"My motivations changed when my kids were born" - Xavier Woods on how his Achilles injury made him see things differently
In October of 2019, Xavier Woods suffered a serious Achilles injury that put The New Day member on the shelf for an entire year.
Xavier Woods was the latest guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet to talk about all things WWE. When the subject of his Achilles injury was brought up, Woods took it extremely hard because it would hinder his ability to play with his kids.
“I guess it was to not stress things I could not control," Xavier Woods said. "I am a big perfectionist and a big control freak. Before I tore my Achilles, I was at a birthday party with my 3-year old at a trampoline park. We were doing flips and it was so much fun. We were planning to do it every Saturday. The next week I tore my Achilles, I immediately thought I can’t go to that trampoline park. Then it’s I can’t dance in my kitchen with my kids, the third thing was not being able to wrestle. That’s how much having kids has affected me. Before it was I want to wrestle everywhere and I want to have my name in lights and help change the industry. That was my focus and my motivation. I realized that my motivations changed when my kids were born."
Xavier Woods learned that wrestling isn't the "be all and end all" thanks to his Achilles injury
Xavier Woods revealed that being a father changed his perspective on life and wrestling was no longer the most important thing in his universe. Woods also admitted that he did his best to keep busy throughout the injury by doing things like conventions.
"You feel that when you see them, it’s a crazy experience," Woods continued. "But to have a life changing injury happen to you, everything rushes forward for you. This is what is most important, it’s cool to see that change happen. By the time I was jogging again and playing with the kids, it hit me that I would be able to wrestle again. Some months later I got to come back to wrestling and everything felt great. Learning that wrestling is not the be all and end all is the biggest takeaway. I filled up my diary with conventions to keep myself busy. I had surgery on the Thursday and did a convention on the Saturday.”
Are you impressed that Xavier Woods was able to turn such a negative injury into something positive in his life? Did you learn anything yourself from Woods' experience? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.