Back in October, Starz confirmed that Arrow alum Stephen Amell had sustained a back injury while filming his new professional wrestling-themed drama, Heels. As Heels nears its August premiere, Amell has now dished on the specifics of the injury, revealing that he -- in his own words -- "broke [his] fucking back."
To be a bit more specific, Amell explained during his recent appearance on Oral Sessions with Renée Paquette that he sustained a compression fracture on the set of Heels while performing a Coast to Coast. For the uninitiated, the Coast to Coast -- also known as the corner-to-corner missile dropkick -- is a move where one wrestler leaps from the top rope to dropkick an opponent who is sitting on the opposite side of the ring. Interestingly enough, Amell has used this maneuver in an actual sanctioned wrestling match, having busted it out for his bout against Christopher Daniels at the independent All In wrestling pay-per-view in 2018.
Paquette (who WWE fans will know as Renee Young) asked Amell if he did his own stunts on Heels like he did on Arrow, specifically inquiring about the Coast to Coast. "I did," Amell replied. "I set it up to do it, and did the first take. And the first take, I'm almost positive, is what you see in the preview."
He continued, "Now, I did a Coast to Coast at All In, and had never actually tried the move. I mean, I had prepped it and prepped pushing off the ropes. When I did it at All In, I was so gassed and so blown-up that you see me almost fall. Now, I make it, but at the last minute, you see me turn off to the side. I actually fractured my hip when I did that, and didn't realize it. I got a note from Big Show, 'Nice Coast to Coast. That looked pretty stiff.' And at the time, I felt like I was sitting on a tennis ball. Like, I didn't know what was going on."
Back to Heels, Amell says he did the move for the show and that they got the shot on the first take. "I walked away completely unscathed. Like, everything's fine," he said. "I didn't get as far across the ring as I wanted to and I said, 'You know, let's just try it again.' Now, retrospectively, it starts off with the wide angle going across the ring. Theoretically, we could have very easily put a mat down in the ring, painted it out for the wide shot and then just left it in. You wouldn't have seen it. So, I asked for a second take. And I thought I knocked the wind out of myself. And I did not. I fractured my... T10 and L1. Compression fracture. I broke my fucking back."
Nevertheless, Amell assures that the injury "sounds a lot scarier than it is." "It's a compression," he said. "I landed straight up and down. And it was one of those injuries that was incredibly painful. I think it was a shock to my system. And everything around that area seized up. And for like 24 hours, I had a lot of difficulty getting a full breath in. And then, miraculously, it was like those muscles relaxed. And this happened on a Wednesday, maybe. And I spent Wednesday night in the hospital but I was home on Thursday. I was back at work on Monday."
Heels premieres Sunday, Aug. 15 on Starz.