Dean Ambrose had been viewed as the ‘iron man’ of WWE for a while due to the lack of injuries that he has suffered since joining the company. Unfortunately, he was dealt with a very serious injury late last year when he received a tricep tear during a match on Raw. WWE originally claimed that Ambrose’s injury would likely take him out of action for about nine months, but some believe that this timetable is being greatly exaggerated by the company. PWInsider has since reported that he was recently spotted in Birmingham, Alabama, likely to have his injury evaluated. It does not look like he will be able to return to the ring in time for WrestleMania 34 in April.
Jeff Hardy has also been out of action for a number of months due to a torn rotator cuff that he suffered last year. Although he was recently spotted during the 25th anniversary edition of Monday Night Raw, it looks like Hardy will not be coming back for a little while. Bryan Alvarez recently speculated on Wrestling Observer Live that he could be portraying his Brother Nero character and team up with “Woken” Matt Hardy when he does return to the ring. Hardy is now also rumored to be missing WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans on April 8th, but it is possible that he could return before that depending on how severe his injury currently is. Be sure to look forward to an expanded “Woken Universe” when the time does come for him to come back.
It was revealed last year that WWE originally had plans for Chris Jericho to face Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 33 last year. The two did still compete against each other for the United States Championship during the show despite the change in plans. During a recent edition of his Talk is Jericho podcast, Jericho claimed that he had been set to win the title from Owens during the event He also said that he would then drop the title at the following month’s Payback pay-per-view to Brock Lesnar. Once Goldberg returned to the company at Survivor Series 2016, plans obviously changed to have Lesnar defeat Goldberg for the title at the show instead.