Big E hasn't wrestled a match for WWE since all the way back in March of 2022, when he took a particularly brutal overhead belly-to-belly suplex outside the ring that resulted in a broken neck and an uncertain future for the former WWE Champion.

Since then, Big E's future has been very much up in the air, as the recovery from a C1 break is typically a process that lasts a year-plus, and he's reported in the past that his bone hasn't fully ossified and instead remains fibrous, but during a recent appearance on the Battleground podcast, the man Kayfabe born Ettore Langston happily informed the WWE Universe that his recovering is inching along swimmingly.

“It's just a complicated fracture. I broke my C1 in two places so that Jefferson fracture, is what it's called, it just takes a little bit more time to heal,” Big E noted via F4W. “So, we just did the one years scans after WrestleMania, it was a little bit later because of WrestleMania. We have to sit down with the doctors at some point and kind of figure out what the next step is, but from my perspective, I feel great, I have no function issues, no pain issues, I've been at the gym since two weeks after I broke my neck. I'm just feeling great, and I'm really grateful for all that. It's just, obviously, your neck has to be in a certain condition to deal with the rigors of being in the ring on a nightly basis.”

Now granted, Big E didn't mention the ossification of his C1, maybe because the concept is pretty technically complex, but even if the bone hasn't fully reformed just yet, it's encouraging to know the WWE Superstar is feeling great and could find himself back in the ring at some point in 2023. But until then, Big E can enjoy his time off and root for his New Day partner in crime, Xavier Woods, as he attempts to bring a singles title back to the faction on SmackDown versus the Intercontinental Champion, Gunther.

Xavier Woods is ready to bring home the IC Title to Big E and the New Day.

After interrupting his way into a match with Gunther on SmackDown, who called the New Day member a “goof” before accepting his challenge, Woods did what he's become accustomed to doing and took to Twitter to cut a scorcher of a promo to inform his foe that he's not only paved the way for Imperium to succeed in WWE but will be leaving the arena on Friday night as the new IC Champion.

“This past Friday night on SmackDown, after I beat LA Knight like I said I would, good fortune decided to shine upon your boy, and I ran into Imperium in the hallway,” Woods said. “And due to that interaction, I now find myself in a situation where I’m going one-on-one with “The Ring General” himself, Gunther, for the Intercontinental Championship.

“Now Gunther’s issue with me is that he says I don’t respect this industry, which is a wild thing to say to someone like myself, because, from my perspective, for the past 19 years, I’ve been traveling this world, destroying my body day after day after day, fighting giants night after night while still being able to breathe life into the most influential group to ever step foot into this industry while still being able to be in interviews, on TV shows, on movie sets; literally changing the entire perception that the outside entertainment world has about what it is that we do so that when your body starts to fail, I have already done all of the legwork to prove that professional wrestlers are the ultimate entertainers.

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Dave Meltzer with Cody Rhodes on his left, and Vince McMahon on his right with the WrestleMania 39 logo as the background.

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Paul Heyman with a text bubble reading "Yes my American Nightmare" next to Cody Rhodes wearing all black with the WWE logo as the background.

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Natalya with a text bubble reading "We’re eating good" next to Big E with the Josh Barnett's Bloodsport logo as the background.

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“So first off, you’re welcome. Second, that means that you don’t get to tell me that I don’t respect this, because I guarantee you that I am one of the best things to happen to this entire generation. And you can tell from that alone that my attention is normally split ten different ways, but this Friday on SmackDown, Gunther, when you and I are standing in that ring, and I am staring into the depths of your soul, you will finally realize that, unfortunately for you, you now have my full and undivided attention. And when that bell rings for a second time, the only thing you will hear is, ‘and new Intercontinental Champion,’ meaning Xavier Woods wins.”

Will Woods keep his improbable hot streak alive in one of the biggest singles matches of his career? Will he finally secure a title win on his own and officially make it so that every member of the New Day has held singles gold? Or will Gunther beat down the UpUpDownDown founder and keep his reign alive? Fans will have to tune in on Friday to find out.