AEW commentator Taz has announced he will be absent from this week’s episode of Dynamite and the upcoming Forbidden Door pay-per-view. In a statement on Twitter, Taz attributed his absence to health-related matters.
“I will be off this week, a combo of doctors’ appointments/imaging test on a couple of future surgeries, some R&R & most importantly, my new knee does not cooperate to well w/very long flights at the moment.”
Taz’s knee issues stem from a surgery he underwent in late 2024. The procedure was preceded by a storyline parking lot attack, where Christian Cage was revealed as the assailant in an angle involving Taz’s son, Hook. Taz has been a commentator for AEW since October 2019 and joined the full-time Dynamite broadcast team in June 2022.
The announcement comes just days before Forbidden Door, scheduled for August 24 at The O2 Arena in London, England. While Taz will be absent, fellow announcer Jim Ross confirmed he will be on hand to call matches for the cross-promotional event featuring talent from AEW, NJPW, CMLL, and Stardom.
The card for Forbidden Door includes several high-profile championship matches. Adam Page is set to defend the AEW World Championship against MJF, and Kazuchika Okada will face Swerve Strickland for the newly created AEW Unified Championship. Another marquee bout is a Lights Out Steel Cage match pitting Darby Allin, Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi against Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, The Young Bucks, and Gabe Kidd.