We’re only one week removed from WWE’s big two-night Superstar Shake-Up, and already we have our first “whoops, that didn’t quite go how we expected it to.” It’s a real bummer.
One of the moves you may have missed or overlooked from the Raw roster acquisitions was that Zack Ryder moved from Smackdown to Raw. Bonus points for you if you remembered which roster Ryder was on BEFORE the Shake-Up. But both Ryder and WWE were hoping this could be the start of a new chapter for the man, who has been signed to WWE for over 10 years now.
Just look no further than the most recent Ryder-themed WWE YouTube video, which was uploaded a week ago and is titled “Zack Ryder is ready for new opportunities on Raw.”
Unfortunately for Ryder, those new opportunities will not include participating in the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia on Friday, as he has suffered a knee injury and will need to go in for evaluation.
This pic is from last night b4 my match with @RealMikeBennett on #MainEvent. We treated it like we were wrestling on #Raw. Unfortunately, I suffered a knee injury. While the rest of the roster is flying to Saudi Arabia 2day for #WWEGRR, I’m flying back to Orlando to get a MRI. pic.twitter.com/YkW1fwOElR
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) April 24, 2018
I’ll keep you posted…and I’ll be back.
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) April 24, 2018
According to Ryder, the injury happened in a match against Mike Bennett that was taped for Main Event prior to Monday’s episode of Raw. This will be the second knee injury for Ryder in the past couple of years, as he suffered a knee injury in December of 2016 in a match where the Hype Bros. won a No. 1 contendership to the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. That injury ended up keeping him out of action for six months. He would eventually return to team and then feud with Mojo Rawley, and was last seen being eliminated by Rawley in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34.
Ryder’s career arguably peaked at WrestleMania 32, when he won the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match, and then dropped it to the Miz the next night on Raw. He then spent significant time in NXT, where he formed the Hype Bros with Rawley and did some really fantastic work. But injuries have derailed him before, and hopefully that will not be the case again here. We wish Ryder all the best and a speedy recovery.
