AEW star Buddy Matthews recently teased his return on social media during his lengthy All Elite Wrestling hiatus. He hasn’t been seen in the Jacksonville-based promotion since February 2025. He injured his ankle at Grand Slam Australia while wrestling Kazuchika Okada. He has been hinting at his return since earlier this year. However, things have been going nowhere with him.
The former AEW World Trios Champion has been one of the top performers in the company. Earlier in 2026, he announced that he would be cleared to wrestle in October. He was even set to perform on a major tour. However, he was suddenly pulled out of the tour due to ‘scheduling conflicts’. Many believed this could mean the former House of Black member could make his comeback to the ring soon. However, that hasn’t been the case so far.
Recently, Buddy Matthews took to Instagram and hinted at his return once again with one word.
“L u r k i n g . ⏳,” he wrote.
Rhea Ripley talks about Buddy Matthews road to recovery
While speaking on What’s your story? With Steph McMahon, Rhea Ripley revealed the two stars trained together as Buddy Matthews started to recover and got ready to return to the ring.
“Every now and then (her & Buddy train in the ring together). He’s still starting to get back into the ring stuff because he got injured over a year ago in February when they (AEW) went to Australia. So he got injured then, so he’s just started getting back into the ring now, and he’s just trying to rehab it and see what he can do. So he’ll get in, and we’ll run the ropes. I’ve been teaching him some rolls, since the boys class didn’t do as many rolls as the girls class apparently… We’ve been getting in a little bit. Also, I get nervous about getting hurt, especially these days, because I’m always on the road, I’m always doing stuff. I want to stay sharp, but I also don’t want to get beat up more than I get beat up,” he said.
It will be interesting to see what is next for the absent AEW star.
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Edited by Tejas Pagare
