There was a lot of hard hitting action during AEW Dynasty last night, and unfortunately not every AEW talent emerged from the PPV unscathed. During the semi-main event between The Dogs and The Conglomeration for the AEW World Trios Championships, Dogs member Gabe Kidd disappeared halfway through, and was later seen being tended to by AEW’s doctors. Ultimately, he never returned to the match, and the Dogs lost the Trios Championships to Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly, making his triumphant return in his hometown of Vancouver.

Naturally, Kidd’s absence from the back end of the match has led to plenty of questions, including what injury he suffered, and whether him being taken out of the match led to AEW calling an audible by having The Conglomeration win. Reviewing Dynasty on “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer answered both questions, confirming Kidd suffered a shoulder injury, and that the finish went as planned, just without Kidd’s involvement.

“So Gabe Kidd looks like he dislocated his shoulder in the trios match,” Meltzer said. “He was taken out. It must’ve been bad, because if you know the intensity of Gabe Kidd, he would’ve fought through it and done the whole match, and he did not. So they took him to the back, and it was three on two. And then the babyfaces won. 

“The finish for Kyle O’Reilly with the ankle lock on Clark Connors to win the championship that they only won on TV the night before, that was the planned finish. So the finish didn’t change…Maybe they went [to the finish] a little sooner, I don’t know, because most of the matches obviously were a lot longer and usually Tony’s championship matches go over ten [minutes]. But it was the finish that they had booked.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

Injuries are an unfortunate part of the pro wrestling business, and sometimes they come at the worst time. In turn, those injuries can have huge effects on planned matches and storylines, which can affect the rest of the roster. AEW Dynasty was altered by two major injuries, and a wrestler suffered an injury during a title match. During the Dynasty media scrum, Tony Khan spoke offered details on the situation. 

“I think tonight was the most changes I’ve had in a pay-per-view cycle since the original Forbidden Door,” Khan said. “The original Forbidden Door, we were coming out of Double or Nothing 2022 and I had the card planned, and I felt so great about it. … It turned into an amazing pay-per-view but … very different than what I had planned.” He then switched gears to talk about Dynasty.

“Many of the matches were the same, but there were several changes to the card. There are people out that 100% would’ve been involved. One great example would be the former TNT Champion, Kyle Fletcher … who 100% I would’ve had involved in AEW Dynasty. Also, ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm. And I made many changes to this pay-per-view over the last few weeks. They would’ve both been a big part of it. They’re both a huge part of AEW.”

Khan mentioned that changes like that led to other ramifications, and according to reports, Kazuchika Okada was affected. He ended up teaming with Konosuke Takeshita against the Young Bucks. According to Fightful Select, the original plan was for Takeshita to team with Fletcher while Okada defended the International Championship, but Okada instead defended his title the night before on “Collision” against Myron Reed. 

During the Trios Championship match on Dynasty, Gabe Kidd was injured. The Conglomeration was already planned to defeat The Dogs at Dynasty. There is currently no timetable for Kidd’s return.