King Barrett Injury: Updates on WWE Superstar's Neck and Return

The League of Nations will be temporarily without one member, as King Barrett announced Tuesday that he's rehabbing from nerve damage in his neck.

Continue for updates.

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King Barrett Temporarily Abdicates Throne to Rehab

Tuesday, Dec. 15

Barrett, 35, categorized the injury as "nothing major." WWE has not announced a formal timetable for his return at this time.    

Speculation had run rampant about Barrett's status after he failed to appear with his League of Nations stable at Sunday's TLC pay-per-view or Monday night's Raw program. Alberto Del Rio and Rusev had interfered in both of group leader Sheamus' championship matches against Roman Reigns, making Barrett's absence all the more conspicuous.

His absence could not come at a worse possible time. After spending most of the year floating near the bottom of the midcard and taking loss after loss, Barrett's joining the League of Nations seemingly put his character back on a promising path. While he was clearly the fourth in the four-man group—Barrett was the only one without an individual storyline—simply being associated with the main event was a step up.

Now, Barrett joins a disconcertingly long list of absent WWE stars. John Cena, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Nikki Bella and a number of others are out of commission because of injury or other commitments. With Brock Lesnar only working a part-time schedule, WWE's main roster is as depleted as it's been in recent memory.

Having Barrett go out at a time when he was finally getting direction makes the situation all the more disappointing.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.