"Dream just came true" - Buddy Matthews sends a message to his wife Rhea Ripley amid AEW hiatus

Former AEW champion Buddy Matthews continues to be on hiatus after sustaining an injury several months ago. The "Best Kept Secret" of the pro-wrestling industry recently voiced excitement on behalf of his wife, WWE superstar Rhea Ripley, after the unveiling of a new line of accessories and merchandise.

Buddy Matthews has been missing from action since unsuccessfully challenging Kazuchika Okada for his Continental Championship on his home-soil at Grand Slam Australia this past February. The Hounds of Hell member had suffered an unfortunate injury to his ankle during his entrance for the bout, which has put him on the shelf for the last several months. The former AEW World Trios Champion revealed in June that his ankle was facing mobility issues, and went under the knife to have it fixed later in August.

The ex-WWE superstar has been on the mend, and according to recent reports, is not expected to return to AEW programming anytime soon. While his television hiatus is still ongoing, Matthews has stayed active on social media, where he regularly shares sneak peeks into his life alongside his wife, Rhea Ripley. Taking to Instagram recently, the former House of Black member tagged The Eradicator on a story, which reposted clothing and accessory brand Civil Regime's latest line of plushies.

"@rhearipley_wwe dream just came true!!" - wrote Matthews in the caption.

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Check out a screenshot of Buddy Matthews' IG story BELOW:

Buddy Matthews' IG story [Source : Instagram]

It remains to be seen when Matthews will be brought back to All Elite Wrestling programming.

Buddy Matthews' AEW tag partner is currently a champion

While Buddy Matthews continues to recover from injury, his tag team and trios partner Brody King has formed a highly-successful alliance with Bandido. The duo became the AEW World Tag Team Champions by dethroning The Hurt Syndicate in a three-way match at Forbidden Door 2025 also involving FTR. Since then, they have successfully defended their belts against The Death Riders, Galeon Fantasma, JetSpeed, The Young Bucks, the Don Callis Family and The Gates of Agony.

Brodido unfortunately lost to the team of Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita in a "Double Jeopardy Eliminator" this week on Dynamite : Title Tuesday. As a result, they will be defending their tag titles against The Rainmaker and The Alpha later this month at WrestleDream 2025.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee