WWE's Big E gives update on broken neck and says: 'I'm going to be all right'

The former WWE Champion suffered a scary injury during a tag team match on 'Smackdown'

Big E says he is grateful that he did not need any surgery.

WWE Superstar and former champion Big E gave fans an update on his broken neck suffered during a taping of Friday Night Smackdown.

In a video posted to his social media on Sunday, Big E, real name Ettore Ewen, is shown wearing a neck brace and explaining that his C1 and C6 vertebrae have been fractured but, despite that, he had received "good news, all things considered".

"I don't have any damage to my spinal cord, no ligament damage and no surgery, which I am thankful for," he said.

Despite the accident, he’s maintained a positive outlook. "And a pro tip: if you're going to break your neck, do it in Birmingham [Alabama, US]," he said.

"They've been great, everyone here at UAB [Hospital] has been great. But for real, it's meant a ton to me that so many of you have been so kind and reached out, stopped in to see me, texted me. I know I sound like a broken record but I feel very grateful and I'm going to be all right."

Competing in a tag team match, he partnered with Kofi Kingston to take on Sheamus and Ridge Holland. After taking an overhead belly-to-belly suplex outside the ring, he landed on the top of his head, resulting in the scary injury.

During the match, medical personnel stabilised the wrestler and took him away from the ringside area on a stretcher, at which point he gave a thumbs up to indicate to the fans that he was OK.

In an earlier video posted on Friday, he said he had feeling in his hands.

"I can move all of my digits … that's nice. That's a good thing," he said. "I'm going to be all right. I'm going to be good. Don't worry about old me."

Big E is a former WWE champion. He won the title for the first time last September, defeating Bobby Lashley, before losing the belt in a five-way match to Brock Lesnar in January.