Brooke Havok is back, and she’s stronger than ever.
The Nightmare Factory graduate recently returned to professional wrestling last weekend at Pandemonium Pro Wrestling. Havok remained absent from action for over a year, following her second ACL surgery in 2021. The “Leader of the Emo Heads” initially tore an ACL during an AEW: Dark bout with Leyla Hirsch in February 2021. Havok would bounce back later that fall, before suffering a much more severe injury to her other knee, rendering her unable to compete, again.
While training for her second comeback, Brooke Havok turned to two of the best in the wrestling business. From their home in Florida, former “Hart Dynasty” members Natalya and Tyson Kidd (TJ Wilson) acquired a wrestling ring for performers to train and practice in. Somewhat of a “Dungeon 2.0,” many professional wrestlers have met there, including former SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan, Lana (CJ Perry), and a hungry Brooke Havok. “That was definitely one of the coolest experiences that I’ve had so far,” Havok told WrestleZone‘s own Ella Jay.
“I got lucky enough to I knew somebody that was training there. Frank [Gastineau], he’s a [referee] and he talked to them, got me the invite and it was all good to go. They just train at a level that I’ve never experienced ever. It was insane to see this group of people that just go 110%, every single one of them. Just to see the level of training that they have, it’s nothing that I’ve ever experienced before. It was pretty crazy. I was like, ‘Wow, this is a lot,’ but it was so much fun, getting to get critiques from two of them. TJ has like one of the best brains in professional wrestling. Nattie was also great as well, one of the goats (greatest of all time) of women’s wrestling. So to get critiques from them was so great, so awesome.”
Havok continued, explaining her main takeaway from the valuable experience. “It was just how much they drilled in to be physically ready and have your ring lungs and everything like that. They do a lot of in-ring cardio and stuff like that. Also, they just had a whole different outlook on training for in-match psychology and stuff like that. I just learned so much.”
