WWE News: ‘SmackDown’ Star Shares Injury Update As New Report Claims He Might Miss Up To A Year

Although previous reports on the injury Xavier Woods suffered during WWE‘s recent Australian tour suggested that he tore an Achilles tendon, it was also expected that he might be ready to return in time for WrestleMania 36 in April. However, the latest updates hint that the Friday Night SmackDown star’s injury might have been even worse than once thought — and possibly bad enough to keep him out of action until late next year.

Just days after Dave Meltzer first reported on Woods’ possible Achilles tear, the veteran combat sports journalist noted on this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the New Day member might miss nine months to one year of in-ring action, as cited by WrestlingNews.co. That means it’s now very likely that Woods will still be recovering by the time of next year’s WrestleMania, and might have to wait until the late summer or early fall of 2020 before he’s cleared to return to the ring.

So far, it appears that Woods is taking his injury in stride despite the prospect of having to miss a significant amount of time while recovering. On Friday, he took to Twitter to share a video where he explained to his fans that he had just undergone surgery on his torn Achilles and has “no clue” how long he’ll be out. The 33-year-old grappler added that he plans to concentrate on making new video game-centric content for his YouTube channel and expressed excitement about celebrating Halloween with his children, but also mentioned that he feels “very sad” that he won’t be able to wrestle for “quite a while.”

Updaaaaaaate – for those of you asking what exactly happened in the first place. I was on top of my treehouse and someone yelled that my epidermis was showing….https://t.co/lTgxrMaBjE pic.twitter.com/nXDep1KWDl

— Austin Creed ?? Pax East (@AustinCreedWins) October 25, 2019

According to WrestlingNews.co, Woods apparently tore his Achilles last weekend, during a tag team match between reigning SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival and challengers The New Day. The publication recalled that Woods dropped to the mat while running the ropes, forcing the referee to make an “X” gesture to signify that someone suffered a legitimate, unscripted injury. While Woods was helped backstage by officials, the match still pushed forward, with Big E left to represent The New Day against Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder of The Revival.

Despite Woods’ potentially long absence, WWE still appears to have big plans for The New Day in Friday Night SmackDown‘s tag team division. Per 411Mania, the fan-favorite faction — now represented by Kofi Kingston and Big E — is scheduled to face The Revival on next week’s edition of SmackDown in a title match for the blue brand’s tag team championships. Both The New Day and The Revival are also scheduled to compete on Thursday at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia, where a total of nine teams will fight for this year’s edition of the so-called “WWE World Cup.”