Counterfeit Pennies: Nexus Analysis on Skip Sheffield’s Costly Injury

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As Pulse Glazer reported earlier today, Skip Sheffield was seriously injured at a Raw house show in Hawaii. The word is that Sheffield broke his ankle and that he will need surgery that will put him on the shelf at one of the most crucial points in Skip’s career that will hurt the Nexus storyline as well.

First and foremost, I can’t help but feel for Sheffield the person. He has worked extremely hard and has done such a brilliant job serving both as Nexus’ primary enforcer and the overall #2 guy in the group behind Wade Barrett that to suffer an injury and lose that momentum for his character must be heartbreaking to say the least. I don’t think too many people predicted that Skip would become the breakout bruiser that he has proven to be over the past few weeks, and the fact that he was also carrying the awfully limited David Otunga in tag matches just speaks volumes as to the faith and burden that WWE has placed on Sheffield’s shoulders. My question today is simply, what now?

Well, with this Monday’s Raw already pretaped, WWE has the next 10 days to figure out how to handle Sheffield’s absence. They could say that someone from Team WWE took out Sheffield when they had a rare chance to attack him away from the rest of Nexus — Daniel Bryan or Edge would be my best bets — and they could even film something “backstage” where Skip is laid out and his ankle gets crushed.

The less appealing option for a backstage assailant would be Darren Young, but it would make sense that Young would be out for revenge on the group that turned on him, and so he stalked Nexus and snapped into action when the time was right. I just don’t know if Young could pull that off, but you never know.

Another possibility is to have Nexus come out and simply explain Sheffield was injured, and while they wish him well in his recovery, they’ve taken this opportunity to “make Nexus stronger” with some reinforcements. If Nexus decides to pick from the crop of recently eliminated wrestlers from NXT Season 2, the logical play in my opinion would be to add Husky Harris to the group. Husky is a tailor-made heel and he has a ton of potential, and this would be a great way to elevate him to that next level very quickly. The big question is whether or not he is too much of an in-ring liability right now, and WWE would have to hope for rapid growth to make it work.

If you want to go in the other direction and look at the Raw roster for reinforcements or perhaps short-term “rentals” for Nexus, the two easiest fits would be Sheamus or The Miz. Sheamus already has a truce in place with Nexus, and with the six-pack title match at Night of Champions approaching, Barrett and Sheamus could agree to work together to take everyone else out so that the WWE title match comes down to the two of them. This would also give Sheamus a much-needed confidence boost after Orton took him to task last week, and an uneasy alliance with Barrett / Nexus would make sense in context.

The other potential rental would be The Miz, with the idea that Nexus agrees to a truce with The Miz and that they will gladly offer backup in his (currently rumored) U.S. title match against Daniel Bryan at Night of Champions. Nexus and Miz both have grudges against Bryan, so just like Sheamus, this could work.

Lastly, the other card WWE can pull is to (finally) reveal the identity of the Anonymous GM, with the idea that he/she is invested in Nexus. Michael Cole is the obvious choice for a short-term solution, but that would be disappointing after all of the build-up. I’m open to hearing everyone’s suggestions and ideas for the Anonymous GM in the Comments thread, because honestly I feel like WWE painted themselves into a corner here and I just don’t know who can be selected to fill this role in a satisfying fashion that makes sense. Off the top of my head, some names that come to mind besides Cole are Triple H (eh), Jim Ross (grasping at straws), and Stephanie McMahon (really grasping at straws).

Actually, the grossly underutilized William Regal is going to be my super sleeper pick for Anonymous GM, if for no other reason than at several points, Regal’s character was getting pushed in that direction, only to be upended by injuries and other issues.

That’s all from me this week, but I’d love to hear what you have to say in the Comments section below.

On a personal note, this week marks my 11th year as a columnist in the IWC. With that said, I wanted to say thank you to all of the readers and clickers and commenters who have stuck with me for the past decade+1. Your support means the world to me and I look forward to continuing this conversation in the years to come.

–CB

CB is an Editor for Pulse Wrestling and an original member of the Inside Pulse writing team covering the spectrum of pop culture including pro wrestling, sports, movies, music, radio and television.