The last time Bandido had a match on AEW television, Bryan Keith was still two months away from his first AEW match, period. Now, 603 days and multiple injury setbacks later, Bandido is finally back, a fact he proved by defeating Keith on "AEW Collision."
The match was fast-paced more often than not, with Bandido pulling out his signature aerial assault and Keith, despite nominally being a heel, earning appreciative cheers from his hometown Houston crowd. Keith has been working as "The Bad Apple" since joining up with ROH World Champion Chris Jericho's Learning Tree stable, but "The Outlaw" came out to play in his first-ever match against Bandido, who wrestles under a similar gimmick most notably when the two found themselves standing back-to-back and decided to take ten paces toward their respective corners before turning and firing simultaneous running dropkicks. In the end, Bandido was able to hit the 21 Plex and score the pin in his return match.
Bandido broke his wrist in an "AEW Rampage" match with Konosuke Takeshita in June 2023 and ended up having first one surgery and then a second one. His rehab was finally complete by the end of 2024, and he returned to confront Jericho at ROH Final Battle in December only to immediately suffer a concussion upon hitting the ring. It remains to be seen whether he and Jericho will resume their intended feud, presumably for the ROH World Championship, which Bandido previously held prior to the company's purchase by AEW CEO Tony Khan.
