Injury Update On AEW's Ortiz

The former Pride-N-Powerful man hasn't wrestled since January.

AEW All In 2023 Ortiz
AEW

With the star himself confirming over the weekend that he's been out of action with a torn pec, AEW's Ortiz has now undergone surgery for this issue.

Per Mike Johnson over at PWInsider, Ortiz yesterday had successful surgery to repair his torn pectoral muscle.

For those who missed it, the former Pride-N-Powerful man revealed this injury news a couple of days ago, with the initial belief that he'd be going under the knife in a few weeks. Instead, that surgery has now taken place, and Ortiz begins his road to recovery.

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Ortiz has previously stated he'll have a four-month recovery period, then his intention is to return "more jacked with a mullet and a moustache". Speaking on yesterday's Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer speculated that it could be "eight or nine months, maybe more" until the 32-year-old is cleared for action.

As for how this injury happened, that was as Ortiz dished out a regular clothesline. The most recent match for the New Yorker came on the 20 January episode of AEW Collision, where he and Eddie Kingston lost to the Blackpool Combat Club's Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli.

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Of course, last year saw Ortiz formally split from long-time tag partner Mike Santana, with the pair having butted heads behind the scenes about how they'd been used in AEW. A brief rivalry culminated in a brilliant match that was sadly dumped on AEW Rampage, and Santana has since departed AEW earlier this year and now finds himself as one of the hottest free agents in the game.

 
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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.