Jacob Fatu Reportedly Injured - Won't Return Until "Well Into 2026" (WWE News)

There are conflicting reports flying around all over the place about the current injury status of WWE wrecking ball Jacob Fatu. On one hand, Bodyslam.net say the ex-Bloodline member is injured and could be on the shelf until "well into 2026". Obviously, that'd ice planned matches with Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and others.

However, McIntyre himself has been cutting social media promos about his feud with Jacob and recently said via X that a bout between the pair will be happening sooner rather than later. It seems that WWE chiefs planned to either host the match on this week's episode of SmackDown or (more realistically) at the upcoming Saturday Night's Main Event special on 1 November.

It's worth noting that Fatu hasn't actually worked in-ring since defeating Rusev in a dark match 'Street Fight' off camera after the 12 September episode of SmackDown had gone off the air. Yep, he's been in a non-wrestling role on TV for approx a month now, and his appearances have even been sporadic in front of the cameras.

It's curious, and it has grabbed attention due to Fatu's ever-expected mega-push towards the main event scene.

There is a chance that Jacob could return to action on Friday's edition of SmackDown and squash these reports, but they're interesting nonetheless. WWE would have to find something else for Drew to do, and any injury to Fatu could impact WWE Title plans with champ Cody Rhodes into the bargain.

How Will This Impact WWE Title Plans?

That's a fascinating thought, but not a good one.

It had looked for all the world like Fatu and McIntyre would collide at SNME in some sort of number one contendership scenario. In theory, the winner would then go on to get a crack at Cody and the WWE Title, possibly on the next Saturday Night's Main Event (John Cena's retirement show) on 13 December.

Cena's final match with the company would clearly take priority, but WWE boss Triple H will surely want to stack a few other gems on that card to beef things out. Either Fatu vs. Cody or a Triple Threat like Fatu vs. Drew vs. Cody would've been perfect. That raises another point - would Fatu vs. McIntyre on 1 November have gone to a non-finish, thus leading to an expected 3-way?

Maybe we'll never know.

Again though, this week's edition of SmackDown should clear things up, but Bodyslam are almost certain that Jacob will be out of action for a while/at least the next few months.