Buddy Matthews gives update on ankle injury, AEW return timeline

Buddy Matthews is hoping that it won’t be too long until he’s back in the ring.

An ankle injury has kept Matthews out of action for more than two months now. The injury happened while Matthews was making his entrance at AEW Grand Slam Australia on February 15. Despite getting hurt, he still continued with his match against Kazuchika Okada.

Matthews told Chris Van Vliet on a new episode of Insight that he suffered ligament and cartilage damage but is lucky that the injury wasn’t worse.

“It’s ok. Rolled it pretty bad. Had an X-ray, MRI. There was no break, but there was like partial ligament tear and cartilage damage,” Matthews said. “Yeah, [I’m] walking. I haven’t ran. I haven’t jumped. I’ve just started implementing cardio, but then it kind of stiffens up. And, you know, we’re working through it, but the docs were telling me I’ve never seen an ankle roll that much under someone without completely destroying, like smashing, disintegrating the bones. So I didn’t break a bone, which was incredible, but then I had to wrestle 15 minutes after it.”

Matthews said he immediately knew something was wrong but is happy with how the match turned out given how hindered he was. He and his wife Rhea Ripley went on their honeymoon right after despite Matthews’ injury.

On April 13, Matthews estimated that he was 73 percent recovered. He said that number is now up to about 85 percent.

“I’m hoping sooner rather than later,” Matthews said about his AEW return. “I’m obviously going to have to get in the ring and suss it out and get back in ring shape. But I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks. I’m hoping, fingers crossed.”

Wrestling is a creative outlet that Matthews has missed while out of action. With Malakai Black returning to WWE, House of Black are now known as the Hounds of Hell in AEW. Matthews said he does not want the group to just be House of Black with a new name. They need a little bit of a reboot with a fresh coat of paint.

“We just need to get some continuous weeks ahead and really show that the group’s together,” he said. “I’d love to do some intergender tag stuff with Julia [Hart]. Me and Brody [King] and Julia vs. two men and a female would be awesome.”

Matthews named Kenny Omega as the one opponent he wants to face that he hasn’t gotten a chance to yet. But Matthews is down for anything and just wants to get back in the ring and tell good stories.

“I think what everyone wants is me and Kenny,” he told Van Vliet. “That’s on a lot of people’s bucket lists. Will it happen? I don’t know. Am I down for it? Absolutely.”