When WWE ran an injury angle on Raw this past Monday with Zack Ryder, it caught many by surprise that he did a stretcher job and the reason given on-air was that he suffered a broken back.
Knowing how WWE operates, it would have been no surprise if he had come back in a week and no-sold the injury. Instead, they took care to add an update on the company website that will explain how he can come back much sooner:
WWE.com caught up with WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann regarding Ryder's condition. "When he was taken to the trauma center, the initial working diagnosis was vertebral fracture. However, after further review of the imaging studies, we determined that his injury is in fact a herniated disc," Amann said.
"At this point, his neurologic exam is stable, so no surgery is anticipated at this time. We plan on getting him into rehab and treatment with anti-inflammatory medications, to help with the swelling around the nerve. We'll be monitoring his progress."
This was also announced on Smackdown by Josh Matthews tonight.
Speaking of Smackdown, Mark Henry may or may not have suffered a knee injury. Indeed, we heard nothing after the tapings throughout the week but the Wrestling Observer noted before the show aired tonight that it appeared as though Henry injured his knee going for a punch.
From watching the Henry vs. Big Show match on video, it certainly appears that Henry hyperextends his knee throwing a punch. He went down hard for no reason and eventually ended up getting himself counted out. Haven't heard anything on his status for Sunday, which probably means he's going to tape it up and work on it, but who knows.
Henry did, in fact, throw a punch and then suddenly drop like a ton of bricks. Show backed off, recognizing that something wasn't right, and Henry rolled out of the ring. On the SyFy broadcast, Smackdown then went to commercial and by the time they were back, Henry was gone and Matthews was explaining his absence on commentary.
Even if he is legitimately injured, it won't be much different than how it's been for him in recent weeks anyway, as he's been nursing a bum groin for over a month. Because his match at the Royal Rumble this Sunday night is a steel cage triple threat match, there are ways to get around his injury.
It probably won't be pretty but again, we're not entirely sure he's injured. It certainly looked like it, though.
It's now possible Ryder will be a Rumble entrant, though that seems unlikely still, and Henry is probably going to be gimping around even more than normal. Just another day in the life.