Before looking over the footage, Stevie Richards took some time to initially praise JD McDonagh. What's more, he explained what he believes is the former champion's greatest asset in pro wrestling. 

"I'm very, very impressed with the way he bumps and sells — but, that's a double-edged sword, and I know it better than everybody else," Richards said. "His greatest asset is going to possibly be why he might be, at 53 years old or sooner, feeling the way I felt or more, outside of a spine infection." The veteran warned that McDonagh's greatest asset is beating his body up prematurely and that he should find another way to get over with fans that won't potentially put his career at risk.

Outside of Richards, veterans like Bully Ray also reacted to the news of his injury. Unlike Richards, though, Ray instead first made some comments in kayfabe, suggesting that McDonagh deserved his injury after a backstage interaction the two of them had during WWE WrestleMania 40. However, he later added that he hopes McDonagh gets better soon and that the injury could definitely have been a lot worse than it ended up being.