Word came out Monday night that Xavier Woods suffered a knee injury at a SmackDown live event in Texarkana, Arkansas. While WWE has yet to put out an official word, Xavier Woods himself provided an update on his status.
On his Youtube channel, UpUpDownDown, Xavier Woods hosted Becky Lynch for some old school gaming. In their casual conversation, Woods stated that he had a sprained MCL. Lynch noted that she once had the same injury and it could take about a month to heal. She also said that she was still able to wrestle with the injury.
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With WWE still reserving comment, we still can’t be certain to what Xavier Woods’ timeline actually is. There are different grades to MCL sprains and depending on the severity, Woods could be out a couple weeks or a couple months.
Woods did appear on SmackDown Live last night, but was adorning a brace, and literally wore his emotions on his sleeve.
Feel better, @XavierWoodsPhD. pic.twitter.com/7wDhOkSH5a
โ TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) August 30, 2017
Twitter supplied actual footage of the injury yesterday. A fan attending the Texarkana sho cut the whole episode on camera. As you’ll see, Woods; reaction to the injury is immediate and it appears that the match had to make an impromptu adjustment.
Footage of @XavierWoodsPhD injury at WWE House Show in Texarkana, Arkansas #WWETexarkana pic.twitter.com/0Y2Y4yjXma
โ Heel By Nature (@HeelByNatureYT) August 29, 2017
Didn’t even look cool ๐ https://t.co/maTqyCFasA
โ Find me @ DragonCon (@XavierWoodsPhD) August 29, 2017
Woods could not stand on his own and had to be helped to the back by The New Day and WWE trainers.
@XavierWoodsPhD just tore his knee up, I’d guarantee it Ref and @WWEFandango threw up the X #WWETexarkana
โ Stephen A. Love (@BigStevieCool95) August 29, 2017
Oh man Xavier woods legit hurt at #WWETexarkana
โ Austin Stanley (@MaxTMahmem) August 29, 2017
Woods made this cryptic tweet late Monday night:
….cool.
โ Find me @ DragonCon (@XavierWoodsPhD) August 29, 2017
While Woods’ comment is minimal, it certainly is void of enthusiasm. Knee injuries are rarely acute in professional athletes, here’s to hoping the damage was minimal.
On top of Bayley, Big Cass, Samoa Joe, and Asuka, we can now add Xavier Woods to the injured reserve. For Woods and The New Day, it comes at a highly inopportune time. Last week, word came the WWE was planning on making them “the greatest tag team of all time” by having him win as many tag team championships as possible. Obviously, the New Day can still compete with Kofi and Big E, but losing Xavier Woods, their spiritual leader, is quite the blow. However even though The New Day is down a man, they can still continue their hot program with The Usos.
We’re still waiting on the official word from WWE but it sounds like Woods will avoid surgery. Here’s to a speedy recovery!