Bandido makes surprise appearance at ROH Final Battle to aid Matt Cardona
Former Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido made his surprise return during Friday’s ROH Final Battle, saving Matt Cardona from an attack by The Learning Tree.
ROH World Champion Chris Jericho had just defeated Cardona to retain the title when Bryan Keith and Big Bill started beating up the challenger. Bandido’s music hit and he ran to the ring, kicking Bill and dropkicking Jericho.
However, he did appear to hit the back of his head hard on the mat on the dropkick and was extremely slow to get up with the referee even checking on him at one point. Keith and Lee then did clunky-looking spots with Bandido before eventually leaving the ring.
Bandido has been out of action since June 2023 after breaking his wrist in an AEW Rampage match with Konosuke Takeshita. Complications have kept him out longer than expected, but vignettes began appearing on AEW TV several weeks ago heralding his return. His AEW in-ring return has yet to be announced.
Bandido was ROH World Champion for 152 days in 2021 before having to vacate it due to getting COVID-19 before he was supposed to defend the championship. Never having lost the title in the ring became an angle which led to a title vs. title match with Jonathan Gresham in April 2022.
During Jericho’s first reign as ROH Champion, he successfully defended against Bandido in September 2022.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.