NXT UK’s Piper Niven Has Been Diagnosed With Bell’s Palsy

Piper Niven is one of the most over women in NXT UK, and probably in line to become their Women’s Champion before too much longer. In fact, she has a Triple Threat for that title coming up at TakeOver Cardiff in January, against current champ Kay Lee Ray and previous champ Toni Storm. However, not everything is going great for Piper, as she just revealed some unfortunate medical news on Twitter, although she seems to be in good spirits about it.

Niven is suffering from Bell’s palsy, a condition that causes sudden weakness in facial muscles, often partially paralyzing one side of the face. It can make the affected side appear to droop, which is particularly noticeable in the eyelid and one side of the mouth. The exact cause is unknown, and there isn’t precisely a cure, although there are treatments that can lessen the effects and duration. The condition usually clears up within a matter of months, although physical therapy can be required to keep the facial muscles fully functional.

In any case, Niven is not letting the condition get her down, at least based on her tweets.

She was also offered words of encouragement by wrestling’s most famous Bell’s palsy survivor, AEW announcer Jim Ross:

We don’t know how bad Piper’s particular case is, but hopefully it won’t keep her out of the aforementioned TakeOver match, or otherwise derail her very promising NXT UK push.