If you’re a fan of Total Divas , you’ve probably noticed one significant omission in the show’s male cast — Nattie (a.k.a. Natalya) Neidhart’s real-life husband TJ Wilson, a.k.a. Tyson Kidd in the WWE ring. And it appears that he’s just been pulled from the cast, for reasons only he and WWE seem to know.
As of last year, Kidd was one-half of a tag team with Cesaro, and making a successful return to prominence, not long after he had spent some time in NXT to revitalize his then-flagging career. Both men had held the WWE Tag Team Championships for little more than two months before losing their titles to The New Day at Extreme Rules 2015. Even then, the Cesaro and Kidd partnership was among the more popular tag teams in WWE, but that all came to a crashing halt in June 2015, as Kidd wrestled a dark, or untelevised match on Monday Night RAW against NXT’s Samoa Joe.
That match saw Tyson Kidd’s WWE career get jeopardized when he took a Muscle Buster from Samoa Joe, suffering a spinal injury in the process. WWE acknowledged the injury on its official website, and with Kidd’s career hanging in the balance, he spent his recovery time appearing on Total Divas , the E! series chronicling the off-screen lives of WWE’s top female performers. Though unable to compete as Tyson Kidd, the 36-year-old alumnus of the legendary Hart Family “Dungeon” in Canada was seemingly okay being TJ Wilson, husband to Nattie Neidhart, and reality TV guest star recovering from a serious injury.
Tyson Kidd Says He’s Been Taken Off Total Divas, Says WWE Doesn’t Want His Situation Explained #TysonKidd #WWE https://t.co/ezLNDES2pe pic.twitter.com/fMHQScMeXM
— 411 Wrestling (@411wrestling) November 24, 2016
But that too looks to have ended, as Kidd was nowhere to be seen in the first two episodes of Season 6 of Total Divas . And it was Tyson Kidd himself who confirmed that he’s been removed from the show, tweeting a reply to a fan asking him about why he hasn’t appeared in the sixth season. He told the fan that he’s been “taken off the show by WWE,” and that he’ll “have to contact them to figure it out.” And while Tyson said that it’s still “all good,” a reply to another Twitter user had added to the mystery of Kidd’s removal from Total Divas .
“Oh, believe me, I don’t think they want my situation explained. I’ll leave it at that for now.”
That was a reference to Tyson Kidd’s last WWE match, the one where he had nearly died in the ring against the big and powerful Samoa Joe. According to SEScoops , the fan was asking whether Total Divas would explain his sudden absence from the show, but the way things seem right now, it looks like WWE would rather remain mum on the issue. And Tyson is similarly playing it coy, only confirming he’s been pulled from Total Divas , and choosing not to say much else.
All things considered, Tyson Kidd is lucky to be alive, let alone walking, as SEScoops had noted. The neck and spinal injury he suffered last year only has a five percent survival rate, and sufferers more often than not end up paralyzed, but spinal fusion surgery allowed the wrestler to walk again. And his opponent in that fateful match, Samoa Joe, didn’t get off easy, even if the injury was purely accidental. Last year, Natalya’s uncle, WWE legend Bret Hart, had told Sports Illustrated that Joe’s Muscle Buster is a “ reckless ” move.
“The move that Samoa Joe did was reckless, and the way they rushed that match beforehand in the back without giving Tyson time to prepare was mistake. Tyson is, pound for pound, one of the best wrestlers in the world. And that includes his mind. If you went behind the scenes at WWE, Tyson is an intricate piece of so many other matches. It’s a shame that a guy who is that talented and given so much to the company is hurt, but I just hope it’s not so serious that his career is over.”
It seems like quite the mystery — Tyson Kidd and WWE don’t have any apparent “heat” or animosity with each other, so why does WWE want him off Total Divas ? The injury appears to be the main reason, but if WWE really does have other valid reasons, there’s a good chance this story will continue to develop in the weeks to come.
[Featured Image by Erika Golding/Getty Images]