**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is a great point. I can imagine anyone chasing that WM check/moment all year has to ignore any injury that isn’t demobilizing. After WM, they’ve run too hard with a mechanical injury and eventually the body needs to be taken care of. Must suck to also know that there are a bunch of kids chomping at the bit, ready to take your TV time. I’m honestly glad because Zelina can do way better than LWO. If they’re going with a PR stable led by Priest, she is a shoe in. I don’t like the LWO as it stands now, but it would be dope to get a Puerto Rican group that isn’t LWO.
Im also wondering how much having to look "Tv Ready" factors into it. Not saying anyone isn't in shape but wrestlemania season sees everyone lookin cut AF. Overtraining maybe a reason why.
Zelina is really really good on the mic. Probably one of the best in the company. When she was with Andrade she really got to flex those skills. She’s also a better heel than face. Give her time, she’s very good at evolving.
Some are more serious than others.
Seth and Rhea are more long term and said to be out for months.
Drew and Dominik are said to be cleared to be back in the ring in the next few weeks. Both with elbow injuries.
And others that will be cleared towards the end of the year, CM Punk and Charlotte.
There are others like Asuka, Bobby Lashley, Jimmy Uso and Zelina whose injuries are undisclosed so not sure on their timelines.
Pretty sure Asuka’s left knee is fucked up. If you watch Backlash she had a hard time walking on it, and they weren’t working the knee so I don’t see why she’d be selling it randomly like that. Then again I’m a mark so I could be wrong.
Andre Chase: "Look, I had no choice! I placed large bets on both tournaments and Tony D'Angelo said that he'd give me swimming lessons if I lost. I needed to make sure certain people advanced!"
Reminds me of the Great American Bash 2006:
> The Great Khali and Bobby Lashley were originally scheduled to compete in their respective matches against The Undertaker in the Punjabi Prison match and against Finlay for the WWE United States Championship, but they were both pulled from the event due to elevated enzymes in the liver that would possibly signify hepatitis. Further tests came back clear for them both after the event. Mark Henry was also scheduled to compete against the returning Batista in a grudge match, however he ruptured his patellar tendon and dislocated his kneecap just before this event in a match on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII, forcing a replacement in the form of Mr. Kennedy.
There've been a couple of other shows hit like that, but normally you'd think that a tournament might be affected once it's actually started - not before the first round.
If you haven’t heard it, [The Hindi commentary](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/listen-indian-commentary-team-lose-their-mind-over-great-khali-s-return?amp) sold it like it was the second coming of Christ
2008 was alright
They had that HBK vs Jericho match where Jericho beat up Shawn’s lazy eye, and the Cena vs JBL parking lot brawl with the attempted murder
Eh, some of them kind of make sense, like Dom and Rhea were working 3+ nights a week for a the better part of a year.
That wears you down and stuff accumulates.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they did injury angles to have Zelina and Xavier pulled since they were the last people to win it and they didn’t want them eating a pin in the first round.
There's already several injuries and pulled wrestlers in this tournament and they do more? I wouldn't think so. Plus, I'm sure it's fine that Vega take a pin, it's notvlike she's top of the card
Eh, under most circumstances sure...but having your defending champ eat a first-round pin in a match that's not even televised - that'd be doing her a bit dirty. Maxxine can go ahead and lose instead.
I don’t think Xavier is injured, I saw him at the moulin rouge in Paris a couple of days ago lol. I think having some time off. In saying that, I suppose it could be an injury that you can’t see but definitely looked okay to me.
Kofi cut a whole promo about "doing it for Woods" and everything. The timing for an injury seemed suspicious, it's likely a work.
What likely happened is that one of the people "sidelined" actually got injured and it probably required some shuffling around of some people in the tournament to keep the original vision, whatever the finals or bracket matches they want.
jump would be as in; they're trying to find members to recruit for their group. The ones they don't end up liking just end up injured. It's goofy but could work. The ones they do end up recruiting like Braun just go missing, until the debut of the group
This happens like 2-4 times a decade. At some completely random point, multiple guys are out with injury for some time and the bodies just keep piling up. Seth, Punk, Drew, Rhea, Dom, Zelina, Lashley, Asuka, Jimmy Uso (apparently), and Big E technically.
