Karl Anderson details shoulder injury, timeline for WWE return

Speaking on his Talk’n Shop podcast this week, WWE wrestler Karl Anderson provided some details on the surgery he recently underwent.

Anderson announced earlier this week that he had undergone shoulder surgery and would be out of action until after WrestleMania 41. He gave a more precise timeline on Talk’n Shop, saying that he’s expected to miss 6-9 months.

Around two months ago, Anderson felt something wrong in a match but did not think anything of it. He then felt something wrong again in another match that happened a week later. Anderson had a few more matches with the pain progressively getting worse. He could not sleep at night because his shoulder was aching and throbbing. After he told WWE doctors, they quickly handled the situation and Anderson had an MRI done. It found that Anderson had suffered a torn rotator cuff and a partially torn labrum.

“They immediately saw that it was a torn rotator cuff tendon — the supraspinatus, I believe that’s the right one — and a partially torn labrum. The partially torn labrum probably could have been workable,” Anderson said. “When they got in there and they saw the torn rotator cuff, that’s a non-negotiable.”

Prior to being forced out of action, Anderson and his tag team partner Luke Gallows were working matches in NXT. Anderson wrestled a couple of main roster dark matches in September as well.

Anderson & Gallows are a decorated team with title reigns in WWE, NJPW, and Impact Wrestling. They have not held gold in WWE since their first run with the company. Both were released in 2020 but have been back since 2022.