Buddy Matthews makes his return to wrestling after a lengthy absence
As seen during the 2025 AEW Grand Slam: Australia event, Kazuchika Okada successfully defended the Continental title against Buddy Matthews. During his entrance, Matthews appeared to have injured his ankle while entering the ring. Matthews has not wrestled since that event.
Matthews returned to a wrestling ring for the first time in nearly 15 months during the opening night of the World Series Wrestling: Rise Against at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Following Donovan Dijak’s victory in a four-way WSW Championship match against Moose, Matt Hayter, and Matt Riddle, Matthews entered wearing a black hoodie and carrying a steel chair.
After attacking Dijak, Matthews stated the following…
“In case you’ve forgotten my name is Buddy Matthews! And I’m the guy that kicked down the door for every Australian to make it overseas. Now let’s get one thing straight, I might not be cleared now but in October I will be. And I might just take all the gold because hell’s frozen over and you just can’t stop the unstoppable.” (quote courtesy of F4WOnline.com)
Buddy Matthews revealed that he’s not cleared yet to wrestle… but will be in October later this year.
pic.twitter.com/h1CGKnYaqP https://t.co/qA35Hknj8U— Drainmaker (@TheDrainmaker) May 15, 2026