Ember Moon: I’m ‘realizing that I may have a career-ending injury’

Former NXT Women’s champion Ember Moon has been out of action since last September. During that time, she’s kept busy with commentary work on WWE Backstage, and building her online brand as a steady presence on Austin Creed/Xavier Woods’ UpUpDownDown YouTube channel. But a lot of people are anxious to see one of the more dynamic in-ring performers in the business get back to wrestling.

Moon already cautioned fans that her recovery from Achilles surgery would have her out for an indefinite amount of time. During an appearance on Backstage last night (May 19), she gave the impression that hoping for a return at any point may be optimistic.

She made the statement in the headline during a segment where Renee Young asked her panelists - Moon and Hall of Famers Booker T & Mark Henry - about matches or moments in their careers they wish they could “do over”.

“Just trying to think, like, I look back at my career in WWE - I’ve been here five years. I could go back and say yeah, I should have been the one to defeat Asuka’s streak or at least I hope that, or I could say ‘Aw, man, me and Bayley from SummerSlam, I wish I’d done more.’

“The more and more I sit back and look at everything I’d re-do, I think about my injury currently and realizing that I may have a career-ending injury. I’m coming back from the hardest injury and I might not have a chance to redeem myself of all the things that I wanted to do and I wanted to do in my future. It’s so hard to think back and regret, when I try to look forward.”

As you can see in the clip, Henry isn’t having it, and Ember does say she’s still hoping to return someday:

“I keep looking forward and I keep pushing forward because this is what I love. This is my passion, this is the only thing I’ve ever wanted for myself. And I want that opportunity to not look back, but to look forward and be better than ever before. It’s so hard to look back, like it really is. Gosh. I just feel like, thank you guys, but yeah, it’s hard. And I hope that I do have more matches, there’s so many things I want to do. Like I said, I’m trying to get on y’all’s level. I’m going to prove to you guys that I’m worth redeeming those mistakes and worth redeeming those regrets. It’s just going to be awhile before I do so.”

Achilles injuries can be difficult to come back from, because the tendon - which runs along the back of the leg down to the heel - is so central to so many of our movements.

But here’s hoping the World’s Strongest Man is right when he hit Moon with one of his most famous lines. Even if she does have to adapt her style, fingers crossed the 31 year old does have “a lot left in the tank”.