Buddy Matthews is officially “All Elite,” and wasted no time making his presence known to the AEW faithful, seemingly appearing out of nowhere to come to the aid of Death Triangle’s PAC and Penta Obscuro (Dark) during a post-match assault by the House of Black’s Malakai Black and Brody King on the latest episode ofAEW Dynamite.However, it turned out to be a ruse, with Matthews helping Black and King in laying waste to PAC and Obscuro before mashing Obscuro’s face into a chair, firmly cementing his allegiance to the House of Black. TheAEWsigning of Matthews and hisalignment with Malakai’s group comes at a most interesting time.RELATED:Cobra Kai’s Sensei Kreese Made An Appearance At AEWPenta’s brother Fenix is on the mend for a dislocated arm andsoon to return to AEW, and the House of Black is now on equal footing with three members of its own in its intensifying feud with Death Triangle. Matthews' AEW debut comes on the heels of several weeks worth of speculation and teases as to whether the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion would sign with Tony Khan’s promotion and just where he would fit in on an already packed roster of highly talented individuals, including the very idea of Matthews mixing it up with longtime rival Malakai Black. Khan himself is elated at Matthews throwing in his lot with AEW and took to Twitter to formally welcome the Australian megastar to the company.
While Matthews' signing was hotly anticipated by AEW fans, his alignment with Malakai and his House of Black contingent comes as a surprise considering their on-screen rivalry in WWE, where they competed in a number of intense, back-and-forth matches, with Black narrowly beating out Matthews each time. Their animosity would continueeven after their WWE releases, competing against one another in a physically intense main event at WrestleCade back on November 2021, with Black barely coming out on top once again. While there is a certain level of competitive and professional respect between the two strikers that could have tipped Matthews over to Black’s side, it seems just as likely that Matthews could be thinking of the old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
With Matthews’ shocking debut and alliance with Black, and Fenix’s impending return from the injured list, it seems all but inevitable that a trios (six-man tag) match will be forthcoming between Death Triangle and the House of Black. Given AEW’s penchant for intense, hyper-athletic multi-person matches, this potential encounter falls squarely into their wheelhouse and would be guaranteed to steal any show or PPV.
Like every other ex-WWE signing, however, there is the underlying concern of fans and critics alike that Matthews will simply end up being a “flavor of the month” and shunted off into the background after his initial fanfare has died down, or perhaps pushed too quickly to a premier position that some feel should go to amore tenured AEW wrestlerwho is long overdue for a push. While scenarios such as those remain to be seen, Matthews nonetheless has a fresh lease on his life as a professional wrestler and begins anew in All Elite Wrestling.