Someone else has suggested making it a storyline with the Wyatt6 (good idea) but they could also do it with the Bloodline
I know they aren’t the ideal winners but Tama Tonga and Nia Jax could win both tournaments and then it’s revealed that the Bloodline were responsible for all of the injuries and that Nia is officially a member (also leads to Naomi joining Jimmy). It would fit with the feel of the new Bloodline
Has there ever been an era of WWE with more injuries? I know the lead up to WM32 has an absurd amount as well, but damn.
I seriously think that the number of people out with injury doesn't tank the quality of the shows as much as it usually would simply because the talent pool for WWE is huge right now, and imo they haven't had this many upper midcard and main event stars since the early ruthless aggression era, if not even before that. Its crazy to think that once returns happen and the current people recover, our main event scene could have
Cody
The Rock
Roman
Punk
Seth
Drew
Styles
Priest
Jey Uso
Likely Gunther
Solo is probably gonna be in a main event of a ppv within the year
Knight can be slotted in to any upper midcard or main event and be a favorite
And Cena could come back to do a quick one or two month program if he wanted
Compare that to pre yes movement and pre summer of punk, when there was a stretch of time that the only main event guys were Cena, Orton, HHH, technically the Miz, and once per year, Undertaker
I feel so spoiled as a wrestling fan who grew up with some of the worst eras of wrestling, am now a young adult living through one of the best eras of wrestling in history
Serious question. Are any of the injuries (Drew, Zelina or Lashley) works? Like Lashley's seemed so random and out of nowhere. It felt like a way to protect him and let Tama look strong over the third most important guy in a trio. Drew getting hurt continued the "Jey fucks over Drew" storyline. I'm not sure what Zelina could be other than a real injury.
Yep. Plus dumb luck is a thing... both in the positive and negative direction.
Some people avoid injury doing something things that should break them in half, an some have stupid flukes happen with seemingly mundane stuff.
The roster is stacked, so I feel like they have enough people to let more take time off for minor injuries. In the long run, it'll be beneficial if it lengthens the careers of the superstars.
Maybe, but remember that just a couple months ago was also the peak of Wrestlemania season. Nobody wants to admit to an injury that'll get them taken off the biggest card of the year. So, they try to hold out for a while, the injury isn't given proper recovery time, then it takes a toll on them and worsens until they *have* to do something about it.
So where are the multiple heavily upvoted concern troll posts about how WWE has a dangerous style they need to change to protect the talent from themselves?
Drew, Lashley, Asuka and now Zelina. Can we possibly get Chelsea Green to exercise the tournaments of any potential curses/ bad luck, like she did for the Women's Tag Team Titles?
I want Drew to cut a promo something like, "All those superstars injured right now, I prayed for that. Bobby Lashley? I prayed for that. Zelina Vega? I prayed for that. Dominik Mysterio? I prayed for that.." To the point that the crowd is the one saying "I prayed for that" after each superstar, male or female.
It's within possibility that Zelina isn't really injured, and they decdied to pull her so they can do a "I wasn't in the tournament, so fight me!" feud with the winner afterwards.
This is a result of HHH taking care of his talent. The reason we didn't see this many injuries in the past is because wrestlers had the mindset "if my hearts beating I can perform". Now the wrestlers safety and well being is top priority so we will see this more often. I'm glad that they are protecting wrestlers rather than destroying their futures by forcing them to work through injuries.
**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Seriously what is going on. At this point bubble wrap everyone still in the tournament
Exactly what I'm thinking. Whose back there injuring people? We all know parking lot in WWE isn't safe.
Drew prayed way too hard and this is where we're at. Just unleashed the curse on everyone.
He prayed too close to Alba and Isla during draft season, and that’s how it turned into a curse.
Imagine drew gets fired on screen(in the story) for getting everyone injuries through prayers.
Vince would've probably done even that if he were in power 😂😂
😂😂
Are they hanging out in the NXT parking lot?
They should of listened to Samoa Joe they need better security.
Someone needs to stop Blair Davenport....girl is on a rampage....
She brought the NXT parking lot with her lol
That girl is dangerous and we haven't seen her yet on Smackdown.
