WWE SmackDown star Karl Anderson will be out of commission for at least six to nine months following an arm injury, putting his chances of getting a spot at WrestleMania in doubt.
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Several days ago, Anderson posted a picture of himself on Instagram with his arm in a sling, resting in a hospital bed. At the time, the wrestler thanked “Dr. Dugas in Birmingham, Alabama” and promised to give fans more details later.
Those details came out on a new episode of his “Talk N Shop” podcast, where the former WWE Raw Tag Team Championship revealed that he had received an injury in an unspecified match several months ago and that it had grown progressively worse.
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“It happened two months ago, I felt something in a match, and didn’t think anything of it because that’s what we do,” Anderson said. “The next week, something else happened in a match again. ‘That hurt a little worse,’ but still thought nothing of it because that’s how we’ve always rolled.”
The injury likely occurred in one of two matches: The Good Brothers’ (Anderson and Luke Gallows) most recent televised match took place on September 24th against Hank and Tank. The two teams also faced off in a rematch during a dark match the following week.
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However, it is possible Anderson had already been injured. He continued, saying, “We had three or four more matches, and each other, progressively, I realized, ‘This thing hurts.’ I wasn’t able to sleep at night because it was aching and throbbing. ‘Let me tell somebody.’
“I talked to the WWE doctors who handled it right away and they immediately scheduled me for an anthrogram. They immediately saw it was a torn rotator cuff tendon and a partially torn labrum.”
Apparently, Anderson will be in a brace for at least six weeks following his recent surgery and will be recuperating for six to months after that. Considering that WrestleMania 41 is scheduled for this coming April, just over five months away, it is entirely likely that Anderson will have to sit this one out.
Anderson’s accomplishments include being a 2-time IWGP Tag Team Champion in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), a 1-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champion in WWE, and a 2-time Impact World Tag Team Champion in Impact Wrestling. He has also won the ROH World Tag Team Championship in Ring of Honor (ROH), and the NJPW NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship twice.
Anderson and Luke Gallows also claimed victory in the World Tag League in 2013, further cementing their dominance in NJPW. In 2016, they were named PWI Tag Team of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and Anderson has been ranked in the PWI 500 multiple times over the years.
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