During Monday night's episode of RAW, Bronson Reed was injured during a match with Jey Uso and El Grande Americano. That occurred when he broke up a pin, and it was immediately evident that he'd done something to hurt his arm.
We've since learned that Reed is scheduled to undergo surgery for a torn biceps in Birmingham, Alabama. There's no official timeline for his in-ring return, but The Vision member will almost certainly be sidelined for months.
As you might expect, this has led to a change in WWE's creative plans heading into WrestleMania. After all, the entire original Vision faction—Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, and Bronson Reed—are all injured. All that's left is Logan Paul, Austin Theory, manager Paul Heyman, and, to a much lesser extent, Brock Lesnar (though Monday's RAW seemed to establish that The Beast is not "officially" affiliated with them).
It does rather feel like now is Theory's chance to shine, especially with Heyman by his side. Back to that change in creative, though, and according to WrestleVotes Radio on Fightful Select, Reed was originally scheduled to win that Triple Threat match and enter the Elimination Chamber.
WWE had to call an audible and switch to Jey Uso, while the Masked Man targeting The Vision was set to somehow factor into the finish, likely by attacking Logan Paul at ringside.
Heavy rewrites for that story are now taking place, and WrestleMania is feeling the impact of them. The creative team is under pressure to figure out the Masked Man storyline, especially with promotional material for the Show of Shows close to being finalised.
Addressing Breakker's injury recently, Heyman said, "It would be like breaking your ankle before our first pay-per-view. Of all the times to break your ankle, that was the worst time for you to break your ankle. It's the same thing for Bron Breakker."
"Headed into a ridiculously enormous spotlight at WrestleMania and then comes this hernia that he aggravated beyond description to the point where they had to have emergency surgery."
"He's gonna come out hungrier than ever because now he understands what it's like to miss out, and that's just going to f--- with his head and f--- with his head to the point that when he comes back, he's going to appreciate this even more than he already does," the WWE Hall of Famer continued. "There is never a right time to get injured."
"So, what's gonna happen is that every day he's home right now, it's eating him up alive. Great. I want that for him."
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.