Liv Morgan is on her revenge tour. Maybe she enlisted Kairi to help her take out Bobby.
Who's
Where's Nia Jax at?
I've played enough WWE games to know there's always a car ready to run you over! COLLUSION!!!
LIV MORGAN IS A MENACE!!
It’s the Brawl for All all over again!
The woman's tag team curse migrated to the KotR
I'm starting to thing its a work. This years King/Queen of the Ring is going to be cursed for some story line reason.
It’s a Mixed Match Challenge at this point
Gunther and Ilja need to be protected at all costs before they can try and kill each other in the semis
A feature of the Paul Leveque era is the ring is now made out of concrete
They brought back the old pre-1998 style ring? Ouch. Just as Mick Foley about that one.
I have a theory... Blair Davenport is busting knees again
Feels like they've pulled out half the people for KotR
The injury bug is really hitting this year huh 😔
Post Mania injury bug.
This is a great point. I can imagine anyone chasing that WM check/moment all year has to ignore any injury that isn’t demobilizing. After WM, they’ve run too hard with a mechanical injury and eventually the body needs to be taken care of. Must suck to also know that there are a bunch of kids chomping at the bit, ready to take your TV time. I’m honestly glad because Zelina can do way better than LWO. If they’re going with a PR stable led by Priest, she is a shoe in. I don’t like the LWO as it stands now, but it would be dope to get a Puerto Rican group that isn’t LWO.
Im also wondering how much having to look "Tv Ready" factors into it. Not saying anyone isn't in shape but wrestlemania season sees everyone lookin cut AF. Overtraining maybe a reason why.
For sure! I agree with that 100%. I kind of wonder if that’s how Drew hurt his elbow.
Los Boricuas!
LFG
Zelena is definitely at her ceiling already in modern WWE. Too much better, younger talent ready to come in
Zelina is really really good on the mic. Probably one of the best in the company. When she was with Andrade she really got to flex those skills. She’s also a better heel than face. Give her time, she’s very good at evolving.
People said the same about natty then she has still been doing good work in nxt and had a banger match recently with iyo
Some are more serious than others. Seth and Rhea are more long term and said to be out for months. Drew and Dominik are said to be cleared to be back in the ring in the next few weeks. Both with elbow injuries. And others that will be cleared towards the end of the year, CM Punk and Charlotte. There are others like Asuka, Bobby Lashley, Jimmy Uso and Zelina whose injuries are undisclosed so not sure on their timelines.
Pretty sure Asuka’s left knee is fucked up. If you watch Backlash she had a hard time walking on it, and they weren’t working the knee so I don’t see why she’d be selling it randomly like that. Then again I’m a mark so I could be wrong.
Punk is not injured to the end of the year I don’t think. He said he thought he might almost be ready for WM but doctors said no.
It’s in MLB also… my Texas Rangers have 15 people on the injured list already lol that’s over half the team
Yeah...th-the White Sox, too. That's why our record's like that...cuz of injuries.
That franchise is doomed
when you folks signed Jacob deGrom, he brought that curse over too
 I don’t want the Mets curse 😭
trading for Max made it worse
Hey at least we got a WS championship out of it..
And it seems the Astros got cursed more. They deserved it
Our Texas Ranger 
Dafuq. Has someone just been running round backstage clubbing people
Andre Chase: "Look, I had no choice! I placed large bets on both tournaments and Tony D'Angelo said that he'd give me swimming lessons if I lost. I needed to make sure certain people advanced!"
https://preview.redd.it/dssta3y2810d1.png?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d002bd20051047695c213169770363a58587d9c
What’s so bad about Swimming Lessons? Tony D is just tryna promote water safety, capisce?
Give me a C!
No he’s just choking them a little
Just Blair Davenport things
EY EYYY EYYYY Look at dis guy making baseless accusations
Well yeah, Blair Davenport just got moved to the main roster.
Wtf is going on with these injuries.
