WWE News: Zack Ryder Out Four To Nine Months With Injury
Last week, the tag team of Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley won a match to earn the number one contender role for the SmackDown Live tag team titles. However, in that match, Zack Ryder suffered a serious knee injury. While the extent of the injury was not disclosed at the time, Zack Ryder has since taken to Twitter and announced that he will be out of action anywhere from four to nine months.
Zack Ryder underwent surgery in Birmingham, Alabama, last week, and he said that he was told both four to six months and six to nine months. Zack Ryder responded that only “time will tell” when it comes to the recovery and rehabilitation of his knee.
With Zack Ryder out of action, SmackDown Live will have to figure out who will feud with the Wyatt Family for the tag team titles next. American Alpha will eventually be that team, but the WWE seems to want a lower-level face team to feed to the Wyatt Family for now.
Sadly, on SmackDown Live, there isn’t much to choose from in face tag teams outside of Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley. Besides American Alpha, the rest of the division are heel tag teams. The only other face tag team was Rhyno and Heath Slater, and they appeared to be on the verge of a split in recent weeks.
The SmackDown Live tag team division consists of the Ascension, Vaudevillains, Usos, and Breezango as heels. There is a chance that Breezango could turn into a face team because they have gotten over with some fans in recent months. The Usos are another possibility, but they seem better suited as heels at this time.
However, out of all the tag teams involved, the Usos seem the most capable of replacing the number-one contenders thanks to the Zack Ryder injury. As a matter of fact, Wrestling Inc. reported that Jimmy Uso brought up the idea on Talking Smack last week and remained in his heel persona when he did so.
“Do you honestly believe that The Hype Bros. can get with Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt? You know who will get with them? You know who the WWE Universe believes will get with them dudes? The Usos, because we ain’t no joke!”
Basically calling Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley a “joke” keeps the Usos in the heel role, but that could work in a short term WWE feud with the Wyatt Family. Fans are cheering for the Wyatt Family right now and have wanted to for a long time.
With the Zack Ryder injury, the Wyatt Family could realistically move into a feud with a fellow heel tag team. WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross has always believed that Bray Wyatt could be a huge face character in the WWE. He even wrote on his blog in September that fans are becoming more vocal in cheering for the cult star.
“I feel that Bray Wyatt is a potential main event talent without question but I see him as a character baby face somewhere down the road. The ‘fire fly’ entrance feels like a fan favorite presentation and that much support makes it hard to motivate a live audience to boo the proposed villain.”
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The Zack Ryder injury opens up a lot of possibilities for SmackDown Live. The best idea is a Wyatt Family vs. Usos feud. That would allow the Usos to remain heels and the Wyatt Family to win a feud over a top tag team.
The problem comes when the WWE positions American Alpha back in over the Wyatt Family after that while keeping fans on the side of the faces. With Zack Ryder as a perfect babyface, that wasn’t a problem, but his injury throws a monkey wrench into the entire tag team division.
[Featured Image by WWE]
