WWE Star Forced To Take Time Away Due To Injury

Published: Feb 17, 2026 by Liam | Last Updated: Feb 17, 2026 by Liam

Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news for over eight years, and is currently the Managing Editor at WrestleTalk.com. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles in addition to leading and overseeing WrestleTalk.com's coverage.

WWE Star Forced To Take Time Away Due To Injury

A WWE star has been forced to take time out of the ring and away from TV due to an ongoing injury he’s been dealing with.

During a commerical break during tonight’s edition of WWE Raw in Memphis, Tennessee, Kofi Kingston and Grayson Waller came out onto the stage.

Noticeably absent from their side was Kingston’s New Day partner of the last 12 years, Xavier Woods.

Kingston explained that Woods had been battling with a shoulder injury for the past three months, and he has been “forced” by medical advice to take time away.

Woods last wrestled on January 31 when he teamed with Kingston and Waller in a six-man tag team match against Shinsuke Nakamura and the Motor City Machine Guns in Saudi Arabia ahead of the Royal Rumble premium live event.

Woods had a period of abdence towards the end of 2025 as well which was due to a surgery to get a growth removed from his head.

Waller read the crowd a supposed text message from Woods, saying he would have loved to have been in Memphis tonight, but: “How can I recover from an injury in a place where the people can’t even recover from being ugly.”