Injured AEW Star Returns To Action At ROH Tapings
This AEW favourite has been out of action since the end of last year.
Having been out of action since October, AEW's Griff Garrison made his return to the ring at yesterday's Ring of Honor TV tapings.
As detailed by Jacob Cohen, who was in attendance for yesterday's tapings from Orlando's Universal Studios, Garrison made a surprise appearance to challenge Lee Moriarty to a match. Unfortunately for Griff, he would come up short against Taigastyle in this contest.
Scoop #16: Lee Moriarty vs The Returning Griff Garrison pic.twitter.com/2AqsznAqeG
— Jacob Cohen (@MrJacobCohen) June 4, 2023
The last time fans saw Griff Garrison in action, he was teaming with Brian Pillman Jr. as the Varsity Blonds on the 8 November episode of AEW Dark.
There, the Blonds were defeated by the Factory's Cole Karter and Q.T. Marshall in a bout that was actually taped on 21 October. It would then be announced in December that Garrison was to undergo surgery for an unspecified injury.
While he has worked for Ring of Honor previously - usually teamed up with Marcus Cross - this outing against Lee Moriarty marks Griff Garrison's first ROH match since the promotion was purchased by Tony Khan. Interestingly, Cross these days finds himself a semi-regular presence on ROH TV, so maybe that is something that could be revisited down the line.
As for the Varsity Blonds of Garrison and Pillman, they haven't formally split up, though BPJ did suggest in September that the team were no more. That said, the Blonds had three more matches together since Pillman made those comments and before Griff suffered his injury.
Where Brian Pillman Jr. is concerned, he's been barely seen on AEW TV since Garrison got injured. Instead, Pillman's AEW outings have consisted of a handful of AEW Dark, AEW Dark: Elevation and live event offerings, with him only having one televised bout - an AEW Rampage loss to Swerve Strickland - during this time. He's also been teamed up with Brock Anderson for a lot of those contests, so it remains to be seen whether the Blonds are indeed no more.