Major Update On Kyle O'Reilly's AEW Status 18 Months After Neck Injury

It's been more than a year and a half since wrestling fans last saw Kyle O'Reilly in the ring. The AEW star has been inactive as he recovers from neck fusion surgery, and with no news on his condition for months, it seemed a safe bet he would go all of 2023 without making an appearance on AEW TV. But with less than a month left in the year, a positive update has finally come along.

Fightful Select reports that O'Reilly has recently been backstage at AEW tapings, and that there has been talk of O'Reilly returning to TV, though no timetable was given for when. This is a stark contrast to the previous update O'Reilly gave earlier this year when the former reDragon member did not indicate a potential return was imminent.

O'Reilly debuted in AEW two years ago this month after his contract with WWE expired, immediately aligning with former Undisputed Era teammates Adam Cole and Bobby Fish. The trio would form the Undisputed Elite with the Young Bucks, but the group was short-lived after both O'Reilly and Cole were put on the shelf with injuries, while Fish left AEW after his contract expired. O'Reilly's last wrestled on June 8, 2022, while he last appeared on AEW TV on August 3.

The news of O'Reilly's potential return comes as AEW World Champion MJF, himself a close friend of Cole, has been targeted by a group of unidentified men led by a mysterious man in a devil mask, though O'Reilly himself has drawn little speculation as the potential "devil." The next step in the story will take place tonight on "AEW Dynamite," where MJF and Samoa Joe will battle two of the devil's henchmen.