While his former tag team partner Mike Santana grabs headlines with his AEW departure and speculated return to TNA, Ortiz has remained largely under the radar.
The AEW standout has been absent from the ring since the January 20 episode of “AEW Collision,” where he and Eddie Kingston faced defeat against Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli in tag team action. However, there’s a valid explanation for Ortiz’s absence.
In the latest episode of fellow AEW star Isiah Kassidy’s YouTube vlog, filmed during their work for co-worker Ethan Page’s Alpha-1 Wrestling promotion the previous weekend, Ortiz offered an update on his condition.
“I’m injured, man,” Ortiz revealed. “I’m about to undergo surgery in two weeks. It happened from a clothesline. I tore my pec from a clothesline. It was because I’m too muscular. I was so built that my tendons couldn’t keep up.”
Although Ortiz acknowledged that the injury would sideline him for a while, he maintained an optimistic outlook, humorously suggesting that his return to the ring would come with a few changes.
“Two weeks, four months of recovery time, and then I’ll be back,”
Ortiz affirmed.
“[I’ll be] even more muscular, sporting a mullet and a mustache.”
Despite his injury preventing him from competing in Alpha-1, Ortiz contributed as a commentator alongside Kassidy.
Additionally, he later served as the special guest referee for the A1 Zero Gravity Championship match, where fellow AEW star Evil Uno successfully defended his title against Rohit Raju.
