Former CW Champ Helms Injured (Updated)

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Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider has reported that former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms has a neck injury and that it is believed the injury will require neck fusion surgery. According to Johnson, the injury wasn’t caused by a specific incident but rather years of wear and tear, and if history is any indication, Helms — like Benoit, Austin, Lita, Rhyno, Edge, Scotty 2 Hotty and others before him — will be out of action at least a year. We have reached out to Helms through his Web site, but have yet to receive a response. We wish him the best of health and a complete recovery.

UPDATE: Dave Meltzer has confirmed this story, and added that “he will be having surgery under Dr. Lloyd Youngblood on Monday.”

UPDATE: On his MySpace, Gregory Helms pointed to WWE.com’s article on his injury, written by Louie Dee. From the story, which says that “it was determined that Helms will need surgery to repair two broken vertebrae in his neck,” Helms is quoted several times:

“I’ve been having a great deal of pain in my neck and back for the last couple weeks, but I thought it was just one of those injuries we always get, like a pinched nerve or something…

“It turns out that I have two cracked vertebrae, and one of them is pressing into my spinal cord … One is just demolished, and they told me that the pain I had outside my neck was pretty common; they call it pain referral. One is pressing so far into the spinal cord that I could risk paralysis if I kept going. We get bumps and bruises all the time, and I’ve been to the hospital before thinking something was wrong when I was just banged up, so I thought that this time too. I have a high tolerance for pain, but this pain is 24/7…

“Right before the second show in White Plains, I was trying to do some calisthenics and I couldn’t do my pushups. I thought maybe I was just tired, but when I tried to flex my triceps, it wouldn’t stiffen up. That made me think I had some nerve damage, so I talked to the trainers and Dr. Rios and they sent me for the MRI…

“Realistically, it’s hard to think of the future when you’re not sure if there is one, but anyone that knows me knows I’m a 100 percent guy … It’s going to be a year of hard work and rehab, but WWE hasn’t seen the best of me yet so I can’t go out on a down note.”

Check out the full story where Helms discusses how hard it was to tell his father about his injury, the support he’s getting from the locker room and more.

Matthew Michaels is editor emeritus of Pulse Wrestling, and has been since the site launched.