Buddy Matthews Injured At AEW Grand Slam Australia, Ankle Issue Revealed (AEW News)

AEW's Buddy Matthews is set for a spell on the sidelines.

by Andrew Pollard
Buddy Matthews
AEW

With AEW Grand Slam Australia now in the books, Buddy Matthews is said to have suffered an ankle injury during AEW's debut in the Land Down Under.

PWInsider was the first outlet to report this news, with the footage from the event showing how Matthews rolled his ankle when dropping down from the top turnbuckle as part of his entrance. Of course, Buddy would then wrestle against Kazuchika Okada for 14 minutes, eventually being put down with the Rainmaker for the 1-2-3, and was spotted limping to the back following that match.

Buddy's wife Rhea Ripley has since taken to Instagram with several photos of the AEW star with a crutch, complete with the captain "Ain’t no Roly-Poly ankles gonna keep us down! Let the honeymoon commence!"

Matthews and Ripley were married last June, and it appears they're now finally enjoying their honeymoon, which is why there was no Rhea Ripley on WWE Raw last night. Previously, Rhea was spotted in attendance for AEW Grand Slam as she showed support for her husband.

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Buddy Matthews
AEW

Buddy Matthews In AEW

Having been with WWE from 2013 through until 2021 as Buddy Murphy, Buddy Matthews debuted in AEW in early 2022, immediately aligning himself with Malakai Black and Brody King as the House of Black.

Since then, Buddy has consistently proved himself to be one of the best in-ring talents in all of AEW, regularly stealing the show when afforded the spotlight. And with Malakai having now departed AEW, the House of Black has recently undergone somewhat of a gear change, with Matthews, Brody, and Julia Hart now going by the Hounds of Hell name and promising that "they are done living in the shadows".

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During his time with AEW, Buddy has held gold as one-third of the AEW Trios Champions, with House of Black defeating the Elite at AEW Revolution 2023 and embarking on a 175-day reign with those belts before dropping them to the Acclaimed and Billy Gunn at All In later that year. Of course, Matthews' time with WWE saw him win the Cruiserweight Championship, the Raw Tag Team Championships with Seth Rollins, and have a solid 205-day run as the NXT Tag Team Champions with Wesley Blake.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.