A staph infection that Dean Ambrose contracted while out with his triceps injury almost killed him.

The Shield may be together again right now but the reunion was initially supposed to have happened almost a year ago. Technically it did but kept getting derailed. Roman Reigns was struck down with illness before the Hounds Of Justice could compete in their comeback match at TLC 2017, and then Dean Ambrose suffered a triceps injury that sidelined him for eight months.

The Lunatic Fringe is back now, of course, returning to Raw a week before SummerSlam to help out his Shield brother, Seth Rollins. The former WWE Champion has changed up his look while he was away and looks in incredible shape. However, Ambrose revealed to The Monitor that it was far from plain sailing while he was away, and a staph infection he contracted could have killed him.

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via forbes.com

"I had this MRSA, staph infection. I nearly died. I was in the hospital for a week plugged up to this antibiotic drip thing," Ambrose revealed. Doctors clocked the infection after the Raw Superstar's first surgery. He was initially told that he would be back in the ring within three or four months of the surgery, but when he came around afterward was told that it would actually be at least six.

There was little to no news about Ambrose and his injury while he was away from WWE and now that all makes sense. The Lunatic Fringe even revealed that he moved to Birmingham, Alabama for three months following the surgeries and the infection so that if anything else went wrong he would be close to WWE's doctors. The second surgery happened on the spur of the moment when Ambrose came in for a checkup so it's understandable why he would want to be nearby following that.

The whole experience has changed the way Ambrose views his role in WWE and the wrestling industry. During the interview, he opened up about money and titles not meaning as much to him anymore, and he now views what he does in the ring as a piece of art. The most important thing to him now is to put on great matches and to make memories and stories that he can look back on and be proud of.

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