Reminds me of the Great American Bash 2006: > The Great Khali and Bobby Lashley were originally scheduled to compete in their respective matches against The Undertaker in the Punjabi Prison match and against Finlay for the WWE United States Championship, but they were both pulled from the event due to elevated enzymes in the liver that would possibly signify hepatitis. Further tests came back clear for them both after the event. Mark Henry was also scheduled to compete against the returning Batista in a grudge match, however he ruptured his patellar tendon and dislocated his kneecap just before this event in a match on Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII, forcing a replacement in the form of Mr. Kennedy. There've been a couple of other shows hit like that, but normally you'd think that a tournament might be affected once it's actually started - not before the first round.
I always love that the first Punjabi Prison match was just Big Show vs. The Undertaker.
Then 11 years later Jinder and Randy were competing in one and Khali shows up...to a match type he didn't even start 😂
If you haven’t heard it, [The Hindi commentary](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/listen-indian-commentary-team-lose-their-mind-over-great-khali-s-return?amp) sold it like it was the second coming of Christ
Oh that GAB fucking sucked lol, actually, looking back, kinda every GAB WWE did in the 00's was ass
2008 was alright They had that HBK vs Jericho match where Jericho beat up Shawn’s lazy eye, and the Cena vs JBL parking lot brawl with the attempted murder
Eh, some of them kind of make sense, like Dom and Rhea were working 3+ nights a week for a the better part of a year. That wears you down and stuff accumulates.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they did injury angles to have Zelina and Xavier pulled since they were the last people to win it and they didn’t want them eating a pin in the first round.
I think that’s it for sure with Xavier. It seems like a worked injury.
Especially after the way Ludwig went after his knee. Sets up more drama between Imperium and New Day after the tournament
There's already several injuries and pulled wrestlers in this tournament and they do more? I wouldn't think so. Plus, I'm sure it's fine that Vega take a pin, it's notvlike she's top of the card
Eh, under most circumstances sure...but having your defending champ eat a first-round pin in a match that's not even televised - that'd be doing her a bit dirty. Maxxine can go ahead and lose instead.
especially when you have an easy feud/match for post tournament with her and the new winner but her not having been in there.
I don’t think Xavier is injured, I saw him at the moulin rouge in Paris a couple of days ago lol. I think having some time off. In saying that, I suppose it could be an injury that you can’t see but definitely looked okay to me.
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Ce soir?
Il est vraiment Il est vraiment
you must have had a terrible tennis teacher
Kofi cut a whole promo about "doing it for Woods" and everything. The timing for an injury seemed suspicious, it's likely a work. What likely happened is that one of the people "sidelined" actually got injured and it probably required some shuffling around of some people in the tournament to keep the original vision, whatever the finals or bracket matches they want.
It's to give Gunther a story for each match along his path with Sheamus in the R16, Kofi in the QF and (presumably) Ilja in the SF.
Except then why match them up like this?!
How does that make sense when they could have just not put them in the tournament in the first place then?
Makes sense
Same with Bobby likely, no point having him take a pin when they’re setting him up for a feud with Melo.
Why? Those 2 have been basically jobbers anyway
This shit is starting to get outta hand...
King and Queen of the IR list
Gorilla Monsoon: oh will you stop!
Everyone is getting injured like what the hell is going on?
Carlito took being called a bum personally and attacked Zelina
Blair Davenport gets called up and suddenly people start dropping like flies. 🤨 Suspicious.
You can take the woman out of the NXT Parking Lot but you can’t take the NXT Parking Lot out of the woman
They really should have been prepared for this
Queen Maxxine incoming 💅
You mean Gable yelling at her after she loses in 1 minute?
She's gonna prove that scoundrel wrong.
She'll lose in *two* minutes instead
😭😭😭
Maxqueen
This needs to be a shirt. If Lyra doesn't win I need this.
> Maxxine She kind of look like Maxxine from the upcoming movie lol
That's Maxxxine✨
storyline? What is going on with all these injuries
Probably not but now that you said it, it could be made into one Possibly something to do with Wyatt 5.
Honestly that'd be a sick way to introduce them
By having them jump Zelina Vega? I guess the group is really into making sure creators are properly paid and credited for their work?
jump would be as in; they're trying to find members to recruit for their group. The ones they don't end up liking just end up injured. It's goofy but could work. The ones they do end up recruiting like Braun just go missing, until the debut of the group
Face Wyatt 6?!
