AEW star Buddy Matthews is one of the most agile stars in the company. Unfortunately, he has been absent from the Jacksonville-based promotion for over 18 months. He injured his leg at Grand Slam Australia in February 2025 during his match against Kazuchika Okada. Throughout the year, fans have been waiting for him to return.
A few weeks ago, the former AEW World Trios Champion announced that he will return to the ring in October 2026 for a major tour of World Series Wrestling. He is also medically cleared to wrestle. Shockingly, the date for All Elite Wrestling has still not been announced. With All In just around the corner, he could have played a major part at the pay-per-view.
Recently, Buddy Matthews took to Instagram and uploaded a story of him working out. He is looking absolutely phenomenal despite being out of the ring for over one and a half years.
Take a look at the screenshot of the story below:
![Buddy's Instagram story [Image via Instagram/@snm_buddy]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2026/08/9eb2b-17870168227808-1920.jpg)
Rhea Ripley talks about Buddy Matthews’ road to recovery
The injured AEW star has been training for many months to get ready for a return. His wife, Rhea Ripley, recently talked about his training.
While speaking on What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon, the Eradicator said that the couple train together.
“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. So, I go a little bit easier,” she said.
It will be interesting to see if Buddy Matthews returns at All In.
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Edited by Tejas Pagare
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