The artist formerly known as Buddy Murphy is almost ALL ELITE!
According to our friends over at Fightful Select (subscription highly recommended), several AEW roster members were informed last month of a plan to bring Buddy Matthews into the fold.
If you watched this week's edition of AEW Dynamite, you probably saw the pre-taped House Of Black segment in which Brody King and Malakai Black discussed a potential new arrival. In that clip, Malakai referenced someone with whom he has history, which is certainly a description that fits Matthews.
Shortly after being released by WWE last year, Malakai Black released a vignette in anticipation of his imminent return to professional wrestling. The video depicted Black as an inmate at an institution. At one point, Black tells a doctor that his eye was injured when he was pushed into some stairs by "Matthew" -- Buddy's real name. As you might recall, Matthews slammed Black's eye into the steel steps on an episode of Raw back in July 2020.
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As we previously reported, Matthews has himself teased a potential AEW appearance, but there were also conflicting reports that suggested the company passed on the opportunity to sign the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Additionally, IMPACT Wrestling EVP Scott D'Amore hinted during a Twitch back in August that Matthews was on his way to IMPACT, although that has yet to come to fruition.
Matthews made his New Japan Pro Wrestling debut in November. The booking was the Aussie's first with a non-independent promotion since parting ways with WWE. At the time of writing, details regarding Buddy's deal with New Japan have yet to be revealed, but as one of the hottest free agents in wrestling, it's no wonder AEW is interested.
Matthews is a former NXT Tag Team Champion, a former WWE Raw Tag Team Champion, and a former NXT Cruiserweight Champion. He was released by WWE on June 2 following an eight-year stint with the company.
