WWE News: Champion Injured And Pulled From ‘SmackDown’ – Is His ‘Extreme Rules’ Match Still Happening?

As if WWE didn’t have enough problems with injuries to main event stars right now, they really don’t need the mid-card talent getting hurt as well. It has now been announced that United States Champion Kalisto has been injured and was actually hurt bad enough to be pulled from tonight’s SmackDown taping. Many are wondering if his title defense against Rusev at Extreme Rules on Sunday is in jeopardy.

On Monday Night Raw, Kalisto faced off with Alberto Del Rio and ended up losing his match, but that wasn’t the worst part of his evening. After it was over, Rusev jumped in the ring and absolutely decimated his Extreme Rules opponent with a brutal Accolade that actually made it look like Kalisto was being broken in half.

The referees were doing whatever they could to get Rusev off of Kalisto, but it took a while, and he just held onto the move. All of the announcers were selling the situation big time, and now the WWE website is taking things a step further.

This evening, WWE officially revealed that Kalisto is dealing with some serious injuries that he suffered at the hands of Rusev.

“Due to injuries sustained at the hands of Rusev on Raw, United States Champion Kalisto is unable to compete on this week’s SmackDown, WWE.com has learned.”

“WWE medical staff confirmed that Kalisto suffered a strained intercostal muscle and erectus spinae muscle, attributed to Rusev’s Accolade submission maneuver.”

“Despite his injuries, Kalisto is still planning on defending his U.S. Title against The Super Athlete this Sunday at Extreme Rules.”

Now, those are some pretty serious injuries, and one wouldn’t think that Kalisto would be ready to wrestle on Sunday night at Extreme Rules. Still, WWE is saying that he will indeed be healthy enough to defend his title.

If this is a work, it’s an interesting one.

A little over a month ago, Kalisto was also said to have suffered an injury on Monday Night Raw, but it was all part of the storyline. He missed no time and ended up being right there for his next matches and appearances without any issue.

If WWE is already stating that he’s just going to miss SmackDown and not Extreme Rules, maybe it’s not a legit injury.

As of this writing, his injuries are being portrayed as legitimate, and he is really dealing with a lot of pain and discomfort. If this is true, then WWE would be a bit more cautious in letting him step back in the ring with serious injuries.

If the whole situation is a work, then it’s an odd one.

One would think that the giant (Rusev, in this case) would be the one to have an injury which could make the little guy defeating him a bit more believable. Not that Kalisto needs help in racking up believable and huge wins over bigger opponents.

Maybe WWE is really trying to build up the angle of the little guy holding onto his title against all odds and that includes injuries and a much bigger opponent. Either way, he’s off of SmackDown, but will be ready for the pay-per-view.

This very well could be a work of some kind and WWE is playing up the big guy vs. little guy angle once again. Some thought that Rusev would be taking the United States Championship from Kalisto at Extreme Rules, but WWE may push the angle of the little guy overcoming every odd to beat the “Bulgarian Brute.” Either way, it’s rather interesting that they actually gave “breaking news” of Kalisto’s injury if it isn’t legit.

[Image via WWE]