Buddy Matthews is taking time off, but doesn’t seem to be leaving AEW

After he was misted by The Great Muta on Rampage Grand Slam (resulting in a nasty bump that thankfully didn’t injure Julia Hart or her oversized hat), there was speculation it could be a way to write Buddy Matthews off AEW television.

Matthews’ House of Black stablemate Malakai Black recently confirmed he requested his release from Tony Khan’s company, and rumors are swirling about ex-WWE wrestlers like Black & Matthews wanting to return there now that Triple H is in charge. Is it safe to assume Buddy is one of them?

It’s hard to tell.

He cut a promo after his Fight Life Pro Wrestling match on Saturday night (Sept. 24) in Rhode Island that sounded a lot like Malakai’s from the weekend before. Matthews even referenced Black and their on-screen group, saying:

“Unfortunately, I, like some of the other members, need to go away for a while. I need to recalibrate. I need to figure out some things. As my brother Malakai once said, this isn’t goodbye — this is see you later.”

Going away for a while might not mean leaving AEW, though. This tweet from Matthews is being interpreted as a response to the report Friday was his write-off (a Fightful Select story in which sources also claimed Buddy’s “expressed dissatisfaction regarding his situation” multiple times recently):

And TK — or at least his social media team — thinks the Australian wrestler is sticking around. They made a point to refer to him as an “AEW star” while wishing him well on his 34th birthday this morning...

Your interpretation of all this probably depends on whether you give more credence to wrestlers & wrestling companies or the media that covers them. Based on nothing more than the above, my guess is that Buddy isn’t thrilled with his AEW run. It’s easy to see why. He’s only wrestled one singles match for the company since debuting in February.

If he signed the same kind of lengthy contract Black is said to have, it stands to reason Tony Khan & team decided to give him some time off — perhaps while they come up with a plan to better utilize him moving forward, or to mull over one they already presented him with.

But again, that’s just a guess. We’ll see what the future holds for Black, Matthews & AEW.

No matter, I don’t think their partner Brody King is trying to get out of his contract with TK...