REAL REASON FOR SAMI ZAYN INJURY STORYLINE ON WWE RAW

There has been a major update on the injury status of Sami Zayn following his seemingly ‘storyline’ attack from JD McDonagh on the August 7th WWE Raw.

Sami Zayn was originally announced to compete in the main event of this week’s Raw, teaming alongside Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins and Cody Rhodes against Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor of the Judgment Day.

However, after a backstage attack from JD McDonagh, Sami Zayn was later replaced by Shinsuke Nakamura in the match.

While this was perceived to maybe just be a part of the story – both to re-introduce JD McDonagh and facilitate Shinsuke Nakamura’s heel turn – there also looks to be a real reason for the angle as Sami Zayn is dealing with some legitimate injury concerns, particularly concerning his left elbow.

In the aftermath of the attack, Sami Zayn could be seen clutching his arm with a very noticeable lump on his elbow, something WWE fans had seen 10 years prior in 2013 when John Cena sported the same glaring injury.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer addressed Sami Zayn’s injury as well as the fact his tag team partner Kevin Owens is currently on the injured list, saying:

“That (attack from McDonagh) was a cover for a bursa sac injury. It’s so swollen. He had a golf ball size swell.

“I wonder what they’re gonna do with the tag team titles. Kevin can work, the whole idea was that since they decided not to book him for SummerSlam – if they booked him for SummerSlam, he would have kept working and done SummerSlam.

“But when the decision was made not to put a tag team title match on SummerSlam, they decided to shoot an angle to get him off and get him a little bit of rest.

“But it was only supposed to be a short period of rest, that’s why they didn’t take the belts off (them) or anything like that.”

Thanks to WrestleTalk.com for the transcription

Following Sami Zayn being written out of the match by JD McDonagh, his replacement in the main event six-man tag match made his impact for very unexpected reasons.

Shinsuke Nakamura seemed to set himself up for a main event feud with Seth Rollins, turning on his partner for the night and turning heel in the process.

Just to clarify, Sami Zayn being announced for the match and then replaced later in the show was always the plan, so WWE did know of his injury ahead of time, it wasn’t a legitimate change made during the show.

We wish Sami Zayn all the best for his recovery and continue to send Kevin Owens all the best as well.