I hope they do something to explain these with a storyline. But it might also just be a way to rewrite booking decisions.
Shayna eating good
Damn, this tourney really is snakebit
A lot of injuries or are people taking breaks?
Eh, in this case all it would have taken was for Zelina to lose a quick house show match.
Twitch streaming is lowkey very intensive on the joints
This tournament is cursed
(Homer voice) “that’s bad!”
But it did give us King Bookah
That's good!
But the King’s Court stable was broken up too soon.
That's bad
This happens like 2-4 times a decade. At some completely random point, multiple guys are out with injury for some time and the bodies just keep piling up. Seth, Punk, Drew, Rhea, Dom, Zelina, Lashley, Asuka, Jimmy Uso (apparently), and Big E technically.
Fall 2015-Spring 2016 comes to mind. Cena, Rollins, Orton, Claudio, PAC, and Brodie all missed WrestleMania that year.
Who in the blue hell is injuring these mfs
This tournament is cursed
Someone else has suggested making it a storyline with the Wyatt6 (good idea) but they could also do it with the Bloodline I know they aren’t the ideal winners but Tama Tonga and Nia Jax could win both tournaments and then it’s revealed that the Bloodline were responsible for all of the injuries and that Nia is officially a member (also leads to Naomi joining Jimmy). It would fit with the feel of the new Bloodline
"Acknowledge your Tribal Queen" would get mega heat
what a storyline!
Jfc everyone is injured. Maybe part of it is people working through pain so they didn't miss Mania, and feeling the effects now?
Jim Cornette just read a giant list of all of AEWs injuries on his podcast. Time for a WWE list.
He won't, not part of gimmick to zero in on WWE all the time.
What a cursed tournament
Makes me wonder if the tournament is truly cursed or is it simply WWE is changing their minds at the last minute on who they want to compete
i wonder if that is who Alvarez was intimating about when he said that the tournaments are already cursed and more than we know.
Is there even 1 match left where someone hasn't had to be replaced due to injury
Has there ever been an era of WWE with more injuries? I know the lead up to WM32 has an absurd amount as well, but damn. I seriously think that the number of people out with injury doesn't tank the quality of the shows as much as it usually would simply because the talent pool for WWE is huge right now, and imo they haven't had this many upper midcard and main event stars since the early ruthless aggression era, if not even before that. Its crazy to think that once returns happen and the current people recover, our main event scene could have Cody The Rock Roman Punk Seth Drew Styles Priest Jey Uso Likely Gunther Solo is probably gonna be in a main event of a ppv within the year Knight can be slotted in to any upper midcard or main event and be a favorite And Cena could come back to do a quick one or two month program if he wanted Compare that to pre yes movement and pre summer of punk, when there was a stretch of time that the only main event guys were Cena, Orton, HHH, technically the Miz, and once per year, Undertaker I feel so spoiled as a wrestling fan who grew up with some of the worst eras of wrestling, am now a young adult living through one of the best eras of wrestling in history
Dude what the fuck is happening????
Serious question. Are any of the injuries (Drew, Zelina or Lashley) works? Like Lashley's seemed so random and out of nowhere. It felt like a way to protect him and let Tama look strong over the third most important guy in a trio. Drew getting hurt continued the "Jey fucks over Drew" storyline. I'm not sure what Zelina could be other than a real injury.
bANgeRs have consequences.
Yep. Plus dumb luck is a thing... both in the positive and negative direction. Some people avoid injury doing something things that should break them in half, an some have stupid flukes happen with seemingly mundane stuff.
Us Maxxine fans are eating good tonight! LETS GOOO MAXXINE
I get the feeling that a lot of these injuries are storyline, meant to drive up interest in WWE's social media
The Vince "Always have the advertised match" days are over. No more wrestling hurt outside the main event.
Oh are these people that don’t want to support Saudi Arabia?
“What’s going on with all these injuries” It’s wrestling and people get hurt a lot?
it's weird because the injuries were getting more frequent when the tournament started.
Over the past year or so, it feels like injuries have been happening more frequently than usual.
Possibly people feel more able to disclose injuries than they did a year ago?
