According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, the injury Timothy Thatcher is currently said to be sidelined with is fictional.
Hours before NXT New Year’s Evil went live on January 6, news broke that the Fight Pit Match between Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher had been removed from the card after the latter suffered an undisclosed injury.
While WWE seemed to keep quiet about the grievance, NXT General Manager took to Twitter to announce that the submission specialist had indeed suffered and injury while training for the testing bout and therefore could not be cleared to compete.
Now, PWInsider have reported that the trauma is part of the ongoing storyline between Thatcher and Ciampa and the talent is not legitimately hurt. Though Mike Johnson didn’t specify how the injury will play into the story, it would appear that the technical whizz could be ducking his foe.
Both men have gone to war previously at NXT TakeOver: WarGames on December 6, 2020, where Ciampa came out victorious. The Fight Pit Match will still occur – most likely at the next NXT TakeOver on February 14 – once the star returns to the brand.
When it does go ahead, it will be only the second bout of its type. In the inaugural Fight Pit Match on May 27, 2020, Thatcher defeated Matt Riddle in his final bout on NXT.