WWE possibly faked Rey Mysterio's injury on SmackDown for a weird reason

Rey Mysterio vs. Santos Escobar on the July 28 episode of SmackDown was set to determine United States Champion Austin Theory's SummerSlam 2023 opponent. Santos Escobar is that man, but it came at a cost because Rey Mysterio seemingly suffered an injury. Was it a fake injury? We look at the possibility and why it may have been done.

Although the match was going well, with the crowd chanting, "This is awesome," fans received unfortunate news after a commercial break, revealing that a dive that Escobar made sent Mysterio crashing to the mat - leading to a potential shoulder injury.

The only issue is that when you look at the replay, it isn't that bad. We're not going to deny that an injury could happen, but the way referee Jessika Karr was shown telling Mike Rome to call the match for Santos Escobar seemed to be an indication that it was a work.

Prayers up for @ReyMysterio 🙏 pic.twitter.com/1yobuNhgLG

Usually, a legitimate injury would lead to the referee quietly calling the match rather than the camera emphasizing the decision to prove it's legitimate.

As for what the reason could be, one major possibility is that WWE didn't want a clear-cut finish between the two LWO members, primarily because they didn't want Rey Mysterio being pinned by Santos Escobar so early into their run together.

With @reymysterio unable to compete, @EscobarWWE has won the #USTitle Invitational Finals! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/Cg7NBWZuEo" target="_blank" title="tweet-url" rel="noopener noreferrer">pic.twitter.com/Cg7NBWZuEo

The Latino World Order still has a lot of legs to run on, and Santos Escobar seems to be far from the point of turning heel, so when the time comes for their actual match to happen, don't be surprised to see Escobar get that pin over the legend.