Xavier Woods Injured, Likely To Miss Royal Rumble

King Xavier Woods has revealed that he is on the injured list, having suffered a torn plantaris injury that is likely to keep him out of action until after the Royal Rumble.

On the January 7th episode of SmackDown, Xavier Woods and fellow New Day member Kofi Kingston clashed with the Usos in a street fight. During the bout, Woods jumped into the ring to deliver a DDT, but unfortunately suffered an injury when he landed.

During an appearance on G4’s Attack of the Show on January 13th, Woods revealed that he’d suffered a torn plantaris, this is the long, thin muscle that extends from the back of the knee into the calf.

The 2021 King of the Ring winner discussed the moment the injury happened as he tried to deliver a DDT to Jey Uso. He said nothing unusual happened, he just jumped.

“Yeah, so I was jumping in the ring to do a DDT. I spring off the bottom rope and grab the guy and then run his head into the ground hopefully shattering all the bones in his body so I can pin him and win the match, and make more money. So I did that part still but in the process — No, just jumping off the rope, so nothing like — not a shark attack, not a steel chair hit, not a machine gun, not a machete. I just jumped.”

When asked if he finished the match despite the tear, Woods said that he continued in the ring, making some modifications to the planned bout to work around the injury. He also gave an estimate for when he will be able to return to action.

“I still had some stuff to do. But in those situations, you’ve got to figure out like, ‘Am I hurt to the point where I can no longer like go forward? Am I hurt to the point where I could mess up and possibly negatively affect someone else’s health?’ You gotta keep everybody safe in there, and I was okay. You know, this sucks. I can’t do this or that but I can do this for this. We finished everything and it’s all cool.

So, like, four to six weeks, and I’ll be good.”

This 4-6 week timeframe unfortunately means that Xavier Woods is unlikely to be able to compete at this year’s Royal Rumble on January 29th. He joins fellow SmackDown star Sasha Banks on the injury list as ‘The Boss’ is currently dealing with a leg injury that is estimated to keep her away from the ring for two months, meaning she will also miss the annual spectacular.

H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.