Two months ago, during AEW Grand Slam Australia, local fans were hyped to see their countryman Buddy Matthews challenge Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Continental Championship. Yet, while the match still delivered in the ring, it was overshadowed by the fact that Matthews landed badly on his ankle while entering the ring, leading to speculation he may have actually broken it.
Subsequently, the former House of Black member would seemingly confirm this, saying on X that he had “destroyed” his ankle while mocking that AEW used a smaller ring than usual, which had become such a big talking point online at the time. However, it appears Matthews is approaching a comeback, having taken to Instagram to say, “Fire still burns…. 73%.”
36-year-old Matthews broke into the wrestling business in 2007, and after six years on the Australian indie scene, he signed with WWE, being assigned to NXT. From there, he formed a successful tag team with Wesley Blake on the developmental brand. Still, his most memorable run in the company came on the main roster when he became a disciple of Seth Rollins during his Monday Night Messiah run. And while he was released by the company in 2021 as part of budget cuts, he wouldn’t be out of the spotlight for long, as AEW signed him the following year.
