Buddy Matthews suffered ankle injury at AEW Grand Slam Australia

  • Ian Carey
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Buddy Matthews is injured.

Matthews suffered an ankle injury on Saturday at AEW Grand Slam Australia, PWInsider reported on Monday. Video footage from the event shows Matthews rolling his ankle during his ring entrance for his match against Kazuchika Okada. He appeared to favor the ankle at several points throughout the match and was later seen limping to the back.

Matthews was seen using a crutch in several photos Rhea Ripley posted to Instagram early Monday morning. Ripley captioned the post: “Ain’t no Roly-Poly ankles gonna keep us down! Let the honeymoon commence!”

Ripley and Matthews were married in June but, evidently, are only now celebrating their honeymoon.

A post circulating on Reddit claimed Matthews posted the following to X regarding his injury. However, the post appears to have since been deleted.

“So thoughts after #AEWGrandSlamAustralia – If it wasn’t a 16×16 SHIT wrestling ring!

1: Wouldn’t have destroyed my ankle on my entrance due to holes in the padding.

2: Okada wouldn’t have been able to put his foot on the rope & I’d be champion.

Shit happens…”

Buddy Matthews: [spoilers] So thoughts after #AEWGrandSlamAustralia – If it wasn’t a 16×16 SHIT wrestling ring! 1: Wouldn’t have destroyed my [spoilers] on my entrance due to holes in the padding.2: Okada wouldn’t have been able to out his foot on the rope & I’d be champion. [censored] happens…
byu/Sriracha01 inSquaredCircle

QT Marshall recently responded to some comments on X regarding the size of the ring used at AEW Grand Slam Australia. He says AEW used an 18×18 ring for the show, not 16×16 as Matthews suggested. The ring was loaned to them by Pro Wrestling Australia (PWA).

“The AEW ring is a design that only AEW has. It’s very rare that an independent company (or a major company) has a 20ft ring. This ring is an 18ft ring. TNA has been using for years and older ROH as well. Why is this a talking point? It’s not our first time using an 18ft ring,” Marshall wrote.

AEW’s decision to borrow a ring already located in Australia may have been influenced by the logistical issues WWE faced shipping the Elimination Chamber structure to Perth last year. Michael Cole revealed before Elimination Chamber 2024 that the structure took over a month to arrive after shipping routes had to be changed due to pirates in the Suez Canal.

Matthews does not have any upcoming matches scheduled in AEW. However, he, Brody King, and Julia Hart recently rebranded as the Hounds of Hell following Malakai Black’s departure from the company.