In what has to be sad news for the resurgent WWE Superstar and his fans, Zack Ryder will undergo surgery on his injured knee, confirming the operation on a Twitter post this afternoon.
As it turned out, Tuesday night’s episode of SmackDown Live was a bittersweet one for Zack Ryder. As the winner of a tag team battle royal that night, he had won The Hype Bros a chance at The Wyatt Family’s SmackDown Tag Team titles, giving him and Mojo Rawley their highest-profile match so far in their short run as a tag team. But as the Inquisitr reported yesterday, Ryder had injured his knee in the battle royal, and was in such pain he was carried back to the trainer’s room. At that time, he was due to undergo an MRI to determine the extent of his injury.
The Hype Bros were supposed to be number one contenders to The Wyatt Family’s SmackDown Tag Team titles. [Image by WWE]
WWE published an update on Ryder’s injury, quoting company doctor Chris Robinson, who issued a statement on what may have happened during the number one contender battle royal.
“We think he injured his kneecap or his patella. We think it popped out and then popped back in, so we’re just going to do an MRI to make sure that there is not cartilage damage or some tendon tearing, stuff like that. Hopefully there’s not and it’ll be a shorter rehab period. If there is, there’s a different road we might have to go down that may take longer to get him to recover.”
Unfortunately, it looks like the knee injury is severe enough to require surgery, as Ryder confirmed this afternoon via Twitter. Wrestling Inc. wrote that Zack Ryder’s surgery will take place today in Birmingham, Alabama, but with this surgery presumably eliminating The Hype Bros from their number one contendership, it isn’t sure whom The Wyatt Family will face next for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. It isn’t sure either how long Ryder will be out of action, but as is often the case when it comes to surgeries, the 31-year-old WWE veteran may be out for several months as he recovers.
The news of Zack Ryder receiving surgery marks a sad end to what had been an otherwise productive year for the wrestler often known as “Long Island Iced Z.” Having made his official WWE debut in 2007 with Curt Hawkins as The Major Brothers, Ryder had been a reliable lower- and mid-card wrestler for the company, but by the start of 2016, he was stuck in a jobber role, barely appearing on WWE’s main programs and spending a lot of time in NXT with Mojo Rawley, where they first competed as The Hype Bros. But that changed when Zack had unexpectedly won the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 32, establishing himself as an underdog success story.
That success story lasted just one day, as Ryder dropped the belt to The Miz on the following night’s episode of Monday Night RAW. But Zack had become relevant again, thanks to his upset victory at WrestleMania, and when the July 2016 brand split took effect, he and fresh NXT call-up Rawley resumed their Hype Bros partnership, emerging as one of SmackDown Live’s more successful tag teams.
Although The Hype Bros had mostly won against lower-card tag teams like The Ascension, The Vaudevillains, and The Fashion Police (a.k.a. Breezango), their victory at Tuesday night’s number one contender battle royal was a clear sign that WWE still had some plans for Ryder in particular beyond the enhancement talent role he mostly played from 2012 to 2015. With Zack Ryder undergoing surgery, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to recover the momentum he regained in 2016. But based on his recent tweet, it looks like he’s as determined as ever to come back strong and keep on proving that WrestleMania 32 was the start of better things to come.
[Featured Image by WWE]