Kiana James Opens Up On Knee Injury Which Sidelined Her For Over A Year, Discusses WWE Elimination Chamber
Kiana James has opened up on the knee injury that kept her out for a year ahead of WWE Elimination Chamber this weekend.
During the 2024 WWE Draft, Kiana James was called up to the RAW brand and it looked like she was set to take the next step in her career. However, during a Money in the Bank qualifying match just a few months into life on the flagship show, James unfortunately suffered a knee injury which kept her out of the ring until July 2025. Now, ahead of her participation in this weekend’s Elimination Chamber, James has looked back on her lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Appearing on TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, James discussed the challenge she faced to come back from the injury and the determination she felt to come back better.
“Yeah, I mean, I won’t lie, emotionally, it took a toll at first just because it’s like you work so hard to get to that point and then you feel like it’s ripped away from you. But then again, that mental toughness comes in and it’s like, okay, this happened. I can’t change it, so I can either let it define me or I can use it and I decided am I gonna be someone where this defines my career or is this just gonna be something that happened and I made a promise to myself that I would come back better and stronger and I took the time. The time when I wasn’t able to be in the ring or training in the gym, I took the time to start studying more and watching more film, because coming into WWE, everything happened really fast for me… The knee injury really allowed me to take step back and watch film and I wasn’t a lifelong fan so really, there’s decades of wrestling that I can go back and watch and study and see what resonates with me and my skillset, my strengths, my weaknesses, and I do think that I came back stronger and I think that it was definitely the mental toughness and the promise to myself to come back stronger that kind of led me to where I’m at now.”
-Kiana James
James is one of six women vying to win this weekend’s Elimination Chamber for an opportunity at the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. To qualify for the match, the 28-year-old surprised many by pinning Charlotte Flair. On this, Kiana discussed how winning against one of the company’s most accomplished stars was a great moment she won’t soon forget.
“I think there’s a bittersweet to that, right? Because we’ve become partners in the gym and training through knee rehab, and things like that. But also, taking a step back and realizing, this is the most decorated woman in WWE of all-time. Being able to be like, you just did that. You just pinned the best of the best. So it was a great moment for me and it’s something that I’ll definitely remember for a long time.”
-Kiana James
Upon returning from her knee injury, James was soon partnered up with then Women’s United States Champion Giulia. While she initially came in as representation for the Japanese star, the pair have started competing alongside each other in an effort to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in recent weeks. Still, this weekend will see James look to earn an opportunity at singles gold on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Kiana James ahead of WWE Elimination Chamber as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
