17 Biggest AEW Scandals So Far | partsFUNknown - video Dailymotion

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17 Biggest AEW Scandals So Far | partsFUNknown AEW is going through a rough patch at the moment, but it isn't the first time they've had to weather a storm. These are the 17 biggest AEW scandals so far, but let us know in the comments if you've become disenchanted with AEW because of any of this.  00:00 - Start 01:25 - 17 02:06 - 16 03:02 - 15 03:53 - 14 05:00 - 13 05:55 - 12 06:36 - 11 07:28 - 10 08:18 - 9 08:51 - 8 09:56 - 7 10:49 - 6 11:51 - 5 12:37 - 4 13:24 - 3 14:16 - 2 15:20 - 1... sort of 15:33 - 1  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/ Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/ Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/

Transcript

00:00 Contrary to popular belief, I don't like being negative.

00:03 If I was present at AEW's recent team meeting, I would have been crying, saying I wish we could

00:08 all get along like we did in middle school, and I wish I could bake a cake made out of rainbows

00:12 and smiles and everyone would eat it and be happy, while Max Caster yells from the back that I don't

00:17 even go there. Unfortunately, AEW has had more than its fair share of negative moments in its

00:22 very brief history. For the first couple of years, these moments seemed like outliers,

00:27 problems to be dealt with, but not a representation of the perpetually optimistic and wholesome

00:32 "all friends" wrestling, as many began calling it. But then the calendar ticked over to 2022,

00:38 and Jesus Christ, has all the positivity been sapped out of this once-cheerful gaggle of

00:43 "Con-nadian geese." Of course, there is still loads to be positive about in AEW.

00:48 The emergence of the acclaimed Wheeler-Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and Ricky Starks has been a

00:52 joy to watch. The Elite storyline continues to pull at our collective heartstrings,

00:56 and I personally cannot get enough of William Regal lusting over Excalibur in the most gentlemanly

01:02 way possible every week. But those things are for a different list. Time to inject some venom.

01:07 I'm Tempest Hailing from PartsSADknown, and these are the 17 Biggest AEW Scandals So Far.

01:14 But before we get on with our list, make sure to like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications

01:18 so you don't miss a fun wrestling list unlike this one. The next one will be a lot more cheerful,

01:23 I promise. #17 - Susan G. Komen

01:26 Wrestling fans will know Susan G. Komen as WWE's regular charitable collaborator for breast cancer

01:32 research and awareness, aka the reason WWE had pink ropes one month a year during the 2010s.

01:38 Unfortunately, the foundation is also known for some less desirable things as well,

01:41 such as using donation money to target other charitable foundations with legal action,

01:46 and AEW fans did not react well when the company announced their partnership with the charity in

01:50 2021, nor did CM Punk, and AEW was quick to sever ties with Susan G. Komen before partnering with

01:56 the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. It was still very strange how AEW failed at this bit of

02:02 PR, neglecting to do the proper research on the foundation beforehand. #16 - Brian Cage & Melissa

02:08 Santos One of the bigger flops in AEW, both literally and figuratively, has been Brian Cage.

02:15 Debuting at Double or Nothing 2020 as the winner of the Casino Ladder match and the first client of

02:20 Taz, Cage soon plateaued in AEW's midcard, never winning a match on pay-per-view. By mid-2021,

02:27 he was booted from Teen Taz and floundering as a babyface and was soon taken off TV,

02:31 where he has remained with the slight exception of one very nonchalant appearance during a Jonathan

02:36 Gresham segment, and oh, we'll get to him. His 2021 run did not sit well with his wife,

02:41 Melissa Santos, who took to Twitter the week of All Out 2021 to say Cage was a superstar and was

02:47 being misused by AEW. This was received impeccably by wrestling Twitter, as everything always is.

