2025 was a big year for Samoa Joe, Hook, and the rest of The Opps. Joe became the AEW Men’s World Champion at Full Gear, one-third of the AEW World Trios Champions with Powerhouse Hobbs and Katsuyori Shibata, and were featured prominently in the Death Riders storyline heading in to All In Texas. However, 2026 hasn’t been as successful, with both Joe and Hook currently on the sidelines with separate injuries, Hobbs now in WWE as Royce Keys, and Shibata taking a break back in Japan.

Fans have already seen Shibata in action as recently as the Blackjack Battle Royal for the AEW National Championship at AEW Revolution, but as far as Joe and Hook are concerned, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select shed some light as to when they could potentially return to the ring. For Joe, he was sidelined with a concussion back in January and hasn’t been medically cleared as of yet, and according to Sapp, it’s still a “wait and see” situation as no one is completely sure when Joe will be cleared. With that said, Joe himself confirmed during at the 2026 “For The Love of Wrestling” convention in the United Kingdom that he will be back in AEW sooner rather than later.

In Joe’s absence, Hook was made the interim leader of The Opps and was hoping to bring some gold back to the group in the form of the AEW National Championship. However, he was pulled from the Blackjack Battle Royal at AEW Revolution and replaced by his teammate Shibata due to an undisclosed medical issue. According to Sapp, it’s unclear exactly when he will return as well, but it was noted that when he was sidelined in 2025, AEW didn’t expect Hook to be out for as long as he was, and that he would have absolutely gritted his teeth and wrestled through whatever he was going through had the company gave him the green light.