AEW tag team announces return
The Butcher and The Blade are set to return as a tag team.
The Blade made his in-ring return last month in his hometown of Buffalo after nearly two years away. He had been out of action with a serious back injury since February 2024 and underwent spinal fusion surgery that September.
His tag team partner The Butcher has also wrestled sparingly over the past year. His last appearance on AEW programming came on the May 2, 2025, episode of AEW Collision, where he lost a singles match to Gabe Kidd.
The last time The Butcher and The Blade appeared under the AEW/ROH banner was the January 10, 2024, Ring of Honor taping from Daily’s Place, where they lost a tag match to Top Flight’s Dante and Darius Martin. It was also the last time the two wrestled as a team.
Both The Butcher and The Blade posted to Instagram on Thursday announcing the return of their tag team.
The Butcher wrote, “Butcher and Blade are back bitch. Watch your mouthes tag teams. @aew”
The Blade wrote, “The Butcher And The Blade 2026. Coming soon to professional wrestling near you #wrestling #prowrestling #aew #allelitewrestling”
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has appeared in award-winning publications such as NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and was named managing editor in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.