Injuries Impacting Smackdown's Title Scene

December has sometimes been a terrible month for the WWE. Not only is this a month you typically get terrible ratings with the holiday season and all, injuries have sometimes struck in this month. I am talking key injuries. Injuries to top stars or people involved in the title scene. It seems this December has already given that gift to the WWE, particularly on Smackdown. I just want to mention these situations.

AJ Styles suffered a minor injury at TLC a few weeks ago. He is obviously still holding the WWE Championship, but it has hurt the storylines they were going with in an obvious way. Moreover, Smackdown has not had its top Champion to wrestle at house shows. There is no need to strip Styles of the title, but this situation has obviously made things difficult for the WWE.

Last time I talked about Zack Ryder, I said he should get a push. I might have jinxed him. I was talking about a solo push, but the WWE did look ready to give him a push in the tag division, alongside Mojo Rawley. And then Ryder got injured. They just get the push, and then this happens. There are other teams they could push. There are other individuals that could team with Mojo. Why should he get screwed out of the push just because his partner got injured? Either way the WWE slices it, they have options to work around this. But once again, it is obviously making things difficult for the WWE.

Brings up the question, is this brand split really a good idea? This brand split is different from the last brand split you had. This is an era where the WWE is giving their workers more time to wrestle and giving them certain more freedoms. Yes, they still ban some moves. Overall, however, this can be considered a more wrestling-friendly era than you have had from the WWE in the past. But that comes with a price. Injuries. I only brought up two recent injuries on Smackdown impacting title feuds. I could have brought up Finn Balor. I could have brought up numerous women. And the WWE wants to do a long-term brand split? This era also features less legitimate star power than the previous era involving a brand split. All it takes is a few key injuries here and there to really mess up what is going on. I don't think giving your workers more freedom in the ring mixes well with a desire to have a brand split. Yes, the WWE could pluck someone from wherever that would be eager to work for them, and wrestling fans would probably love it, but that person will likely not have the star power to appeal to the wider audience. And that leads to the WWE needing to rely again and again on old part-timers. It is terrible situation.