Before their match at Extreme Rules on Sunday, Kane and Daniel Bryan were brutally attacked backstage by The Bludgeon Brothers - which saw them crush The Big Red Machine's ankle with a mallet, therefore delivering a storyline injury.

But according to Mike Johnson PWInsider.com, Kane has a legitimate left foot injury, so the attack was done in storyline to cover it up. Johnson noted that Kane was spotted with a walking boot on earlier in the day.

Bryan had to start the SmackDown Tag Team Championships match alone, but Kane would later come out to help him compete. Despite chokeslamming both Bludgeon Brothers, the two would emerge victorious after hitting Bryan with a powerbomb/diving clothesline, picking up the pinfall victory.

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The full details on Kane's foot injury are unclear at this time, but we now have an idea as to why WWE wrote up the backstage attacks. The Big Red Machine will need to recover quickly if he and Bryan are to be written into more matches - especially against the big, bad and dominant Bludgeon Brothers.

Kane's long-term future in the WWE is in question, as he won the Republican primary mayoral election in Knox County, Tennessee. After a couple of months away from television, Kane returned at WrestleMania 34 to compete in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He returned last month to help Bryan from Rowan and Harper, hence reuniting Team Hell No.

Kane, now 51 years of age, isn't as mobile or athletic in the ring anymore, but he's still capable of putting on quality matches against some of the company's top talents. He's helped put over younger superstars like Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman.

Now, he has (at least) one more run with Bryan as his tag team partner. We anxiously await to see if The Big Red Machine can add one more SmackDown Tag Team title run in his trophy room.

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