Sami Zayn. Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

WWE fan favorite dealing with elbow injury

By Adam Taylor | Last updated 8/8/23

During a recent episode of Monday Night Raw, Sami Zayn was booked to take on The Judgment Day in a three-man tag team match alongside Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. However, midway through Raw, Zayn suffered an injury that appeared to be part of the storyline, forcing him out of the main event matchup.

However, it would now appear the on-screen injury was actually to cover up for an injury the WWE star is dealing with in real life. According to Dave Meltzer, who was speaking on an episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio," Zayn is dealing with a bursa sac injury.

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

Former ECW champion and now color-commentator for AEW, Taz, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to note how Zayn's injury is fairly commonplace for wrestlers, as images of Zayn's elbow began to circle social media.

It’s a bursa sac. It’s very common for wrestlers to get them on elbow. https://t.co/lgvTEQST9i
— taz (@OfficialTAZ) August 8, 2023

Zayn's injury could potentially throw the WWE tag team titles into question, as Kevin Owens remains fit to work. However, given the nature and the commonality of the injury, it's likely that WWE holds fire on scheduling any storylines surrounding the tag team titles until Zayn is cleared to return to in-ring action. When speaking on this issue, Meltzer provided some additional information.

"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."

Zayn has enjoyed an incredible 2023 so far, starring in the bloodline story and teaming up with Owens to win the tag team titles. Once he's recovered, it will be interesting to see what creative has in store for Zayn next.

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