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On Wednesday, WWE announced that Intercontinental Champion Ryback suffered a right knee injury during RAW on Monday night and will subsequently be removed from Sunday's Battleground pay-per-view. Ryback himself clarified that the injury is actually a staph infection, which showed up on Tuesday morning:
After Raw Monday I woke up Tuesday morning before some media appearances with a severe staff infection in my right knee. I was brought to a
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 16, 2015
Hospital and put on strong antibiotics and had 90 cc of fluid drained out of knee in a 24 hour period. We caught it in time thanks to the
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 16, 2015
Great WWE medical team and I will make a full recovery. Will be kept in the hospital for several days and I will not be able to defend my
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 16, 2015
Intercontinental Championship this Sunday. I am sorry to all my fans and the WWE. I will be back shortly, but I have to get this corrected.
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 16, 2015
Correction for the spelling bee champs out there staph infection #meathead
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 16, 2015
Ryback had been set to defend his title in a triple threat match against Big Show and The Miz. No word yet as to whether Miz vs. Big Show will go on as a one-on-one match.
If you recall, Ryback's current Intercontinental title reign -- his first singles title in WWE -- began when he won an Elimination Chamber match for the belt, which was vacated due to Daniel Bryan's post-WrestleMania injuries. So the title continues to be somewhat snakebit.
Ryback was in action on Monday in a tag match with Randy Orton against Sheamus and Big Show. The match saw Ryback hit a couple of unusual moves for him: a plancha and a big splash off the top that resulted in a pinfall for his team.