Buddy Matthews suffered a significant ankle injury during his AEW International Championship match against Kazuchika Okada at AEW Grand Slam Australia. Despite rolling his ankle before the bell even rang, Matthews remarkably continued to compete for over thirteen minutes before ultimately losing the bout.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Matthews provided a painful account of the injury, stating, “It’s okay. Rolled it pretty bad. Had an X ray, MRI. There was no break, but there was partial ligament tear and cartilage damage. [I’m] Walking. I haven’t ran, I haven’t jumped, I’ve just started implementing cardio, but then it kind of stiffens up. And, you know, we’re working through it, but the docs was were telling me I’ve never seen an ankle roll that much under someone without completely destroying, smashing, disintegrating the bones. So I didn’t break a bone, which was incredible, but then I had to wrestle 15 minutes after it.”
Matthews further described the immediate impact and the mental fortitude required to continue, revealing, “So as soon as I rolled, jumped off, and it went, you actually see me go f*ck. Then I go sit in my corner, I’m watching Okada, and then I could just feel my boot tightening up and I’m like, oh. Obviously I don’t know how bad it is. So I’m wrestling, and that was the first time… that it got to me in the head… Somehow I did, and we got through it, and pretty happy with how it came out, considering how hindered I was.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.
