Lana's Injury Creates Uncertain Future for Former Hot Commodity

WWE announced that Lana was injured while training prior to a live event this past weekend and will be forced to miss approximately four months of action.

While no formal announcement was made on Raw regarding her injury, it appears she will be written out of storylines effective immediately. In fact, it was revealed in WWE's official match preview for Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev at Night of Champions that she will not be present for the event.

At this time last year, she and Rusev were among the hottest acts on WWE programming. However, since running into the roadblock that was John Cena at WrestleMania 31, Rusev has been on a downward spiral, while Lana's popularity has soared.

Now, having suffered an injury that will keep her out of action through the rest of the year, Lana's momentum has come to an abrupt halt, but it could prove to be a blessing in disguise for The Ravishing Russian.

Credit: WWE.com

For the last several months, Lana has been embroiled in a love triangle with Ziggler, Rusev and Summer Rae, a storyline that has been regarded as one of the worst of the year. Not only has the acting been atrocious, but nothing is on the line, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

Although she's still incredibly over with the audience, her recent pairing with Ziggler has been a massive flop. Aside from their similar interests in music and '80s clothing, they lack chemistry, and the storyline has done more harm than good for both of them.

It was noted by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer (h/t SEScoops) at one point earlier this year that WWE planned on making Lana the "female face" of WWE, which is why she broke from Rusev when she did.

It's unknown as to whether those plans to push her as a prominent player on TV have since changed, but there's no question that Lana's immediate future will be in serious doubt upon her return in early 2016.

In the past, Lana has been compared to Sable during her time as a beloved singles star in the Attitude Era. While their respective rises to superstardom have been similar in some respects, the biggest difference between the two is that the former women's champion eventually transitioned to an in-ring role.

If Lana resumes her role as a manager once she's fully healed, the stint might have a short shelf life if she doesn't show any signs of character development and doesn't start doing more than simply slapping people at ringside.

According to F4WOnline.com (h/t Wrestle Zone), there have been conflicting reports as to whether she's been training to wrestle in recent months or whether it's all a part of a storyline. Either way, a change in character will be needed, because what she was doing before she was put on the sidelines was obviously not working.

As one of the more popular on-air characters at the moment, Lana's absence from programming will undoubtedly be felt, but what the injury might mean for her WWE future when she returns remains to be seen.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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