AEW fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of Kyle O’Reilly after the star suffered an injury last year, and news has been scarce regarding that possibility. That could be changing though, as a new report from Fightful Select indicates O’Reilly has been backstage recently and is looking like he could be returning to TV soon. That’s wonderful news if that’s the case, as O’Reilly has been out of action for the past 18 months due to issues after a neck fusion surgery. If he is returning to action soon, Worlds End would be a perfect place for a big return, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out. We wish O’Reilly a speedy recovery and hope he’s back in the ring soon.
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O’Reilly underwent neck fusion surgery in September of 2022, and then experienced a post-surgical issue over the following months. Not much has been said about O’Reilly over that span of time, and according to sources, O’Reilly was not factored into AEW plans for some time. Perhaps now that will change, and there is a story that he would fit seamlessly into.
Currently, O’Reilly’s former Undisputed ERA teammates Rodrick Strong and Adam Cole are part of a storyline with MJF, with Strong teaming up with The Kingdom to try and tear Cole away from his best friend MJF. That hasn’t worked thus far, and the story has continued to move forward despite the fact that Cole is also injured. Having a returning O’Reilly in that mix could help continue the story until Cole is back in action, as aligning him with either side would provide some interesting paths to follow.
Cole recently addressed his injury status on AEW Dynamite, and despite showing up on TV with MJF lately, revealed that he isn’t close to returning to the ring. Cole said, “I mean this from the bottom of my heart. It’s also great that me and my friend Max are still your Ring of Honor Champions bay bay, with some help from Samoa Joe. With the good news comes the bad news. You all know my ankle is in bad shape. I’m not even close to being able to walk yet nonetheless wrestle again, but you have my promise I’m going to work every single day to return to AEW and do what I love to do.”
MJF has also been hampered by injuries, though he has still continued to wrestle. MJF will be defending his AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe at Worlds End as part of their agreement, though at one point he agreed to defend the Title before then. Joe wasn’t having it though, as he wants no excuses from MJF when he takes the Title from him.
“Absolutely not. No no no, I’m the bad guy. Let’s discuss what’s going to happen here. You’re going to complain that I wasn’t 100%, boo hoo hoo. No Max, you see, I want the best version of you. I want the fully healed Max. So I say by Worlds End, you should be ready to defend that Title,” Joe said.
MJF agreed and now the two will face each other at Worlds End, and we’ll just have to see if O’Reilly ends up making his pretense felt during the pay-per-view as well.
What do you want to see for O’Reilly when he returns to action? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
