A major WWE world champion is no longer advertised for events in Japan this weekend after an apparent injury.
During Saturday’s Crown Jewel show in Perth, Australia, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins appeared to land heavily on his left hand and arm during a match with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
The 39-year-old star was able to finish the match despite the rough landing on the Coast to Coast diving headbutt, but reports later emerged fans had seen him with his arm in a sling the following day.
Monday night’s episode of Raw on Netflix ended on a huge bombshell as Rollins’ Vision teammates Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed turned on him.
Fans had anticipated a breakup, but not so soon, leading many to wonder if anything had changed to force WWE’s hand.
Wrestling veteran CM Punk had won a Triple Threat against Jey Uso and LA Knight in the main event of Raw to make him the number one contender to Rollins’ title, but that match could now be up in the air.
During the Crown Jewel postshow, the champ had insisted the diving headbutt would have ‘long term ramifications’, while PWInsider has since reported that he is set for surgery on ‘either his shoulder or rotator cuff’.
He is no longer advertised for matches on Friday and Saturday at Tokyo’s Sumo Hall, while the surgery would rule him out of both Saturday Night’s Main Event on November 1, and Survivor Series: WarGames later that month.
Fightful Select has reported that while details of the injury are kept under wraps, a broken arm would be a better scenario as he could return in December, in good time for the 2026 Royal Rumble in January, which kickstarts the Road to WrestleMania.
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However, shoulder surgery could keep him out for much longer, which would make it difficult for WWE to avoid a ‘drastic change’ in creative plans.
Even the best case scenario for surgery could leave Raw without its world champion heading into two major events.
WWE Road to Royal Rumble 2026 tour tickets on sale this week
Tickets for the upcoming WWE Road to Royal Rumble tour across the UK, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Northern Ireland will go on sale Friday, October 31 at 10am local time.
Presale will be available at the same time two days earlier on October 29, and fans can still register here for an exclusive presale offer.
- Thursday, January 8 – Leipzig, Germany – Quaterback Immobelien Arena
- SmackDown: Friday, January 9 – Berlin, Germany – Uber Arena
- Saturday, January 10 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
- Sunday, January 11 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
- Raw: Monday, January 12 – Dusseldorf, Germany – PSD Bank Dome
- Tuesday, January 13 – Mannheim, Germany – SAP Arena
- Thursday, January 15 – Newcastle, UK – Utilita Arena
- SmackDown: Friday, January 16 – London, UK – OVO Arena Wembley
- Saturday, January 17 – Gdansk, Poland – Ergo Arena
- Sunday, January 18 – Nottingham, UK – Motorpoint Arena
- Raw: Monday, January 19 – Belfast N. Ireland – SSE Arena
Meanwhile, Fightful noted Rollins received praise backstage for not only finishing his match at Crown Jewel, but remaining in Australia and working Raw, which included doing a show opening promo, backstage segment and the physical ending to the night.
They added: ‘Though details were foggy, the hope from staff backstage was that because Rollins was cleared for the segment, that the injury might not be as bad as feared.’
There is scepticism from some fans about the severity of the injury, given that it was only over summer that Rollins feigned a knee injury which had seemingly cut his Saturday Night’s Main Event match short in July.
Weeks later, he returned at SummerSlam and revealed he had fake the whole thing as he cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase to become World Heavyweight Champion.
This time, the situation does seem legitimate, and WWE is unlikely to go back to the same well so soon after the ‘ruse of the century’.
Netflix is the home of WWE in the UK.
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