AEW Star Out Injured With Torn Pec, Requires Surgery

While his former partner Mike Santana has been making waves due to his AEW departure and a rumored return to TNA, Ortiz has largely been out of sight and out of mind. The AEW star hasn't stepped foot in a ring since the January 20 episode of "AEW Collision," where Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli defeated him and Eddie Kingston in tag team action. As it turns out, however, Ortiz has a good reason for that.

Appearing on the latest episode of fellow AEW star Isiah Kassidy's YouTube vlog, while the two were working for co-worker Ethan Page's Alpha-1 Wrestling promotion the previous weekend, Ortiz provided an update on his status.

"I'm injured, man," Ortiz said. "I'm about to get surgery in two weeks. It was just from a clothesline. I tore my pec from a clothesline. It was because I'm too jacked. I was so jacked, that my tendons couldn't keep up."

While Ortiz stated that the injury would keep him out of the ring for the next little while, he remained positive, joking that his appearance would be a bit different than before when he eventually returned to the ring.

"Two weeks, four-month recovery time, and then I'll be back," Ortiz said. "[I'll be] more jacked with a mullet and a mustache."

While the injury prevented Ortiz from wrestling for Alpha-1, he would still work on the show as a commentator, alongside Kassidy, and he later served as the special guest referee for the A1 Zero Gravity Championship match, where champion, and fellow AEW star Evil Uno, retained over Rohit Raju.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Isiah Kassidy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription