While not quite Day 1 talents in AEW, The Butcher and The Blade can claim to be part of most of AEW’s history, having debuted shortly after the launch of “AEW Dynamite” in the fall of 2019. But over the last year, the duo has been scarcely seen on AEW TV, with Butcher being inactive since a February 2025 “Collision” match against Gabe Kidd, while Blade was inactive for nearly two years recovering from back surgery before returning to the ring in December.
Naturally, this had led to questions regarding whether Butcher or Blade are still actually signed with AEW. During an interview with “Youngstown Studio” to promote his new band Atomic Rule, Butcher clarified that duo’s status.
“I mean, I’m still under contract,” Butcher said. “Blade is like…that was the big thing. Blade had his back fused. As a tag team wrestler, it’s like ‘How many times can you send a guy out there in singles matches, and then they lose after,’ you know what I mean? You kind of have to shelve them. And I kind of understand it and try to be humble with that. It does seep into your head like ‘Dude, what did I do wrong,’ you know what I mean? Cause no one talks to you…it’s not like they check up on me every week going ‘How you doing dude?’
“It’s just like ‘We’ll call you when we need you.’ And that is kind of like a head f**k. But at the same time, I’m so grateful because I get paid every two weeks, and like, Blade is now healthy. So we can now work indies and stuff like that, and [are] just waiting for the call for a return. Hopefully it happens soon. I know that there’s a lot of injuries going on right now in AEW. So that’s usually an indicator that they’re probably going to bring some guys back that they’re sitting.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Youngstown Studio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
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