Brian Cage was finally able to call himself a world champion after winning the Impact World Championship at Impact’s Rebellion pay-per-view back in April. Unfortunately, Cage would suffer an injury early during the matchup against Johnny Impact after taking a Spanish Fly from off the ramp to the floor. He would ring in his first night as champion in the hospital.

Speaking with the WINCLY podcast, Cage has discussed his injury status and his frustrations of being the champion while injured.

He shared that being Impact Champion is something he still can’t believe is real before adding that “Not being able to compete and defend the title as regularly as I’d like [because of the injury] is a bummer, but it’s awesome. I’m very thankful.”

Looking back at the moment that led to the injury, Cage explains that “It happened during the Spanish Fly onto the floor. We get hurt a lot and I was differentiating between being hurt and being injured. I kept thinking, ‘Maybe it will subside. Maybe it will subside.’ But there was no subsiding.”

Cage allegedly thought he had ruptured a disc, and immediately worried he would need surgery—assuming the injury wasn’t career ending. Despite this concern, Cage was adamant he would finish the match, refusing to stop despite the damage to his back.

With an eye to the future, Brian Cage admits that he isn’t sure about when he will return, though he has set himself a goal to be back by Slammiversary, which takes place on July 7th.