WWE Reveals SmackDown Superstar Is Out Indefinitely With Injury

Tonight's WWE SmackDown lineup features a Fatal 4-Way Match to decide the Number 1 contender for the WWE Tag Team Championships, and it features Imperium, The New Day, Hit Row, and The Brawling Brutes. Some were surprised not to see The Viking Raiders in that match, especially since they've been on a tear recently after going heel. Unfortunately, it was revealed during SmackDown by Michael Cole that the reason for that is an injury, as Cole said Erik suffered a foot injury in the Viking Rules match and will be out of action for an indefinite period of time. We wish Erik a speedy recovery and hope he can return to the ring better than ever soon.

The Viking Rules match was a physical match featuring the Raiders and The New Day, and the Raiders would defeat The New Day in that match. It's unclear when the injury occurred during the match, and it's also unclear if Ivar will be used at all while Erik is injured, so we'll just have to wait and see.

The Raiders were given a new look and feel earlier in the year, going heel and revealing more brutal personas. They even had a Viking Funeral where they burned New Day shirts and a box of Booty O's, and it was thought that Sarah Logan might have also been involved in that, but that was never confirmed.

It also remains to be seen whether the Viking raiders will be brought back as heels or faces when they do make their eventual return. WWE could use the time away to reset them a bit into more face roles, though they've delivered some great matches as heels, so you might want to keep that going and not disrupt the momentum they've built even with the prolonged time away.

As for the contenders who win tonight's match, they will face The Usos on next week's SmackDown, and after a thrilling match of near falls and impressive spots, it was the Brawling Brutes who would end up winning the match and becoming the new number 1 contenders.

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