Good day to you all. With the #speakingout movement on Twitter and COVID-19 spreading throughout Florida, I’m here to bring you a wrestling injury report for those who are currently sidelined due to these reasons: contracting/avoiding the virus, recovering from injury, or serving a suspension. I will not be including anyone who have been granted their releases.
Updated Injury/Absentee List for WWE, AEW & Impact
As we know, all wrestlers currently working for the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and WWE’s NXT UK brand are absent due to the ongoing cancellation of shows. Ring Of Honor was scheduled to return, but have since delayed tapings due to a spike in COVID-19 cases and investigations in to sex abuse allegations made against wrestlers.
Monday Night Raw
At the moment, it seems many of the Raw roster are not being used in some form. At least nine talents are known to be absent:
- Authors Of Pain — Don’t expect to see the AOP for a while, as Rezar has a torn bicep injury which will bench Seth Rollins’ bodyguards for at least 5-7 months.
- Jinder Mahal — He returned in April after spending months on the sidelines, but sustained a knee injury less than a month later and is recovering from surgery.
- Kevin Owens — Due to a PC recruit contracting the virus, his family strongly urged him to stay home as his wife’s grandfather recently passed away due to COVID-19, and they are worried for his health: Kevin Owens Confirms Reason he’s Been Absent From WWE Television
- Becky Lynch — She is currently on maternity leave after vacating the Raw Women’s Championship.
- Charlotte Flair — It was noted on PWInsider that she will be out for at least six weeks after undergoing an elective surgery: Top WWE Star Expected Out Next Six Weeks
- Kairi Sane — She has been absent since suffering a head injury in a match with Nia Jax. Her return has yet to be announced.
- Bianca Belair — After moving on from NXT, she was paired with her husband Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins in the Streets Profits. However, she disappeared a few weeks later and the only reason cited is because she wouldn’t suit the comical storyline between the Street Profits and the Viking Raiders: The Real Reason Why Bianca Belair Hasn’t Appeared On RAW Lately
- Shayna Baszler — Since defeating Natalya twice in early May, she has not worked any matches, but did appear on an episode of The Bump a couple of weeks ago.
- Riddick Moss — He has not been seen since losing the 24/7 title to R-Truth in March.
Friday Night SmackDown
- Robert Roode — He is one of a few who is confirmed to be at home due to “travel complications”. In other words, he’s staying at home with the family in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
I should be in the Bahamas right now….. Happy Easter. #Lockdown #isolation
— Robert Roode (@RealRobertRoode) April 12, 2020
- Bo Dallas — The lone ‘B Team’ member has not been seen on TV since he teamed with his now released partner Curtis Axel at Crown Jewel in October. It’s safe to assume he’s sitting at home, partly because he’s doing his part, but probably more so because WWE doesn’t want to use airtime to feature him.
- Kalisto — The third member of the Lucha House Party is currently sidelined with a separated shoulder injury. He’s been doing vlogs from his home with his wife Abigail Rodriguez: Lucha Family YouTube
- Lars Sullivan — The controversial superstar remains on the sidelines rehabbing a serious knee injury sustained a year ago in June 2019.
- Mustafa Ali — There have been no reports of him working matches since February. However, he is by the favorite to be revealed as the mystery hacker. The circle of lights shown in video packages, resemble the same on his wrestling attire. Whether he is choosing to work from home or not, is currently unknown. Some fans claim he worked as one of Akira Tozawa’s ninjas, but this has yet to be proven.
- Elias — He is currently recovering from a torn pectoral muscle.
- Xavier Woods/Ember Moon — Both are out with torn Achilles injuries. Woods recently appeared on WWE TV to congratulate his friends on winning the SmackDown tag team titles.
- Sami Zayn — While holding the Intercontinental Championship, Sami decided to go home and isolate. It was reported that WWE was not happy with this decision, so they vacated the title and announced a tournament which was eventually won by AJ Styles.
- Roman Reigns — Due to his previous leukemia diagnosis, he is shielding at home to stay safe from COVID-19.
NXT
- Kyle O’Reilly — While the Undisputed Era continue working on USA Network’s NXT, O’Reilly has been an exception because he has type 1 diabetes. People with this condition are more susceptible to the virus than others. He has been a cheerleader for his buddies on Twitter and in a few taped segments.
Finally watched ‘1917’ last night and I can’t stop thinking about it. We’re lucky the extent of most of our problems is being stuck indoors right now. If you love someone let them know and if you’re able, give them a hug. And absolutely watch this film.
— Kyle O’Reilly (@KORcombat) April 24, 2020
- Pete Dunne, Zack Gibson & James Drake — They are in England spending time with their families during lockdown.
Matt wanted us to match
Coming out of quarantine dressed like ultimate stallions pic.twitter.com/GkJEP0Esz9
— Pete Dunne (@PeteDunneYxB) April 25, 2020
- Velveteen Dream — He has disappeared from TV lately, after further allegations of sexual abuse toward underage fans were posted on Twitter.
