Last Saturday, when AEW officially revealed that the Men's Blood & Guts matchwould feature Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong of the Conglomeration battling Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Pac, Wheeler Yuta, and Daniel Garcia of the Death Riders, the one notable name missing was Tomohiro Ishii. This is despite the fact that the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion has been a key figure for the Conglomeration and a steady presence on AEW TV recently, leading many to assume Ishii was left out because he was heading back to New Japan Pro Wrestling for a bit.
As it turns out, a worse fate has befallen Ishii. On their website, New Japan revealed that Ishii would be out of action for the foreseeable future after suffering a dislocated shoulder during his recent "AEW Collision" match with Pac. The promotion apologized to fans for Ishii's absence, and wished him a speedy recovery. No timetable was provided on when Ishii could return to the ring, other than New Japan stating it would be "determined" at a later date.
The injury represents a rarity for Ishii. While the "Stone Pitbull" has become known for his hard hitting style and has regularly worked through bumps and bruises, he has largely been a picture of durability, having wrestled at least one match in all but eleven months of his twenty nine year career, with three of those months missed not due to injury but the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, it's possible this dislocated shoulder could lead to the longest stretch of absence Ishii has ever experienced in his career.
