WWE appears to be protecting Sheamus following the rumors that the Superstar may be suffering from a potentially career-ending injury.

WWE Superstars' careers can often come to an end abruptly and/or prematurely. That was certainly the case for Hall of Famers Stone Cold Steve Austin and Edge. Both men probably had more to give when it came to in-ring action, but unfortunately, the same injury cut both of their careers short, spinal stenosis.

The back issue is obviously a very serious one and is one that can be brought on by wrestling night in, night out for a number of years. Worryingly there have been rumors circulating that current WWE Superstar Sheamus may be attempting to recover from that very same injury. The Raw Tag Team Champion has apparently been trying to fix the problem by rehabbing it while also continuing to wrestle.

PREVIOUSLY: MAJOR INJURY COULD DERAIL SHEAMUS' CAREER

As pointed out by The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer however, it appears that WWE is trying to protect The Celtic Warrior from worsening the injury while he tries to recover from it. Not only was Sheamus absent from Raw two weeks ago, but apparently while on tour in Dubai the Irishman has been taking minimal bumps and performing exclusively in six-man tag matches so that he has a much lighter workload.

via wwe.com

Sheamus is one of those wrestlers that fans aren't going to realize they miss until he's gone. Even though he never really reached the lofty heights that Vince McMahon appeared to have envisioned for him, Sheamus is a four-time World Champion for WWE and has been a mainstay on the card ever since he debuted back in 2009. Since then, he has proved to be a valuable asset to WWE and one they would have a hard time replacing if his career is indeed about to come to an end.

While it appears that more wrestlers careers are ending prematurely in the modern era than ever before, strangely enough, that's a good thing. The reason for it is because medicine has advanced and WWE are now more aware of injuries such as spinal stenosis. In the past, if wrestlers like Edge and Sheamus were allowed to go on wrestling with the issue undiagnosed it could have led to something a lot worse and more sinister than their careers ending. Hopefully, Sheamus recovers from the issue though and goes on to wrestle for many more years.

NEXT: WWE SUPERSTARS WHO HAD THEIR CAREERS CUT SHORT BY BACK INJURIES