Cain A. Knight is a hardcore number-cruncher who has analyzed and covered pro wrestling for Cageside Seats since 2014, and followed the sport as a fan going back to the 1980's.

AEW commentator Taz was written off television in early October when a mystery person attacked him in the parking lot. The angle was a cover story to explain Taz's absence while he was recovering from knee replacement surgery.

His son HOOK spent a couple weeks trying to identify the culprit before the big reveal came on Oct. 23 that it was Christian Cage. But here we are more than two months later, and a singles match between HOOK and Christian has yet to take place.

AEW was in New York City for this week's (Dec. 25) Christmas episode of Dynamite, and Taz showed up in his hometown to do commentary during the show. His abrupt return has now sparked a debate among wrestling fans that can be summarized by the following exchange between Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio. Here they are arguing about whether or not AEW screwed up the feud between HOOK and Christian by bringing Taz back before they had a match:

Meltzer: "People have seen [Taz], and he's healthy. That's the point. He's back."

Alvarez: "He was at the show. They haven't done the match yet. That is true."

Meltzer: "It's like, there's no point to the match, he's back."

Alvarez: "Well, hold on a second. There's still a point to the match. If someone beat up your dad, and they beat his ass..."

Meltzer: "...and you don't even do the match and he's already back?"

Alvarez: "Well if he came back you still want to beat his ass. He beat up your dad! You can still do the match."

Meltzer: "How many times during the show in two hours did Taz bring up that Christian beat him up?"

Alvarez: "Well, he did not bring that up."

Meltzer: "Zero! Zero! Dad does not even care anymore! If dad doesn't care, why should the son care? If the dad doesn't care, why should I care?"

Alvarez: "Because HOOK is very angry still. His dad got beaten up, dude. He can still be mad that his father got beaten up, even if his father is back already."

Meltzer: "If his father was back and said, 'My son is gonna get you for what you did Christian,' absolutely."

Alvarez: "Well yeah, they could still do that. Probably should."

Meltzer: "He didn't say it once in two hours. Didn't bring it up. Didn't hint at it. Didn't say a fucking word. The feud is dead."

HOOK is scheduled to go one-on-one with Christian's lackey Nick Wayne on the final episode of AEW Rampage, which airs tomorrow night (Dec. 27) on TNT. Unless HOOK vs. Christian is a last-minute addition to the Worlds End pay-per-view on Saturday (Dec. 28), the eventual singles match between HOOK and Christian won't take place until the calendar changes to 2025.

Do you think AEW creative undermined the feud between HOOK and Christian given the way Taz returned to commentary on last night's Dynamite? Let me know in the comments below, Cagesiders.