Gabby Forza looks back on the path that led to her comeback.
Gabby Forza has dealt with a wide variety of injuries in her lifetime, most of which can be attributed to her football career. In October 2020, though, a serious car accident would put Forza’s physical and mental strength to the ultimate test.
After getting hit by a Mack truck, Forza was left with several injuries, including a lacerated liver, fractures to her neck and wrist, a severe concussion, and two broken legs. Due to the extensive damage done to her body, Forza was rushed to the hospital, later undergoing multiple surgeries and intensive physical therapy.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay, Forza spoke about her lengthy road to recovery and regaining her ability to walk. Despite being sidelined for over a year, Forza now views the experience through a positive lens.
“It’s something I’m really proud of, but I try to not make it like the main point of who I am,” Forza said. “I did get through it and I got past it, but it’s to a point where I meet so many people now that they don’t know that about me, and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, so I have a lot of injury history’. I’ve broken both my legs at the same time as a highly active person. That was during the year of COVID, so it was 2020. No one is seeing each other. No one that knows me regularly kind of sees me.”
“Come back, everyone starts to see each other in 2021, and I’m walking, but I’m not off crutches. I have a scooter and people are like, ‘Oh, what happened?’ Like, ‘Oh, forgot to tell you, I got hit by a Mack truck and my insides and outsides are all rearranged.’ Surface level, I looked okay. I have a really good mindset about these things. It was terrible to go through [though]. I have a higher pain tolerance now because I experienced the worst pain of my life for months straight. So it wasn’t like the impact of an accident hurt, it was months of the pain getting worse. Then I think your body just chemically has to adapt to it, so I guess it helped me in the fact that I came back from that and started pursuing two very physically demanding sports.”
“I think that saved my life”
“But it’s a lot to put yourself through, whether you got hit by a Mack truck or you didn’t. So I have to sometimes remind people that I have limits,” Forza continued. “No one wants me to stop playing football, but being a linebacker is a high-collision position. It’s not like being a wide receiver or a quarterback where you have big people protecting you. I am the problem on the field. I create that impact every time. So for me, I had the goal, prior to this accident, of trying out for the National Women’s Tackle Football team for the second time and making it and becoming an Olympic gold medalist. “
“All of that time leading up to that accident, all those injuries, I was in the best shape of my life, and not just as a person. If you looked at me, you’d be like, Oh, she’s maybe okay.’ I was the strongest I’ve ever been. I was lifting 500 pounds easily, it was fantastic. But I was thicker as a linebacker because I was training to be an Olympic gold medalist linebacker. I was like, ‘I’m trying to be the best linebacker in the world. I’m not trying to be skinny. I’m trying to be durable.’ So getting hit by a Mack truck, I think [being durable/in good shape] saved my life.”
In the months following her discharge from physical therapy in February 2022, Forza returned to action, eyeing a spot on Team USA’s football team. Ultimately, Forza did not make the team. However, this opened up an opportunity for her to pursue another athletic endeavor — professional wrestling.
In October 2022, Forza officially joined training school, later becoming a graduate of Create-A-Pro Wrestling. By March 2023, Forza was ready for her professional wrestling debut.
As Forza continues to establish herself in the wrestling world, she continues her work on the football field as well.
Watch our full interview with Gabby Forza:
