Update on WWE Star Following Monday Night Raw Injury Scare
Giovanni Vinci had his bell rung during a tag match on Monday.
WWE Monday Night Raw was home to a scary situation. Early in the show, a tag match pitting the unit of Kofi Kingston and Jey Uso against Imperium's Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci was set to take place. The match began and continued without issue for some time until a nerve-racking spot took place in the late stages. Vinci leapt from the top rope but was caught by a dropkick from Kingston, one which connected on his skull hard. Beyond that, Vinci smacked the back of his head on the mat as he was coming down. While this spot was intended to lead to a couple slow crawls en route to hot tags, Vinci was barely moving. The referee checked on him briefly before making the decision to call the match off, awarding Kofi and Jey the victory by stoppage.
Giovanni Vinci Provides Health Update
The former NXT Tag Team Champion is going to be okay.
Taking to Twitter, Giovanni Vinci provided an update on his physical condition following his injury scare on WWE Monday Night Raw.
"Sto bene. Grazie mille," Vinci wrote in Italian, which translates to, "I'm fine. Thanks a lot."
Match was immediately stopped after this spot between Kofi Kingston & Giovanni Vinci.
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) January 2, 2024
Vinci said to have walked it off, which is a good sign.#WWERAW
pic.twitter.com/6AJzJdTspC
Many fans praised WWE for its handling of this injury scare. In the past, mid-match injuries have led to wrestlers improvising a quicker finish to their match, but rarely do they drop everything and call it off entirely. Concussion protocols today have become significantly more rigid, which is being felt by the larger wrestling world.
AEW made a similar pivot in October 2022 during a main event title clash between then-AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and "Hangman" Adam Page. With about ten minutes left to go in the AEW Dynamite broadcast, Moxley landed a lariat on Hangman that connected fairly stiffly. As Hangman was showing the effects of the maneuver, the referee checked on him before making the decision to call off the match, awarding Moxley the victory by stoppage. Unlike Vinci's situation, which was seemingly just a scare, Hangman did indeed suffer a concussion and missed several weeks of AEW programming as a result.
It's unclear as to if WWE will keep Vinci out of the ring for some time or if he will be cleared to compete sooner than later. Vinci currently wrestles in Imperium, a stable led by WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther, and regularly tags with Ludwig Kaiser.