Working The Leg: The Chiropractic Problems Plaguing The WWE Roster

I’ve been watching pro wrestling for a long time now and I haven’t quite seen anything like it. The amount of workplace injuries has reached all-time highs it would seem. Competitors left and right are dropping like flies to a litany of shoulder, leg, and even hand injuries. When will WWE step in to protect their star athletes? What will it have to take for WWE to realize that it’s competitors have massive chiropractic problems that need to be addressed immediately, for both their sakes and the sake of the fans who watch their matches?

Fortunately, that last paragraph, much like the injuries discussed in the paragraph, is completely fabricated. There is no real-life injury plague that’s ravaging the WWE roster. Now some competitors have gotten injured in the past several months, like Seth Rollins for example, yet the roster appears to have fully recovered at this point. Why is it then, that with a completely healthy roster months removed from the last notable real injury, is still selling night in and night out a variety of joint-related ailments? It seems like an increasing number of matches in the WWE involve the age-old working the joints angle to grind down the pacing and give the match a story. Honestly though, that story is beginning to get old. How many times can Michael Cole remind the audience of Seth Rollins’ bum knee when whoever Rollins opponent may be, from Bray Wyatt to Samoa Joe, before we collectively get tired of hearing that same story? At least now it’s switched over to an eye injury which appears to be keeping him from taking down the Eater Of Worlds for the time-being. Rollins isn’t the only “injury-ridden” superstar on the roster though. Braun Strowman had to have his arm worked over by Roman Reigns on Sunday night. Never did I think it would be appropriate for a meeting between two of the biggest powerhouses in the WWE to devolve into joint manipulation. Then, there’s the case of Dean Ambrose vs The Miz, a rivalry that seems to have spanned millennia, where their matches have actually stalled on more than one occasion because one or both men had been stricken with debilitating knee injuries.

Now, at this point you may be thinking that all of this is just a coincidence of WWE storytelling. You might think that all of these rivalries or matches have been enhanced because of these injury-related storylines. In some corner cases, you may even be right. At the onset of the Rollins vs Joe rivalry, the knee injury felt like a crucial aspect to emphasize given that Rollins was actually injured in a confrontation with Joe. However, as the weeks went on, I would argue the fight should’ve evolved to showcase a little more than leg locks and wear-down holds. The matches in that rivalry would have been a lot better if the story had shifted away from Rollins knee to more of a blood feud with Joe that was indeed alluded to, but still took a backseat once the matches actually started. If Rollins was unchained from the shackles of an injury storyline, those matches could very well have been instant classics instead of the somewhat forgettable encounters most of them ended up being.

With all this in mind, I want to make a plea to WWE to please come up with a new angle for some of their top matches. The Miz and Dean Ambrose isn’t a heartfelt story that necessitated an emphasis on Ambrose’s leg in most every one of their matches even if one of Miz’s finishing moves is the Figure-Four Leg Lock. Seth Rollins has spent enough time losing matches due to injured body parts. Some storylines and matches necessitate that a special emphasis be placed on a superstar’s injury, I’ll admit that. It just seems to me that WWE has been abusing that trope as of late and could use for a change of pace in their delivery. I have a poll up that I hope can gauge the public’s opinion on this fake injury epidemic. Maybe, someone in the WWE higher-ups will see it and we can finally get the kayfabe protection that these competitors deserve. I guess at the very least, WWE is keeping their backstage medical staff kayfabe busy though...

Has WWE Relied Too Much On Injury-Based Rivalries And Stories Lately?