TNA's Ace Austin On Chris Bey: "His Strength And Determination Is So Inspirational" (TNA News)
Ace Austin spoke to us about his inspirational tag team partner.
We recently sat down to grab some time with TNA's Ace Austin to discuss a whole bunch of various topics, one of which being Ace's tag team partner Chris Bey.
Having undergone emergency neck and spinal surgery in October after suffering an injury at a TNA TV taping, Bey shocked the world last month by posting a hugely emotional video on his birthday of him walking. While details of the injury were initially kept quiet, Bey accompanied that video with a statement detailing how he'd had neck fusion and spinal fusion surgery after being paralysed in a match pitting him and Ace Austin against the Hardys, how he'd been given only a small chance of walking again, how he'd spent a week in ICU and six weeks in a rehab facility, and how he'd had to learn to walk again.
Most importantly, Chris revealed the incredible news that, at the time of that video, he'd been out of his wheelchair and walking for three weeks.
For Ace Austin, he explained to us how he went to the hospital with his tag partner and "stayed by his side every moment that they would let me, for two weeks. I didn't leave Detroit, I didn't go nowhere, I didn't do nothing. I stayed right there with him."
On Chris' injury and road to recovery, Ace said:
"He has such a strength. They told him he had a 5-10 % chance of walking again. And I remember when he got that news, it brought him down just a little bit, but he did not let it pull him under. He totally pushed that aside and said, ‘There’s no way that that’s gonna be me’. I just admire that so much.
Discussing the emotional video of Chris walking again, Austin continued:
"Coming up on four months, almost four months since that accident, and he’s already on his feet. And that’s just, like, it’s baffling. It’s baffling. His strength and his determination is so inspirational. I knew that he was strong, and I knew that he was capable of anything, but this is what we call pudding-proof. You never know what someone is capable of until you put them in a tough spot like that, you really put them in the trenches. He proved what he’s made of. And it really inspires me to be more than just talk. You gotta put your money where your mouth is. If you say you’re strong and if you say you’re capable, you’ve gotta do it when the time comes.
Ace added:
"He didn’t tell me he was gonna post that video or anything like that. I didn’t know about that ahead of time specifically, but it brought me to tears when I saw it. Especially on the day of his birthday. I bet you that he had that goal in his head, I bet you in his head he was thinking to himself, ‘My birthday’s coming up. When it’s time to make a statement, I gotta make the statement big'. And what a way he did that! So powerful, standing up on his own two feet and walking towards that camera, and thanking everybody for the outpouring of support, which in itself was baffling."
On the wrestling world coming together to show its support for Chris Bey, the former three-time TNA X Division Champion noted:
"Again, it’s never not surprising to see how much people are willing to do to really just lend a hand and lift. It’s so beautiful, and I’m so glad that he’s back home, and I’m so glad that he’s doing so good and he’s feeling so good. I can’t wait to see him soon. He’s already on his feet, clearly, so there’s no way he’s not going to do everything he can to at least come back to the locker room, to at least come back and be on camera, say a couple of words. It’s gonna be a lot of work, it’s gonna be a lot of time for him to get back in the ring, but I bet you, sooner than later, he’s gonna be right in front of that camera again, doing what he loves."
Ace wrapped up this portion of our interview by mentioning that this was the first time Chris had ever had surgery, discussing how other people may have crumbled in that situation:
"He’s never had surgery before. That was his first major surgery, this neck surgery, this spinal fusion. That’s just unbelievable. How many people would’ve crumbled underneath that pressure, underneath that tragedy. They would’ve thought, ‘This is it. This is the rest of my life. I’m screwed’. He looked at it from Day 1 and said, ’This will not be the rest of my life. It won’t be’ - and it won’t be, and that’s beautiful."
Chris Bey himself has already responded to Ace's words, replying in the comments to the video to say how much love he has for his ABC partner.
As ABC, Chris Bey and Ace Austin have been one of the best tag teams in the game for the past several years, coming together in 2022 and becoming three-time TNA Tag Team Champions, one-time Pro Wrestling Revolver Tag Team Champions, and one-time Future Stars of Wrestling Tag Team Champions. Both men have also had solo success during their time with TNA, too, with Bey, much like Ace, being a former X Division Champion.
All of us here at WhatCulture send our best wishes to Chris on his continued recovery. You can find our full interview with Ace below.