I was like if they’re asking if there’s cameras and if someone’s coming I think they’ll know it’s someone that I want here. Cause if I was going to be annoyed as f–k they would know.” Though Punk and Jade had met each other previously prior to Jade becoming a WWE Superstar, they officially reunited following NXT Deadline where Punk was paying a visit.
Punk will have his first televised match in WWE since his return at Survivor Series in November. He will compete in the men’s 30-man Royal Rumble match, vying for a shot at a championship opportunity at WrestleMania 40.
