Injury Updates on Aleister Black, Sami Zayn and Cedric Alexander in WWE Roundup

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe. 

Black Reportedly Out with Knee Injury

Aleister Black has not had a televised match since Oct. 21, and his absence is reportedly injury-related.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), Black is suffering from a knee injury. Meltzer added that Black's injury has been described as a "tweak" and there is no timetable for his return.

Black was selected to Raw as part of the WWE draft, and it looked as though Raw executive director Paul Heyman was attempting to build Black up slowly with easy wins over the Singh Brothers, Eric Young and an enhancement talent in three consecutive weeks.

The former NXT champion has not been seen since beating the enhancement talent on the Oct. 21 Raw, though, and his push reportedly is temporarily on hold.

Black was called up to the main roster from NXT during the build to this year's WrestleMania, and he teamed with Ricochet at WrestleMania in a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match. After WrestleMania, Black and Ricochet were split up and embarked on singles runs.

While Ricochet has achieved some success, including a run with the United States Championship, Black has been the victim of a start-and-stop push.

Black did some engaging vignettes imploring someone to pick a fight with him and beat Cesaro in an entertaining match at Extreme Rules, but he hasn't been part of a true storyline yet on the main roster.

Perhaps that will change when Black makes his return from the knee injury that is currently ailing him.

Zayn Reportedly Dealing with Shoulder Ailments

Like Black, Sami Zayn is reportedly dealing with an injury that has limited his in-ring availability for WWE recently.

According to Meltzer (h/t Middleton), Zayn has had "trouble" with his shoulders in recent months, which played into WWE's decision to pair him with Intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura and essentially make him Nakamura's spokesperson.

Meltzer noted that while Zayn is "OK and can wrestle," but WWE has lightened his in-ring load by putting him in his current role.

While Zayn has competed in some live event matches, he hasn't been in a televised match since losing to Cedric Alexander on the Aug. 19 Raw.

Zayn did get physical on last week's SmackDown, though, as NXT Superstars Matt Riddle and Keith Lee beat him down during NXT's invasion of the blue brand.

The 35-year-old Zayn has a history of shoulder injuries, as he missed seven months in 2015 and 10 months in 2018 and 2019 after undergoing shoulder surgery.

Given Zayn's injury history and the fact that he has thrived in his role as Nakamura's mouthpiece, taking a cautious approach and allowing him to heal up may be the smartest possible move from WWE's perspective currently.

Alexander Reportedly Working Through 'Minor' Injury

Cedric Alexander is another WWE Superstar who is hurt currently, although the exact nature of his injury isn't known publicly.

According to Meltzer (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), Alexander is dealing with a minor injury, although he has still been appearing on WWE programming over the past few weeks.

Since losing a U.S. title feud to Styles, Alexander has twice lost to Buddy Murphy on Raw, and he also fell short at Crown Jewel in the battle royal to determine Styles' opponent, which was won by Humberto Carrillo.

Alexander lost to Murphy on this week's episode of Raw, and he hasn't had much of a direction since the rivalry with Styles ended.

It has been reported that Heyman is firmly behind Alexander, though, which suggests it is only a matter of time before he gets back on track and becomes a key part of the red brand.

Raw is stacked with midcard talent that could make a big-time impact, but since it seems like Murphy is in the midst of a push, Alexander may have to wait his turn.

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