Is Braun Strowman’s arm injury legitimate or is it a work?

If you missed last night’s edition of WWE RAW (find Mitchell’s Live Report here), ‘The Monster Among Men’ Braun Strowman was viciously attacked during the show’s opening match by Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley.

Of course, this came after Stephanie McMahon had announced Strowman and Corbin would meet at TLC on December 16th with Braun’s Universal Title shot and Baron’s position of power both hanging in the balance. There’s been a lot of wonder with regards to the attack on ‘The Monster Among Men’, more specifically regarding his status as WWE later announced during RAW that he had suffered a “shattered elbow”.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Strowman is legitimately hurt and was written off of television with the angle because needs surgery to clean up bone spurs in his right elbow. Previously, Braun dealt with a similar situation prior to challenging Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Great Balls Of Fire in 2017, oddly enough also being written off for what the company called a “shattered elbow”. Additionally, Meltzer noted that the match against Corbin at TLC may not even happen and depends on how surgery goes. He would also add that WWE officials believe he will be cleared in time for the Royal Rumble in January.

Now on the other side of the spectrum, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson has reported that the attack on last night’s RAW against Braun was simply a means of putting Braun in more peril for the match at TLC, therefore giving the illusion that Corbin has a much better chance of winning.

EA’s Take: My first reaction to the angle last night was exactly what Mike Johnson said. However, I can’t completely rule out what Meltzer said yet either. I mean, we recently heard he was having problems with his knees, but nothing about his elbow at all. I will say, it doesn’t really make any sense for WWE to announce the match against Corbin knowing they’re about to write Braun off in the very next segment and he may not even make it to TLC. What exactly would the point of that be? On the other hand, maybe they did it with a backup plan in place. For example, they make the match against Braun official with the hopes he can recover in time and if not, they can easily alter the stipulations a little bit and insert….Kurt Angle. Think about it, you’ve got Baron trying to win and get the RAW GM gig permanently, so it would make sense.

Where do you sit when it comes to these reports? Let us know on social media @theCHAIRSHOTcom and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!