3 Ways Injuries have affected WWE TV in 2018
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.