An AEW star suffered a legitimate knee injury during their recent match on Dynamite.
Following on from Jon Moxley becoming the new IWGP World Champion at Windy City Riot in Chicago, Mox’s first defence took place on the April 24th edition of Dynamite against Powerhouse Hobbs. During the match, Hobbs is seen charging into the corner before Mox moves away, sending the former TNT Champion knee-first into the corner. Rolling to the outside, Hobbs continued to clutch the knee and was checked on by the referee.
With commentary stating that Hobbs was hurt, the match quickly ended as He was rolled back into the ring and choked out by Moxley to retain the title.
Speaking about the match on Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez stated that the knee injury was legitimate and caused the match to end early. It is still unknown how serious the knee injury is:
“I want to start by wishing the best to [Powerhouse] Hobbs. If you watched the show last night, that was not a worked knee injury. He went for a high cross or something and smashed into the turnbuckles and injured his knee. He could barely walk, and he hopped his way back into the ring, hopped into like two spots, and got choked out. There was more they were going to do.
So, if you note, there was going to be an overrun…The Hobbs match was obviously supposed to go longer than it did. We don’t know the extent of his knee injury yet, except that it is real. Hopefully, it is not bad. All the best to Hobbs as he figures out this knee injury.”
A follow-up report has also been provided by Fightful Select, who have also confirmed that Hobbs’ injury is “significant” and that he is “not expected back anytime soon.”
[Update] In a further update by Fightful Select on May 1st, Hobbs will require surgery which will be happening very soon if it has not happened already.
Sadly, Hobbs is not the only former champion to go down with an injury recently. Ahead of her loss to Willow Nightingale at Dynasty, former TBS Champion Julia Hart was also mentioned in the Fightful Select report as being injured once again. Hart is expected to require surgery, but the specifics are still unknown.
AEW Suffers In Ratings
Despite the show being a newsworthy one with the fallout from Dynasty, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship defence and the closing angle where Tony Khan was attacked, interest in the show was what many would have hoped. When the ratings for AEW Dynamite came in, the viewership was the worst since January 2021.
Everyone at Inside The Ropes wishes Powerhouse Hobbs and Julia Hart a full and speedy recovery.
H/t to Wrestling News.co