Austin Theory Retires Spanish Fly Following WWE SmackDown Injury Scare

Last month on the January 12 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Austin Theory was involved in what could have been a very devastating moment on the show. During a singles match against NXT’s Carmelo Hayes, Theory went to hit his signature Spanish Fly.

Unfortunately for the pair, the move didn’t come off as perfectly as intended, and it led to an awkward collision and landing for both. Theory & Hayes landed right on top of their heads, and the match was stopped by the referee almost immediately. In a recent interview with West Sport, Theory revealed that after this scary moment, he is retiring the move from his arsenal.

“Well, all jokes aside, when it comes to inside that ring and what we do, the risk level is extremely high. It doesn’t matter how many times you wanna practice or go through the routine of a move, it’s real life, there’s danger with that. It’s two human bodies doing superhuman-like things. In this scenario with Carmelo Hayes, I’m going for a move I’ve did plenty of times, it just so happens as we’re going through the rotation, the back of his foot hits the top rope. So, all of the momentum of us rotating, when his foot hits, it takes us straight down. Just based off of the video, it looks insane. 

“To be honest, after that, I seriously could’ve been paralyzed or my career could’ve been done. I could have been seriously hurt, broke my neck, there’s so many factors, but luckily as we came down, I let go to catch myself and I turn my head all the way to the left and when we landed, the back of his head hit my face pretty hard. But when we were laying there, I was fine, I didn’t feel rocked or lost or that feeling of, oh, what’s going on? I felt fine. But at the same time too, that’s such a scary moment, especially when you’re out there and something goes wrong and doesn’t feel right. Seeing the video footage back of myself upside down literally on the top of my head, wow. Very grateful for that and that move is retired for Austin Theory.“

Theory wasn’t out of action for too long, but as noted by the former United States Champion, it could have been much worse.

H/T 411Mania