Yet another case of a performer needing time off for surgery and the WWE writing him out of the show with an injury angle, then blaming the need for surgery on that made-up injury.
Reports swirled last week that Big Show needed hip surgery--nothing major, but significant enough to warrant some time off. When Braun Strowman picked up Show after their steel cage match last week and put him through the chain link wall to the outside, some speculated that this would be the angle used to write him off of RAW, at least for a while.
Well, speculate no more. Now, via the following Tweet, we have confirmation that Show is getting hip surgery, and they are blaming Strowman's heinous act for the injury.
Big Show also spoke to WWE.com about the surgery:
"I have to have the hip resurfaced. There's been some traumatic injury done to the hip in the match with Braun Strowman. It's frustrating as hell to be in the best shape I've been in my career, but that match, I kind of put a lot out on the table and I'm paying the price for it now. Going forward, I'm very confident in the medical team that's doing the surgery ? we're gonna go forward from there and see what my options are.
"I mean, you know, this is part of the life I chose. I don't have any single regret. I'm going for surgery now. Will it impact the rest of my life and career? Absolutely. Anytime you have major surgery like this, there's a change that happens. Am I downtrodden or depressed? Absolutely not. I've had a brilliant, fantastic career. I've had the opportunity to work with the greatest people in this entire industry, and I'm not just talking about talent. I'm talking about production, I'm talking about our TV show, I'm talking about our Live Event people, our talent relations people, our travel people. Everybody that's part of WWE. I've worked with some amazing people over the years and I'm thankful. And I've worked in front of some amazing crowds from England to India to South Africa to Japan and Mexico, all over the world, and I'm thankful for all that.
At this stage in my career, it's about going forward and getting a better quality of life for myself, making sure that I can still function and am not in a lot of pain, and rolling forward and seeing what the next opportunity is for me. WWE will always be home for me and I'll always be around as much as I can, but I'm really proud of that match I had with Braun; I'm really proud I threw everything out there. Probably, in a good way, it's a good thing I didn't win; now I don't have to back it up. [Laughs]"
Big Show has stated that this will be his final year in WWE. His contract is up in February and he does not intend on re-signing. It's too early to say whether this is the last we've seen of Big Show in a WWE ring, but if so, he retires as a sure-fire Hall of Famer.