Ortiz Makes AEW Return To Help Old Friend During Worlds End Zero Hour Pre-Show

Ortiz made his AEW return to run off the Grizzled Young Veterans following Zack Gibson's loss to Ortiz' old friend, Eddie Kingston, on the Zero Hour pre-show ahead of AEW Worlds End on Saturday. Gibson and James Drake beat up Kingston following the match, with Drake using his scarf to choke "The Mad King." 

Before the tag team could do any more damage to Kingston, Ortiz ran down to the ring, armed with a loaded sock. He ran of GYV and stood tall with Kingston in the ring. Ortiz hasn't been seen on AEW programming since a match on "AEW Collision" at the beginning of 2024, when he and Kingston teamed up in a loss against Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli, then still known as the Blackpool Combat Club. Ortiz had been absent from the ring due to a torn pectoral muscle.

Ortiz wrestled in a dark match at "AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming" on December 10, where he lost to HOOK. He took the "L" to the young star again during a Ring of Honor taping at the Hammerstein Ballroom last week. Ortiz had been working in backstage roles in AEW, such as coaching and producing, in his absence from TV.