Ivar of the Viking Raiders underwent neck surgery earlier this week in Birmingham, Alabama and is expected to return to WWE within approximately one year. Unfortunately, this sort of injury is extremely common in the professional wrestling industry. A couple of notable superstars who have had the surgery at least once are Daniel Bryan (who is currently away from WWE to care for his second newborn child) and Tommaso Ciampa.
Here is what SportsKeeda had to say about the situation:
“How will Ivar’s absence impact WWE programming?
For one, WWE will have to start finding ways to utilize Erik as a singles star. Erik hasn’t been a singles star in a long time and hasn’t been so once during his WWE run. While it may turn out to be a golden opportunity for him, it could work the other way, where WWE simply decides not to utilize him because they only see him as a tag team player.
Perhaps that approach wouldn’t have been bad if Ivar was only out for 2-3 months, but that isn’t the case. Ivar could be out for a year and by the time he’s back, the landscape of WWE and the tag team division may change entirely.” (Source: SportsKeeda)
Let’s say a prayer that Ivar’s recovery goes smoothly and quickly, and that his partner Erik continues to be used on Monday Night Raw (as he was on September 14 in a quick loss to the CEO of The Hurt Business Bobby Lashley). The Viking Raiders are former Raw Tag Team Champions, so this accolade should be enough to keep Erik relevant in some sort of WWE storyline.