Hi folks! Today, I bring you an updated wrestling injury and notable absentee report for the month of March 2022. Reasons for absence can include suspensions and unexplained inactivity. This covers the promotions of WWE, AEW, Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Feel free to let us know if anyone is missing. A few have returned since the last update (in January), including:
Drew McIntyre, Sasha Banks, Ridge Holland, Darius Martin, Eddie Kingston & The Butcher
WWE
This section includes WWE Superstars assigned to the Raw or SmackDown brands.
Big E — As many will know, during a match involving Ridge Holland, Big E suffered a serious neck injury from a belly-to-belly suplex. Despite this, he was in good spirits, and later said he wouldn’t need surgery. A former WWE doctor said there is a chance he would need to retire, given the seriousness of fracturing his C1 and C6 vertebrae. There remains a small chance if his C1 vertebrae doesn’t heal properly.
Bobby Lashley — During the Royal Rumble match with Brock Lesnar, Lashley suffered a shoulder injury. He was wrote off TV during the Elimination Chamber match, and has since had surgery. Lashley was scheduled to be away for four months, and has yet to be cleared. However, it was reported yesterday that there are talks of having Omos challenge Lashley at WrestleMania, which means his return would be happening sooner than expected.
Gable Steveson — He follows in the footsteps of Kurt Angle as an Olympic Gold Medalist in freestyle amateur wrestling, and Brock Lesnar as an NCAA Division champion from the University of Minnesota. WWE jumped at the chance of signing him to a contract, assigning him to the Monday Night Raw brand. However, Steveson is unable to appear regularly until he has finished with his education at the university. He recently won the NCAA Heavyweight Championship for a second time, and then teased a WWE appearance before removing the tweet.
King Woods — During a street fight with The Usos a few months ago, Woods hit a Tornado DDT on Jey Uso. In the process, he tore his plantaris muscle in his calf. Doctors said he would miss 4-6 weeks of action, which meant he missed the Royal Rumble. As a way to keep Kofi Kingston on SmackDown, WWE sent Big E over from Raw to help him with his feud with The Usos, but Big E has since become injured as well. 10 days ago, Woods returned to wrestling for WWE in a live event, showing he has recovered, but they have yet to reintroduce him to SmackDown.
Mustafa Ali — He recently asked for his release from WWE, but was denied. Ali responded by posting an image on Twitter of The Joker from ‘The Dark Knight’ Batman movie. This implied the quote: “It’s not about money… It’s about sending a message. Everything burns”. In other words, he doesn’t care about money, he just wants an opportunity. Ali continues to tease something big when he is finally let go from his WWE contract.
NXT 2.0
Candice LeRae — She is on maternity leave. On February 17th, Candice gave birth to a baby boy called Quill Gargano. There is no timeframe for her return.
Odyssey Jones — In January, while filming a match with Saurav for the now cancelled 205 Live show, Odyssey suffered a ruptured patellar tendon. The match had to be stopped and didn’t make it to air. He was wrote off NXT TV after being attacked by Joe Gacy & Harland. Odyssey has since had surgery and is recovering.
Zoey Stark — Back in November, the former NXT Tag Team Champion (w/ Io Shirai) was attacked backstage by Toxic Attraction. It was a quick moment, but one which wrote her off TV. There was no official word on what the injury was, but Stark gave us an update a few months ago. She is still recovering from a torn ACL in her knee:
Unassigned
Asuka — Back in late August, Asuka confirmed she had an arm injury in a Twitter post. She also confirmed having dental issues and needing teeth replaced. Many news sources claimed she would return for the Royal Rumble match, but she did not. There are no reports of her returning for WrestleMania, although she has been cleared to wrestle.
I finally got new teeth! It took 6 months since I lost my teeth😬
Thank you Dr. Byron M Blasco👨🏼⚕️ pic.twitter.com/eCsfEpfthd— ASUKA / 明日華 (@WWEAsuka) August 31, 2021
Bayley — Last July, Bayley underwent surgery to fix a torn ACL. She was slated to be out for roughly 9 months. Dave Meltzer vaguely reported she would return by February, but more likely March. Bayley responded sarcastically: “OMG GOOD TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE ALWAYS ACCURATE.” – Basically, she is saying Meltzer does not know what he’s talking about, and is just making things up. There have been no recent updates on this.
