King Xavier Woods is expected to return to work for WWE this week.
As we’ve noted, Woods revealed that he suffered a tear of the Plantaris muscle under his calf during the January 7 SmackDown main event, which saw he and Kofi Kingston take on SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in a Street Fight. The injury occurred when Woods fought Jey Uso from the apron and came in with a tornado DDT. Woods then stated that his doctor expected him to be out of action for 4-6 weeks, which meant he would likely miss the WWE Royal Rumble Match on January 29, and possibly WWE’s return to Saudi Arabia on February 19.
In an update, Woods is currently expected to return to the road as of this Friday’s Royal Rumble go-home edition of SmackDown from Kansas City, according to PWInsider.
While Woods is expected to be back regularly on the road going forward, there’s no word on if he’s been medically cleared for in-ring action. Kingston recently mentioned during a SmackDown promo that Woods would not be working The Rumble.
Friday’s SmackDown on FOX is scheduled to feature The New Day’s Big E and Kingston vs. Happy Baron Corbin and Madcap Moss. RAW’s Big E is temporarily working SmackDown due to the Woods injury.
