Anthony Bowens is working the AEW schedule without an MCL in one knee, a torn meniscus on the right side, and a second meniscus that has already needed cleanup surgery.
Bowens laid out the damage while pushing back on the idea that wrestling is fake, in an interview with Charles Hallman of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. He argued that nobody performs at a high level in the sport without being a legitimate athlete, pointing to the cardiovascular conditioning and coordination the work demands.
“The physicality is very real. I don’t have an MCL. The right side of my meniscus is torn,” Bowens said.
The list kept going from there. He said he has had multiple diagnosed concussions, has bruised nerves in his lower back and lives with chronic neck pain. His description of the aftermath was blunt: he compared himself to an elderly man who has been through everything, and said he can’t get out of bed once a match is over.
A July Conversation, Published This Week
The interview was Hallman’s first with a pro wrestler, and it happened at Target Field rather than on a wrestling show. Bowens spoke the day after throwing a ceremonial first pitch before the July 9 Twins game against Cleveland, ahead of AEW’s first Brawl in the Ballpark event on July 10. The piece ran on August 12.
Bowens turned pro in 2016 after two college baseball seasons apiece at Montclair State and Seton Hall, and he has been with AEW since 2020. Knee trouble has followed him for most of that run, including a meniscus tear suffered in a 2021 tag match and a knee injury that cost him time early in his AEW tenure.
He has kept working through it. Bowens was on the Target Field card in July, and he debuted a new submission hold at Double or Nothing in May as a tribute to trainer Mario Bokara.
