Former WWE Star Mojo Rawley (Dean Muhtadi) Reveals He Nearly Died From COVID-19, Announces Pro Wrestling Comeback

By Connor Casey

Mojo Rawley (real name Dean Muhtadi) competed in his last wrestling match on the June 15, 2020, episode of SmackDown. After 10 months of inactivity, he was released from the WWE on April 15, 2021, as part of the first of many waves of releases WWE executed throughout that year. Muhtadi took to Instagram on Monday to confirm that he will be coming back to wrestling and that his bout with COVID-19 resulted in him being unable to speak and nearly dying. 

"To everyone that knew about this beforehand, thank you for your discretion and allowing me to announce on my terms," he wrote in his Instagram post. "It has been an extremely up and down 19 months. There's been days I've felt normal, there's been days I couldn't breathe. The only constant has always been that I STAY HYPED!!!! Not 100% yet but close enough to announce: I am coming back!"

"I've been asked a ton about when I'm coming back to wrestling or if I'm officially retired. Let me go ahead and answer that now. About 19 months ago, I go COVID extremely badly," he said in his video message. "I had to go to the hospital, I almost died, and my lungs were in really bad shape, so much so that in the beginning, I couldn't have any extra pressure on my lungs or else it would suffocate me. I couldn't even speak for days on end because I couldn't get enough air in to talk. Maybe the scariest part of the whole thing was the fact that the doctors had no idea what to say because of the fact that it (the virus) was so new. But fast forward, 19 months later, and I'm not quite 100%, but I'm getting pretty close. My training has been kicked up and I'm feeling good enough to announce, officially, that I'm coming back to wrestling baby! COVID thought it got me, but it must have forgot, I stay hyped!"

Where do you think Muhtadi should go next? Should he revive his feud with his former tag partner Matt Cardona now that Cardona has built up his name in Impact Wrestling, GCW and the NWA? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments

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