Others
Edge — He was injured in the “greatest wrestling match ever” with Randy Orton at the Backlash tapings, and is sidelined for months with a torn triceps.
Ronda Rousey — Earlier in the year, it sounded like Rousey was working the fans by talking down about wrestling. If she was scheduled to return, it was put on hold because of COVID-19. She suffered a serious hand injury last year where she almost lost a finger, but she seems to have recovered from it.
AEW
There are several AEW wrestlers we have not seen for a while. A few are not easy to pin down on whether they’re isolating or not.
- Jon Moxley — Due to Renee Young contracting COVID-19, they are isolating in separate parts of their household for the time being.
- QT Marshall, Anna Jay, Alan Angels, Lee Johnson & others — Due to QT Marshall contracting the virus, all of his students have been asked to isolate.
- Jimmy Havoc — After being accused of sexual abuse and physical assault, Havoc checked himself in to rehabilitation: Jimmy Havoc Enters Rehab For Mental & Substance Abuse
- Sammy Guevara —When an old comment came to light from a WWE tryout, where Sammy could be heard saying he would “rape” Sasha Banks as a form of low brow comedy, he issued an apology directly to her and in a video message to the fans. Sasha Banks accepted his apology, although AEW still suspended him and demanded he partake in a sensitivity training course. His job will be re-evaluated upon his return.
- Britt Baker — While certainly not absent from television, Baker does have a legitimate knee injury.
- Kris Statlander — She has been sidelined due to an ACL injury. In a statement, she said it happened by accident when she dived on top of Kip Sabian during an AEW Dynamite taping.
- Angelico & Jack Evans — The team were being used primarily on AEW Dark, but has since disappeared. Evans is tweeting a lot, giving the impression he is finding things to do at home.
- CIMA & Others — Long before lockdowns began, we hadn’t seen much of CIMA or his Chinese students. It’s safe to say they returned home before anyone in the United States thought about isolating.
- Pac — He has been silent on Twitter since announcing the arrival of the Death Triangle back in March, so it’s likely he did what other English wrestlers have done in returning home to Newcastle to spend time with family.
- Riho, Emi Sakura, Bea Priestley & Shanna — While it’s not so easy to understand Riho’s Twitter, the impression from her emojis suggest she is sad being isolated at home. I’m sure she will return to challenge for the AEW Women’s title soon. The rest have not wrestled since March. Emi Sakura’s been gone longer than that, as it was in fact December the last time she was on Dynamite. Sakura is regularly plugging the Choco Pro promotion; an extremely small Japanese show which sees wrestlers working without a ring.
- Sadie Gibbs — As one of AEW’s first female signees, Sadie has not wrestled since October and her status is unknown. She mentioned losing her grandfather not long after signing with the company in March, so if she is still employed, there must be a personal reason why she’s still there and no one has explained her absence.
Impact Wrestling
- Daga — As Tessa Blanchard’s boyfriend, he is isolating with her in Mexico. Now she has been granted her release, it is unknown whether he will remain with the company or not.
- Gama Singh, Mahabali Shera & Raj Singh — Rohit Raju has been a one man hit squad for several months, and no update has been given on Gama Singh or Shera. While it looked like they had kicked Raj Singh out of the group, they may have only done this so he can recover from knee surgery.
- Rich Swann — He has been seen sporadically on Impact TV, but Swann is still recovering from an ankle injury.
- Tenille Dashwood — While she has not worked a match since March, she has been in the news talking about the #speakingout movement. She’s also been seen hanging around with WWE superstars Billie Kay, Peyton Royce and Zelina Vega. You can read her thoughts below:
“It’s really sad and crazy to think that in a mixed gender profession like professional wrestling, so many of these situations were almost normalized over the years. I applaud all those speaking out for having the courage to do so. Over the years I have had to file reports … I have been sexually abused and harassed and i have been sent unsolicited photos have been sent to me without asking …
I have been in more uncomfortable situations then I can number. I understand how hard it is to say it out loud, let alone publicly. I am still struggling with this myself. Some instances I’ve never shared with anyone because I’ve felt shame and embarrassment in acknowledging it.
I feared what people would say and I feared any repercussions. I didn’t want to be responsible for costing someone their job, however, I also didn’t want to experience the discomfort of continuing to work with people where there were no consequences even after speaking out.
I see the benefit in Speaking out now and will stand by all the strong people sharing their stories and those who aren’t quite ready and are dealing with this in their own way still. I’ve blamed myself for some of these things over the years or shrugged them off and grew a thicker skin, but the fact is we shouldn’t have to! It’s not ok … It never was and never will be. #Speakingout <3”
Happy Birthday to the beautiful @BillieKayWWE ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ZKpPhA0Yu3
— TENILLE DASHWOOD (@TenilleDashwood) June 23, 2020
