Kyle O'Reilly on AEW Return From Injury, How Martial Arts Translates in the Wrestling Ring and More

After spending almost five months taking care of an injury, Kyle O'Reilly made his triumphant return at AEW Dynasty and won the Trios Championships alongside Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy.

When he was forced to take time off, he was building a lot of momentum with some big victories, so fans were eager to see him back in the ring again.

Not only did he have a special return segment alongside his fellow Conglomeration members before the match, but he also won his first title in All Elite Wrestling the same night.

We had a chance to speak to O'Reilly about his return, teaming with Strong and Cassidy, incorporating martial arts into his style, sitcoms and more.

Returning to the Ring

No matter how much time you spend in any athletic endeavor, it can be tough to take time off for an injury and return to the same level you were at before. KOR put those fears to bed at Dynasty by showing everyone he hadn't lost a step.

"Injuries, in this game, are just something that we have to deal with, right? That's the game we play," he said. "Unfortunately, all injuries seem to go on their own timing. The timing is never ideal.

"It was unfortunate timing coming off a couple of big wins over Jon Moxley. Unfortunately, I had to bow away for a couple of months, dealing with sort of a nagging neck issue. Seems to be par for the course for me.

"But I'm feeling great now. I'm eager to be back at work, and very eager to be back in the ring."

Keeping Busy During Downtime

Going from constantly traveling and wrestling to being at home for months in a row can be a hard transition, but O'Reilly had plenty to keep him busy during his recovery period.

"First and foremost, my main priority is getting well again," he said. "Rehab is a big part of it, taking care of what needs to be done. But I'm a family man. I love to spend time at home cooking, listening to music, playing with my daughter, playing my bass guitar.

"She likes to rock out on the drums, so we have some pretty dynamic jam sessions [laughs]. I love getting out in nature, going on trails. I love writing and reading and just all sorts of low-key at-home activities.

"I'm a big Stephen King fan. I love all horror lit fiction. So yeah, I've always dabbled in creative writing. It's been sort of a passion project of mine since high school, along with wrestling.

"I've never really had the courage to put anything out there, but that doesn't mean I won't eventually get to that point. That's something that is 100% a long-term goal for me, is to eventually get a little book of short stories out, or even a novel if possible.

"The bass is something I have kind of always been interested in but never picked up until COVID, when everyone sort of picked up some new hobbies when we were stuck at home.

"So I finally went out and got myself a cheap bass and an amp and started doing the YouTube self-tutorial method. That's going on almost six years now.

"I wouldn't say I'm advanced by any means, but it's something that really calms me and helps my anxiety and helps me zone in and just kind of brainstorm a bit, whether it's about wrestling, or just absolutely anything.

"It's a fun activity that I enjoy. It's unrelated to the air guitar, which I play left-handed Jimi Hendrix style. I've got a Music Man StingRay that I absolutely love."

Winning Gold

Returning to the ring is always a special moment for a wrestler who has been away, but being able to win gold on the same night is a rare occurrence.

Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy are the other two members of the winning trio from Dynasty, and for KOR, sharing this moment with his fellow Conglomeration teammates made it that much more memorable.

"It was extremely special just to come back," O'Reilly said. "Nothing in life is guaranteed from a life standpoint, let alone from a matches standpoint. The chance to make moments in wrestling, none of those are guaranteed.

"So the fact that I did get to come back to the ring at all is a blessing in itself, let alone to happen in my hometown to win a championship. That's extremely special. My family was there, my friends were there. It was a really special high-stakes, emotional night for sure. 

"Teaming with those guys [Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy] has just been so awesome for my career in every aspect. I can't get enough of it. Conglomeration for life!"

The Conglomeration

When The Conglomeration was reintroduced to the AEW audience, the company produced a special video for the group in the style of a 1990s sitcom opening credits sequence.

The presentation became a hit, and for O'Reilly and those involved, it brought back childhood memories.

"Everyone in The Conglomeration kind of grew up in the 1990s, so the '90s sitcom vibe, we were all gung ho and on board and totally got it," O'Reilly said. "All of the references, 90210, the intro theme song to the Conglomeration video, I absolutely have a blast with it.

"And it is something unique that, as far as I know, really hasn't been done much in wrestling before. So the fact that we get to do something new that gets our creative juices flowing, and gets us to have fun but doesn't take away from our performance in the ring, I think that's really cool."

We also asked O'Reilly to pick which show each member of the Conglomeration would work best as a member of the cast. Here are his answers:

O'Reilly: Full House

Mark Briscoe: Sanford and Son

Orange Cassidy: 90210

Tomohiro Ishii: Family Matters

Willow Nightingale: Step by Step

Rocky Romero: I Love Lucy

Roderick Strong: Saved by the Bell (Specifically as A.C. Slater's nemesis)

Martial Arts

O'Reilly's skill in the ring has been well-documented, and one of the things that sets him apart from a lot of competitors is his use of jiu-jitsu and kickboxing as part of his pro wrestling repertoire.

His journey with martial arts stemmed from his desire to learn how to perform certain techniques as a wrestler, and it led him to earn a purple belt in jiu-jitsu along the way.

"I didn't really do any martial arts or amateur wrestling growing up or in high school," O'Reilly said. "It wasn't until I started doing professional wrestling that I found martial arts and sort of started to implement it into my wrestling style.

"I really enjoyed that style. I would try to do things like kickboxing and jiu-jitsu moves in my pro wrestling, but I hadn't actually trained before, so you could tell something was off.

"It wasn't really done properly, so once I started training for real, and getting that footwork down and help with my time and just my overall presentation in the ring, it really just started as a way to supplement my pro wrestling training.

"I obviously fell in love with it and really enjoy still doing it. It's great exercise, if nothing else. That's kind of how my whole martial arts journey started."

Movie Review

LISA O'CONNOR / AFP

We always like to end our AEW interviews with a movie review. O'Reilly chose to talk about the most recent entry in a long-running series, Predator Badlands.

Warning: This does contain mild spoilers for the film.

"Predator Badlands. I thought it was sick," O'Reilly said. "It was such a cool, different take, you know? Making the Predator the protagonist.

"I enjoyed it. And I loved that scene at the end when they're like, 'Uh oh, Mom's here.' And they're all scared of the Predator women. I've got to see where that goes. It's pretty cool."

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To hear the complete interview, including O'Reilly's additional comments about potentially becoming a trainer, who he has his eye on in AEW, and which shows he has been watching, you can listen to the full audio in the video above.