Royce Keys is off WWE television indefinitely. Michael Cole announced during the August 10 episode of Raw that Keys suffered a bruised larynx and a cervical strain, with no timetable given for his return.
The injuries were pinned on Jacob Fatu’s post-match assault one week earlier. Fatu won the main event Street Fight on the August 3 Raw from Casey’s Center in Des Moines by technical submission, choking Keys out with the Tongan Death Grip and then refusing to release the hold.
Officials pulled Fatu off, but he came back with a steel chair, wrapped it around the neck of Keys and hit a running hip attack in the corner. Roman Reigns walked out moments later and gave Fatu a nod of approval as the broadcast ended.
Cameras kept rolling after Raw went off the air. Keys was shown coughing up blood while medical staff and Adam Pearce tended to him, and he was stretchered out of the arena.
The Beatdown Was Always A Storyline
The writeoff follows the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s report that the segment was an angle rather than cover for a legitimate injury. Cole’s update is the on-air payoff to that angle.
Keys had the better of the Bloodline days earlier, teaming with LA Knight and Solo Sikoa to beat Fatu and The Usos on Night 1 of SummerSlam. Reigns spent the following Raw berating Fatu over that loss and ordering him to cut ties with Keys, which set up the Street Fight.
Cole and Corey Graves delivered the update as Solo Sikoa turned up in the crowd singing The Usos’ entrance music, rolling straight into his own confrontation with Jey Uso. Keys and Fatu is parked until Keys is written back on.
