Kyle O’Reilly to make in-ring return at AEW Collision

  • Ian Carey
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Kyle O’Reilly’s in-ring return for AEW has been scheduled. 

O’Reilly will face Bryan Keith on Saturday’s AEW Collision in his return bout, announced during Wednesday’s Dynamite.

O’Reilly hasn’t wrestled since the June 8, 2022 AEW Dynamite. He underwent neck fusion surgery in September that year and later suffered a rare post-surgical complication that impacted his recovery. 

It’s the first match announced for the show from the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada — a city AEW will be making his debut in.

O’Reilly said the following to Renee Paquette on Wednesday:

For two years the thought of never wrestling again, the least of my problems. There was a span where I couldn’t physically pick up my daughter and they were the darkest days of my life. But my neck got better and my arm got better and now that I’m here and I look at the landscape, the AEW roster, and I just wonder if I can still hang. 

It’s probably the most competitive roster in the history of the sport. But then I look at a guy I’m impressed by. A guy I’ve had my sights set on, so to speak, a guy that I think can bring out ‘that’ Kyle O’Reilly. So, ‘Bounty Hunter’ Bryan Keith you and I, we have a duel this Saturday on Collision, my first match back in almost two years, my home country, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 

O’Reilly returned to the promotion at AEW Revolution. He embraced longtime stablemate Roderick Strong but appeared to reject an offer to join the Undisputed Kingdom. Strong approached O’Reilly backstage after the above promo, hugged him again, and wished him good luck doing it “on his own” in his return match.  

Our own Dave Meltzer had 2,384 tickets out listed in the March 11, 2024 Wrestling Observer Newsletter.