Ex-AEW star reveals the severe injuries that forced him to retire from in-ring competition

A former AEW star was recently forced to retire from the ring. He has now opened up about the injuries that forced him into retirement.

Marko Stunt was a regular feature on AEW TV when he started teaming with Jack Perry and Luchasaurus. Even though he was smaller than most of his opponents, Marko became a fan favourite due to his resilience and passion in the ring. Marko Stunt was released from AEW in 2022 before returning for a one-off match against Jack Perry in 2024. This would also be his final wrestling match as he retired from the ring shortly after due to a serious back injury.

During a recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Marko Stunt stated that his health issues started with a series of concussions. He was even knocked out during a match after hitting the back of his head on the mat. He noted that after getting released from Tony Khan's company, he worked on the Indies, where he took a very dangerous bump that resulted in him cracking the L5 of his spine, and the doctors told him he needed to hang up his boots or risk getting paralyzed.

"I ended up going to the doctor the next day because I could barely walk... I'd actually broken my back. My L5 was cracked and had a chip in it," Stunt revealed. "So that I've still got a piece, a piece of my spine just floating around in there somewhere. Doctors did advise me to go ahead and hang up the boots. And so I did reluctantly." Stunt said the decision was for his 16-month-old daughter, as doctors warned him he could "end up getting paralyzed or something... which is what they said is very likely to happen if I were to bump wrong." [H/T WrestlingNewsCo on X]

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Marko Stunt explained why things with AEW didn't work out

Despite his small stature, Marko Stunt was a popular wrestler on the AEW roster. Fans loved his pairing with Jack Perry and Luchasaurus. However, this wasn't good enough for Tony Khan to keep him on payroll for a few more years.

During an interview with Busted Open Radio, Marko Stunt revealed that as more people started to join the company made it hard for people like him to get TV time.

"I absolutely loved being there. I've got friends for life from there now, obviously with Jack (Perry) and Luchasaurus, and Sammy Guevara, and all the vlog crew that we were a part of and everything. But I was… I think plans just started to change. More people started to come in and new toys are more fun than the toys that you got a few years ago in, in my opinion. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's how things go," said the former AEW star. [H/T WrestlePurists on X]

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Marko Stunt outside the ring.

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Edited by Sunil Joseph