Summary

Steph De Lander said she did not break her neck and clarified that her injury involved a bulging C5-C6 disc.

She said she underwent a one-level spinal fusion and described the procedure as routine, adding that many wrestlers have returned from similar surgeries.

De Lander also said she wanted to address misconceptions around the severity of her injury.

She further said she hopes TNA improves support for wrestlers who suffer serious injuries in the future.

Steph De Lander injury clarification puts focus on TNA support standards

Steph De Lander publicly reframing her diagnosis creates a concrete consequence, discussion now shifts from a perceived career-ending injury toward recovery expectations and post-surgery planning.

By tying that clarification to calls for stronger injury support, she also puts added attention on how TNA handles future injured talent cases.

Quotes

Quote from Steph De Lander

"I think the thing I want people to know is, first and foremost, I didn’t break my neck. I had a bulging disc of my C5, C6, which is like the most common level. I had a one level spinal fusion, which is again, a very routine surgery that so many wrestlers have had and returned from. My surgeon operated on Tommaso Ciampa, Braun Strowman, [Maurice], like a lot of names that then went on and continued wrestling. So I just want to set that record straight of this situation makes it seem like I’ve had this like career ending, career threatening injury. Reality, I’ve actually had the most basic neck injury you could have. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear."

Steph De Lander later went on to say:

"Another reason why I wanted to come out and be open about this situation is I wanted to bring up the conversation around the injury protocol and hopefully for the next person that has a serious injury while they work for TNA, I hope that there’s better support in place so they don’t have to go through the same stuff that I did."

Sources

As reported by Fightful.