Steph De Lander undergoes neck surgery

TNA wrestler Steph De Lander is recovering from neck surgery.

De Lander had surgery done on Thursday, writing on social media that she now has a “fresh neck.” She then shared another update on Friday revealing that she’s now out of the hospital.

At TNA Victory Road last month, De Lander — who formerly wrestled in NXT as Persia Pirotta — gave a speech to the crowd announcing that she’s been in pain for a while and needed to get her neck fixed. She tried to avoid surgery but was told that — without having fusion surgery done on her C5-C6 vertebrae — she was at risk of suffering a catastrophic neck injury that could result in paralysis.

“The reality is: I need neck surgery. I need neck surgery, and I’ve needed it for a long time. I wake up every day in pain, but I fought through it because I didn’t want to let anyone down,” she told the fans at Victory Road.

“This isn’t a retirement speech, because I’m not done yet. I have more to give to this business. I have more to give to this company. And I have more to give to each and every one of you. So this is not goodbye — this is I’ll see you later. And until then, thank you guys and I love you.”

De Lander is expecting to be out of action for at least six months after surgery.

On the indies and in TNA, De Lander has been aligned with Matt Cardona. There’s been friction between them in a recent TNA angle with Cardona feuding with De Lander’s in-storyline husband PCO.

De Lander is signed with TNA through the remainder of 2024.