In a statement released on his official Twitter account, Michael Elgin revealed that he will be entering rehab due to an addiction to painkillers.
The statement reads, “In 2015, prior to my debut for NJPW, I was on a tour of Western Canada and tore my groin. All my career, even prior to starting my journey, my main goal was to wrestle in Japan, I refused to give up on my dream and didn’t take any time off, but at times the pain was unbearable, so I took painkillers to get me through.
Over the next few years, injuries piled up, but like an overly proud idiot, I didn’t take time off and kept self-medicating to get by. In 2016, I suffered a fractured orbital and rushed back, instead of taking the appropriate time to heal, I did the same in 2018/2019 when I had knee surgery. Then, in January of this year, in Match 1 in a Best of 5 with Eddie Edwards, I suffered a neck injury. Once again, pride and silliness got in the way and I continued down this path.
Over the years I had to deal with many other issues, I chose to self-medicate, I try not to talk about these struggles, because in my head I was supposed to show toughness, show my grit. Maybe when I recover I can go deeper into more of my personal life struggles I didn’t really tell many about, but for now, I’m going to rehab and deal with these issues. Thank you for everyone who supports me, you’ve been my life line. I gave you everything I had, taking time from everyone in my life. I’ll come back better than ever, thank you again.”
— Big Mike (@MichaelElgin25) October 1, 2020