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Wrestling, like any other sporting business, is no short of players with injuries. Since wrestling is a much more physical sport than many other sports, the chances of injuries that a wrestler has is also much higher.
Since the chances of injuries are higher, the creatives who script the battles need to be very careful and ensure that the wrestlers do not perform any unwanted spots in order to decrease the chances of them getting injured.
With that said, an injury can hamper long-term plans for a wrestler and even a title attached to them which can become frustrating for both the wrestler and the company. Due to that reason, the company has stuck to less injury prone wrestlers many times to crown champions, as they are not in favour of making the title change hands frequently for unforeseen reasons.
Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Rowan, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Jason Jordan, and Aleister Black are some of the big names which have suffered injuries in 2018. These injuries have caused a lot of trouble for the company to keep the product running.
Let’s take a look at the 3 main ways how the WWE has been affected by injuries in 2018.
#3 Interrupted Storylines
Just like in the past, many storylines have suffered from injuries in 2018 too. As soon as we see some top-quality storylines build up, there’s always an injury somewhere which is waiting to ruin it all for us.
Dean Ambrose suffered an injury at the end of 2017, which hampered a lot of plans for the WWE. As Seth and Ambrose were working closely together during the time, there are reports which suggest that Ambrose was scripted to turn heel in early 2018, leading to a match between the two at WrestleMania 34. Plans had to be shelved after Ambrose’s injury, and the storyline was interrupted.
The Bludgeon Brothers were also becoming the most dominating tag team on SmackDown before a torn bicep during SummerSlam 2018 directed Rowan towards surgery, and the two men had to drop the titles and were written off television. While the Rowan and Harper were building towards a great storyline as the most dominant forces on the blue brand, their impact has been greatly affected by the injury.
Similarly, Raw’s tag team champions The Deleter of Worlds faced a similar problem and their refreshed storyline and gimmick was affect by Matt Hardy’s break from wrestling to heal his injuries.
#2 Crowned new Champions
Titles changing hands purely due to injuries to a superstar is one of the biggest causes for disruption. The creatives usually have a long-term plan when championships are involved, but injuries can cause those plans to go completely haywire and result in so unexpected wins.
Both Raw and SmackDown championships have been a victim of injuries causing the titles to change hands. While the SmackDown championship was forced to change hands from the Bludgeon Brothers to the safe hands of The New Day on August 20, 2018, the Raw tag titles did not enjoy the same fate.
The Deleter of Worlds lost the titles to the B-Team which was a surprising change of champions as the B-Team was not believed to be the best tag team on Raw by any measure. While teams such as The Revival were performing their hearts out week after week, the titles lost value after they were won by the B-Team instead of a better tag team.
Roman Reigns’ illness also resulted in a title vacancy which was the second time the Universal Championship was vacated due to injury. His hiatus from wrestling resulted in the hugely unpopular Brock Lesnar winning the championship for the second time against the popular Braun Strowman, which was all a result of the WWE playing it same after the championship’s second vacancy.
#1 Premature Turns
WWE fans have also loved to predict and debate on the turns of all the wrestlers involved. While some perform better as faces, others do so as heels and therefore fans love to wait for their favourite wrestlers come out in the gimmick which is best for them and their character.
Injuries have also forced many other wrestlers to turn simply due to an injury to one of the wrestlers. Kevin Owen’s injury just a few weeks back resulted in Bobby Lashley turning heel which did not do much for his popularity. While he has been given a manager now, he is no Brock Lesnar himself and Lio Rush is no Paul Heyman in any way possible.
Bobby Lashley was turned heel for the simple reason that Raw was going to be short on top-level heels with Kevin Owens being ruled out due to double-knee surgery.
Roman Reigns’ sad departure also resulted in Dean Ambrose turning heel the very same night. His heel-turn was being predicted for some time, but according to reports, the creatives took the bold step of turning him heel earlier than original plans suggested. This also led to the complete breakup of The Shield once again, and now the WWE can use their WrestleMania 34 plans for WrestleMania 35.
Braun Strowman, who had also turned heel in his quest to win the Universal Championship off Roman Reigns, was immediately turned face once again after Roman announced his battle against leukaemia and relinquished the title. Since Lesnar and Strowman were the two men left to compete for the title, Strowman was turned face only a few weeks after turning heel so that Lesnar could lead in his heel role.
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