Eighteen months ago, Kyle O’Reilly disappeared from AEW TV after unsuccessfully facing Jon Moxley to become the number one contender for the Interim AEW World Championship. In September 2022, O’Reilly underwent fusion surgery on his neck due to nerves that had been compressed. During his time away, Adam Cole has occasionally provided updates on his long-time friend. Still, outside of that, little has been known about how he is doing or when he may return.
Fightful reports that O’Reilly has been spotted backstage at recent AEW events, and it looks like he could return to action soon. It was noted that he has been working out with a strength and conditioning coach for months.
Before his time off for surgery and rehabilitation, O’Reilly was a member of the Undisputed Elite, consisting of Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and The Young Bucks. Roderick Strong, a member of The Undisputed Era in WWE NXT, was not yet with the company. During O’Reilly’s time away, Fish has parted ways with AEW, and Cole has gone down with an injury.
O’Reilly’s potential return to TV comes when speculation is rampant regarding who could be behind the AEW Devils attacking MJF. For over a month, the AEW World Champion has been interrupted by mysterious figures laying waste to people like “Switchblade” Jay White and The Acclaimed. This past Wednesday on Dynamite, the masked assailants attacked Friedman in the ring and were prepared to lay him out with a baseball bat before Samoa Joe made the save. Tonight’s episode of Dynamite will feature Friedman and Joe teaming up to take on two of the masked Devils.
One group of men that may be behind the attacks could be some Undisputed Era and The Kingdom combination faction. Let’s call this group The Undisputed Kingdom to keep these easy as we wildly speculate. Cole has been sporting crutches for some time and is playing up how long he will be out, but many pro wrestling fans are suspicious. If Cole is behind the group, his friends from The Kingdom and The Undisputed Era could theoretically have his back.