Rising Injury Rates Prompt Scrutiny of WWE's Training Methods

It is reported that WWE NXT star Cora Jade may have sustained an injury during a recent event. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer from F4WOnline.com expressed concerns about WWE's training methods, particularly in light of the recent spate of injuries.

Meltzer noted, "I’ve had people. This was before Cora Jade was hurt, but this was when Sol Ruca went down. And, you know, a couple of the others, Wendi Chu, Nikita Lyons, just telling me that they were questioning the method of training when it feels like all that… Tegan Nox got two of them. One each leg, I believe. Right? And, you know, just questioning, like, ‘what are they doing in training?’ Because historically, women don’t get torn ACLs left and right, NXT, whatever it is, you know, they train them very, very hard, which is, in theory, a good thing. But not if you’re going to have this, this level of this many injuries. You know what I mean? One of the things was, was I remember even years ago when it came to the NXT stuff, it was like, they would want everyone in this great and great condition. They would train them really hard. And then there’d be all these injuries and it was like, they you got to kind of find that balance to where you’re getting people in condition but not, it doesn’t benefit your conditioning to then have injuries because the injuries take away from your conditioning no matter how hard you train. So you don’t want to over-train the people. And I’m sure that in time, you know, this will all be worked out and figured out because it’s all, you know, this the type of training that they do there with legitimate strength and conditioning coaches and things like that it’s somewhat new for wrestling, I mean, in the sense that it’s more sophisticated training.”

Meltzer also compared WWE's training to New Japan's approach, emphasizing the need for a balance in training intensity. He added, "New Japan does a different kind of training. It’s life and learn and learn and but hopefully, whatever it is, and I mean, obviously in the ring in a match getting hurt in a match is a different thing that can happen at any time. But whatever it is, you know, I mean, it’s more with the women than the guys. A lot of women have been going down with torn ACLs as more than just a fluke coincidence. It feels like.”

Breaking news @CoraJadeWWE looks to have a bad knee injury at the NXT house show in Dade City FL. There was a fake knee injury spot early in the match but the end saw jade land funny and a pin by Lyra that looked botched 4 people carried jade to the back #NXTDadeCity #nxt pic.twitter.com/SWOZxeJFbK

— pro wrestling nerd (@wrestlingnerdRA) January 13, 2024