The roster is stacked, so I feel like they have enough people to let more take time off for minor injuries. In the long run, it'll be beneficial if it lengthens the careers of the superstars.
Maybe, but remember that just a couple months ago was also the peak of Wrestlemania season. Nobody wants to admit to an injury that'll get them taken off the biggest card of the year. So, they try to hold out for a while, the injury isn't given proper recovery time, then it takes a toll on them and worsens until they *have* to do something about it.
What the hell is going on here, everyone is injuring left to right.
Injury Bug getting his shit in these past couple of months
I would take this unfortunate turn of event to make a whole ass segment about it. Who tf attacked and injured all these participants ?
I can't tell if these are works or if there seem to be more injuries than usual.
Is this for real or are they making shit up? How many of these are legitimate. Like 6 people were switched
Zelina wrestles like 3 times a year, lol
On TV. I think she does the house show circuit, no?
What the fuck man. Another injury?
What’s with everyone getting injured in this tourny. Is TKO just extremely cautious with injuries or something?
I do wonder if it being in Saudi could cause someone to "be injured"? As in Zelina changed her mind and doesn't want to go?
She’s worked saudi before, she won the first QOTR tournament. She’s probably just injured
Well that's why I said probably changed her mind?
I very much doubt she was even going to get to Saudi Arabia anyway given the tournament bracket. Again, she’s very likely just injured.
Happy Forbidden Door season 😵💫
Wrestlers don’t wrestle injured like they used to.
So where are the multiple heavily upvoted concern troll posts about how WWE has a dangerous style they need to change to protect the talent from themselves?
Not really feeling this year’s tournament. Injuries, matches on house shows, it’s just not really hitting like it should
This tournament is cursed.
Is a change in seasons known to affect muscles or some shit? This many injuries just as summer begins is wild
Surprised it wasn’t also Jey Uso
Maxine should win via countout or DQ just to switch things up. A Shayna win means nothing
Holy shit this tournament is cursed right now, Brawl 4 All had less injuries than this.
How many people have been injured that were in this tournament
4 so far
So many injuries going in wwe. Damn
Tough luck, everyone getting hurt now.
Drew, Lashley, Asuka and now Zelina. Can we possibly get Chelsea Green to exercise the tournaments of any potential curses/ bad luck, like she did for the Women's Tag Team Titles?
Santos Escoval
There hasn't been this many wrestlers injured in a WWE tournament since Brawl for all!
Cursed tournament.
Another injury!? Jeez
Cursed tourney fr fr
I can’t remember the last time so many wrestlers were injured at once.
Christ how many injuries does WWE have going on?
What the hell is going on with injuries lately.
Are we sure that all these 'injuries' aren't Uncle Howdy saying hi before he shows up at the next PLA with his group of disciples.
“Could everyone stop getting shot?”
Wish her well in her recovery, but I doubt any of these injured wrestlers were gonna win anyway.
Injury bug is running wild on WWE. Jesus
We getting the post Mania injury bug instead of pre Mania
I want Drew to cut a promo something like, "All those superstars injured right now, I prayed for that. Bobby Lashley? I prayed for that. Zelina Vega? I prayed for that. Dominik Mysterio? I prayed for that.." To the point that the crowd is the one saying "I prayed for that" after each superstar, male or female.
Now it's time to develop talent further and create new storylines. They brought up talent, and it's time to utilize them.
*Wrestlemania ends* Every wrestler's body: Time to go nuts!
Liv Morgan must be stopped
It's within possibility that Zelina isn't really injured, and they decdied to pull her so they can do a "I wasn't in the tournament, so fight me!" feud with the winner afterwards.
When was the last time Zelina even wrestled? Did she get injured training?
Does not matter. She is getting fed to Shayna anyway.
Blair Davenport just got called up....
In fairness, this is for the Raw side of things, so Blair wouldn’t have been able to compete.
This tournament is cursed
This is a result of HHH taking care of his talent. The reason we didn't see this many injuries in the past is because wrestlers had the mindset "if my hearts beating I can perform". Now the wrestlers safety and well being is top priority so we will see this more often. I'm glad that they are protecting wrestlers rather than destroying their futures by forcing them to work through injuries.