Cena suffers herniated disk

Cena suffers herniated disk

As explained by General Manager Mike Adamle during Raw Monday night, three-time WWE Champion John Cena will be out of action indefinitely with a herniated disk in his neck. Requiring surgery, this injury is the result of being caught off the top rope with a bone-jarring Batista Bomb, delivered by The Animal at SummerSlam. Watch GM Adamle's announcement

According to WWE's Dr. Chris Amann, who reviewed the MRI results with Cena, the injury sustained by the former WWE Champion was considerably worse than originally thought with large disk herniation.

"It needs to be dealt with because I lost most of the feeling in my right arm and am having pain in my shoulder," Cena told WWE.com Monday night. "I'm losing 20 percent of my strength per day. If I don't do anything about it, the injury will end up rupturing and then the surgery will be more difficult. It's not easy, because surgery never is."

Last year, Cena missed considerable time when he tore his pectoral muscle after receiving an RKO by Randy Orton on an announce table. He later made a remarkable return to the ring months ahead of schedule at the Royal Rumble this past January.

"It's a different injury than the pectoral tear because that was more of a muscle injury; this is concerning my bones, which has a lot less blood flow than muscle tissue. It also has to do with my neck, which is a very fragile area," Cena described.

"Every moment I stay away from the table is another moment something bad can happen. The disk is so bulged out and inflamed that any sudden move could make it worse."

But when it comes to the former WWE Champion, the pain associated with this type of injury is perhaps second only to the anguish of being forced away from sports-entertainment -- his home. Still, Cena recognizes what he needs to do, even if it means stepping away from the ring for some time.

"You can either do one or two things: You can be upset or pout or you can know what to do to get better," Cena said. "I'm already in the mode of getting the surgery as quick as I can."

He continued, "In the last ten months, I've really focused on functional strength training and I'm stronger than I've ever been. My goal is to talk to the neurosurgeon about how quickly I can get back to full-throttle training and getting back into the ring. And that's the ultimate goal -- to be strong as I can and get back into the ring as soon as possible."

To find out more about John Cena's neck surgery and additional updates, be sure to read the full press release.

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