Elias — Back in August, Elias appeared in a few vignettes. He was burying his musician gimmick and vowed to return. Ironically, Elias has been buried ever since. No one has seen him, and there is no sign of a return. If there was a good time to do so, it would be in the Royal Rumble match, but it didn’t happen. Much like Veer Mahaan, his return could take a while, although there’s no hype behind this one.
Lacey Evans — Her last match was way back in February 2021, and then she went on maternity leave. In October, Evans gave birth to her second child, and has recently teased a return to the ring. In response to a fan asking when she would be back, on behalf of her daughter (who loved her new Lacey Evans figure for Christmas), she said: “Tell her I’m coming. ⏳💪❤” – The kid is still waiting over three months later.
Also Read: 30 Longest Reigning WWE Champions In History
All Elite Wrestling
Angélico — Many were wondering about his status with AEW, given that he hadn’t wrestled for a long time. He gave an update on Twitter by saying he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus at the end of 2021. The South African is said to be ahead of schedule for recovery, so we could see the tag team of The Hybrid 2 returning soon.
Jake Atlas — The former NXT star suffered an injury in his debut AEW match with Adam Cole. Atlas was upbeat about it though, because he said he wouldn’t be out for long. He hasn’t wrestled since January, so the injury was worse than he initially let on.
Kenny Omega — After losing the AEW World Championship to Hangman Page, Omega has been on hiatus to recover from several injuries. Not long after, he relinquished the AAA title as well. Recently, Omega has gone back and forth with fans and Jim Cornette on Twitter, and none of it has been constructive. Don Callis recently returned to AEW programming with Omega’s entrance, which served as a cruel tease to his fans.
Omega recently had knee surgery and is waiting for other surgeries. The recovery on this surgery is said to be 10 weeks, but it’s likely to take longer because he needs hernia surgery as well. Omega continues to serve in his EVP role by promoting partnerships with DDT and taking interviews.
Kip Sabian — Way back in April last year, Miro destroyed his tag partner and wrote him off TV. Sabian needed shoulder surgery and got it the following month. There’s still no sign of him returning, but he can’t be far away. There have been reports of Sabian being seen walking around at venues, taking pictures with fans, and sitting in attendance.
Miro — He recently signed a new contract that will keep him with AEW up to 2026. Yet, what most fans are wondering is when he will return to TV. After suffering a hamstring injury, he is said to have recovered and will be back any time soon.
Rey Fenix — On the January 5th episode of Dynamite, during a tag match with Jurassic Express for the tag titles, Fenix was chokeslammed through a table by Luchasaurus. Upon landing, his left arm bent in a way it shouldn’t and it was dislocated. I wouldn’t say it was anybody’s fault, these things can happen. Sadly, we’ll have to go without The Lucha Brothers for a while. Meanwhile, Penta has taken on a darker persona, but continues to team with Pac, so a reunion of the Death Triangle is likely when Fenix is ready.
Riho — During a title match with Britt Baker in January, she suffered a fractured right collarbone. It happened early on, so it was impressive that Riho managed to work the rest of the encounter while hurt. She returned to Japan and posted a picture of her arm in a sling. It was reported that Riho would be out for three months, she given that timeframe, she could return pretty soon.
Impact & New Japan
Sami Callihan — A few months ago, Callihan gave us an update on his ankle injury. He had screws taken out on December 23rd, and is on the road to recovery. He is taking the time off to lose weight and return stronger than ever. Also, he’s not willing to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing when he will return. Sami Callihan has always loved the element of surprise. Impact Wrestling has changed so much since he has been away.
Su Yung — It was announced several months ago that Su Yung (aka Suzie or Susan) was pregnant with her husband Rich Swann’s baby. She was due in February, and it was confirmed during a video with Swann holding their new bundle of joy. Swann continues to wrestle on Impact, while Su is at home on maternity leave.
🖤 🦢 pic.twitter.com/YL9xZURQhd
— s ü y ü n g (@realsuyung) February 27, 2022
Kota Ibushi — According to New Japan, Ibushi suffered a right anterior dislocation of the shoulder, and joint lip damage in a match with Kazuchika Okada. His estimated recovery time was listed as two months, so he was expected to return for Wrestle Kingdom 16.
This didn’t happen, so either he’s due back, or it was worse than they thought. New Japan was pushing Kota Ibushi as the new face of the company leading into its 50th year anniversary. As a backup, Kazuchika Okada won the IWGP World title and paid respect to the former title. This sets things up nicely for Ibushi to avenge the loss at the G1 Climax final. New Japan fans are still waiting on his return.
