What if Erick Rowan hadn’t gotten injured?

News broke shortly after SummerSlam that Erick Rowan had suffered a torn bicep. The injury was a big let down for Rowan and as fans, as his Bludgeon Brothers tag team with Luke Harper had really hit its stride and seemed lined up for a long run atop the SmackDown tag team division. Instead, Rowan worked one last match hurt to put over The New Day as new champions.

What does the future hold for Rowan, and what does it hold for Harper? We will find out in the weeks and months ahead, but the one thing certain is that plans have changed from the powers that be at WWE had originally drawn up. This article takes a look what might have been in store had Rowan not gotten hurt, and if WWE had been able to stick with its original intentions for the Bludgeon Brothers and other affected talents.

---

#5 The door closed on a Wyatt Family reunion

With the Bludgeon Brothers derailed, the Wyatt Family may come back together.

Since the Shield reunion, one of the rumored follow-ups is that Braun Strowman could call on his old Wyatt Family running buddies for backup. While Bray Wyatt doesn’t exactly have anything better to do, he’d be joining Strowman solo if the Bludgeon Brothers were still active.

Given their dominant run, which included absolutely crushing New Day and the Usos at WrestleMania, the Harper and Rowan looked like they were en route to exceed their Wyatt roots and make a bigger name for themselves on their own.

Now that Harper is adrift without his partner, though, it does leave the door open for WWE to slide him over to the Raw roster for one more go-round with Wyatt as his leader and Strowman dwarfing him as the giant of the group. Three Wyatts is enough to justify a stable relaunching, and if it comes to pass, at least the matches against the Shield are bound to be quite good.

#4 A long reign for the Bludgeon Brothers

The Bludgeon Brothers still had a lot of gas in their tank.

It is rare that WWE pushes a tag team quite as hard as they did the Bludgeon Brothers. All signs suggest that WWE management saw big things in them, between steady hand Luke Harper who is universally praised by colleagues and pundits, and Rowan who has come a long way since he debuted on the main roster. They went on a tear, mowing through most of the well-established teams on SmackDown, in addition to getting the best of Team Hell No this summer.

While the New Day was booked to be competitive with Harper and Rowan, it’s still not clear WWE actually intended for them to get the belts off of them. Rather, the Bludgeons may well have held onto the straps through the fall until a new tag team was developed to go up against them, or an existing team got a new, big push of its own.

#3 A face turn for The Bar

Sheamus and Cesaro would likely have turned face to challenge The Bludgeon Brothers.

The best team the Bludgeon Brothers hadn’t yet beaten in this run on SmackDown was The Bar. Sheamus and Cesaro would have made good opponents for them—hard-hitting and powerful enough to believably stand up to Harper and Rowan, besides being established enough stars to have the credibility to pose a viable challenge.

While WWE could have theoretically booked both teams as heels, or even turned the Bludgeons, the most likely solution would have been for Sheamus and Cesaro to return to the face role they had occupied for some time on Raw.

The Bar could still turn this fall, but without The Bludgeon Brothers in the mix, they’re more likely to hold down the fort as the top heel team on their brand opposite The New Day, The Usos, and the more tweener Good Brothers. The good news for Sheamus and Cesaro is they’re probably more likely to actually capture the gold at this point.

#2 The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The Authors of Pain at Survivor Series

The Authors of Pain vs. The Bludgeon Brothers could have been a fun inter-brand attraction for Survivor Series.

WWE has relaxed the brand split to the extent of having Raw and SmackDown branded matchups on just about every PPV. There’s been no official statement, but based on last year’s precedent, it may still be the case that Survivor Series will be the lone show to focus on inter-brand warfare.

Last year’s show included the champions of each brand go head to head, and if WWE were to follow that format again, the tag scene might have lent itself to a particularly fun first-time match up.

The Bludgeon Brothers and The Authors of Pain are both big men team that can actually work quite well in the ring. Seeing the two pairs battle it out could have been a fun hoss war, made all the more promising for Akam and Rezar having proven their unlikely ability to perform well as faces, too, during their NXT run.

While this matchup probably will still come together at some point down the road, and The War Raiders are just waiting to get added to the bedlam down the road, this showdown no longer looks like it will be possible in November.

#1 Singles action for The New Day

New Day may have transitioned to the singles ranks if they weren't needed to hold down the fort among the SmackDown tag division.

One of the prevailing rumors this summer was that members of the New Day would be pushed as singles stars and that Big E, in particular, was going to get a shot at upper card stardom, maybe even as Mr. Money in the Bank.

None of that came together in the summer months, but after all New Day has done as a group over the last three and a half years, it nonetheless seemed likely WWE would start booking them individually, even if they did remain linked as a stable.

With the Bludgeon Brothers out, and New Day thrust into the champions' role, SummerSlam weekend comes across less as a last hurrah for them as a full-time team than a kick start to another wave of success in the tag ranks.

It may be just as well, as it’s unclear how far WWE would have pushed Big E, Kofi Kingston, or especially Xavier Woods individually. As a group of three men defending the tag titles under the Freebird rule, they probably have their best shot at consistently all getting TV and PPV bookings.