WWE today confirmed AJ Styles suffered a shoulder injury during the Men’s Royal Rumble match. What is unexpected is the fact WWE is not giving any timetable for his comeback as they announced he is out of action indefinitely.
“AJ Styles is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury and is recovering way ahead of doctor’s projections.
The Phenomenal One suffered the injury during the Men’s Royal Rumble Match.”
Styles explained on his Mixer channel the circumstances and the extent of the injury. “Just so everything is clear: Edge did nothing, absolutely 100% nothing wrong,” Styles stated. “His move, his spear, everything was perfect the way he did it. If there is any blame put on anybody about what I’m dealing with my shoulder, it’s me. 100% me. I was over-brothered as they say, I just went crazy with my bump there.
He added: “The only problem with flipping the way I did, the first thing to hit was my left shoulder. I thought I dislocated my shoulder. They wanted to get me out of there right away but I told them we can’t do that, I can’t roll under the bottom rope, that’s not how the Rumble works. I said I’m staying in, and somebody’s going to have to throw me over. We made sure that happened.”
Styles told more about his injury. “It is a separated shoulder. If you are going to do some damage to your shoulder, that might be the best one to do because you can come back with therapy from this,” Styles continued. “I’m pretty sure that is all it is. I could tell you Monday morning it was very difficult to put on a shirt. To put on deodorant, I couldn’t even reach across. It sucked. From Monday to Tuesday and therapy today, I’m feeling a lot better. I don’t expect to be out very long. I’m betting on myself that I’ll be back before they think that I’m ready. We’ll see how that works out.”
He insisted on the fact he would do anything to be back at WrestleMania 36 and Edge was absolutely not to blame for his injury. “No worries. It is going to be alright. I’m not going to miss WrestleMania. I’ll scratch and claw my way there if I have to. My main thing: zero blame goes to Edge. I was so stoked to be in the ring with him [Edge] and have that moment with him,” Styles said. “I was excited about that.”
If WWE chose to use the word indefinitely, it’s because every shoulder injury is different and everyone heals at a different rate. A separated shoulder can tear one or some ligaments that connect the collarbone to the shoulder blade. The recovery depends on how serious shoulder injury is. Styles could be back in 4 weeks, like in 4 months. As noted, WWE are optimistic when they say Styles is “recovering way ahead of doctor’s projections.” So we could expect to see him back in a few weeks instead of a few months.
Transcript courtesy of Wrestling Inc – All pics courtesy of WWE