Original Plans For WWE WrestleMania 38 Night One Opener

The opening contest for the first night of WWE WrestleMania 38 saw The Usos defeat Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. 

The tag team match was originally set to be around 15 minutes long, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. It only went about 6 or 7 minutes. 

It went short due to a legitimate injury to Boogs, who suffered a torn quadriceps and a torn patella tendon early on in the match. The rest of the wrestlers had to call things on the fly, ending it early.

WWE then had some time to fill, which did lead to more video packages being created. It is unknown whether the finish of the match had to be changed due to this issue. 

Boogs was trying to squat both of The Usos when his knee gave out. Ironically, Boogs had the same knee taped up at one point during the feud, but that was done just to sell during the storyline.

Boogs immediately rolled to the floor and was checked on by the medical team at ringside. Boogs then had to be helped to the back as he was carried up the ramp as he was unable to place pressure on the knee. 

Heis now set to undergo surgery in the near future and it is expected to be somewhere between six-12 months.

Andrew Ravens
Andrew Ravens is a pro wrestling beat writer covering news and events for some of the biggest wrestling sites in the world. After growing up as a WWE fan, Andrew became a full-time writer in 2013. Andrew can be contacted at [email protected] for news tips, results, interviews, general news, and corrections.
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