02:53 Whether this was a direct cause or not, Cage's absence lined up with these comments and was a

02:58 low point for AEW during the biggest week of their history. #15 - Willie Urbina Mocks Hikaru Shida

03:05 Hikaru Shida was given the very unenviable task of carrying the AEW Women's Championship during

03:10 the cursed era of wrestling that we're all collectively trying to put out of our minds.

03:14 Even though the No Fans era will never be watchable on the same level as Yes Fans Wrestling,

03:19 Shida did a fantastic job and was awarded with a newer, bigger championship belt on the final

03:24 Dynamite before Double or Nothing 2021. This was a really special segment that was unfortunately

03:30 tainted by Spanish commentator Willie Urbina mocking Shida with a racist voice for precisely

03:36 zero reason. Naturally, this caused an uproar on Twitter and Urbina was quickly fired as a result.

03:41 Also, a personal f*** you to Willie Urbina because I promised on last week's list that this one would

03:46 have 100% less racism and now that isn't true so you've made a liar out of me, Willie Urbina.

03:52 #14 - Sadie Gibbs and Bea Priestley Shoot On Each Other

03:56 From the infant days of All Elite Wrestling, before they had ever aired one episode of Dynamite,

04:01 they had already had their first bit of controversy. Sadie Gibbs and Bea Priestley,

04:06 now NXT's Blair Davenport, competed in the first Women's Casino Battle Royal on the buy-in of the

04:12 inaugural All Out pay-per-view in 2019 and oh boy does this need some context. Prior to this,

04:18 Sadie Gibbs had left a stardom tour because of a family bereavement, which didn't sit well with

04:22 Will Ospreay who accused her of a lack of professionalism. He has since admitted that

04:27 this was super immature on his part and has said that Gibbs has forgiven him, but at the time,

04:31 Will and girlfriend Bea Priestley were not happy. This resulted in the battle royal going awry,

04:37 with Priestley beaning Gibbs with a kick before loudly yelling "stupid, stupid" like a 2010 Randy

04:43 Orton and then as Gibbs fired up and hit a gorilla press slam, Priestley completely no-sold the move.

04:50 This led to Gibbs taking a swing at Priestley backstage as the fight was quickly broken up,

04:54 but it just goes to show AEW has been having backstage fights for as long as they have been

04:59 a thing. 13. Ivelisse No-Sells

05:03 Another of the most disliked performers in women's wrestling is former Tough Enough,

05:07 NXT, Lucha Underground, Impact, WCPW and AEW star Ivelisse who seemingly has been disliked in each

05:14 and every one of those promotions. During her time in AEW however, she got on the bad side of many,

05:19 with some of that heat stemming from this incident in late 2020. During a match on Dynamite with then

05:25 NWA Women's Champion Thunder Rosa, Ivelisse wasn't happy that Thunder Rosa was leading the match,

05:31 and shoot strikes were thrown. You might not notice the violence if you're not paying attention,

05:35 but it is impossible to miss the most unprofessional part of the match,

05:38 where Thunder Rosa snapmares Ivelisse to the mat, and she responds by wiping the hair from her face

05:44 and waiting to be put in a full Nelson with about as much energy as a tranquilized sloth.

05:48 Ivelisse was not long for the AEW world, and this display of unprofessionalism played a large role

05:54 in her exit. 12. Jimmy Havoc is fired

05:57 I thought about including the fight that Jimmy Havoc and Excalibur had after All Out 2019,

06:02 but they squashed that beef, and Tony Khan himself said he'd seen better fights on a soccer pitch,

06:06 so perhaps there isn't much of a scandal there. Unfortunately, Jimmy Havoc also had to be shown

06:11 the door at All Elite Wrestling, however his release came during the Speaking Out movement.

06:16 On June 19th, 2020, it was announced that Havoc would be attending counseling and undergoing

06:20 rehabilitation after allegations were made that he had physically assaulted a fan and engaged in

06:25 domestic abuse, with AEW stating that his status with the company would be re-evaluated upon his

06:30 completion of his treatment. Havoc was then released from the company on August 13th,

06:34 and has not wrestled since. 11. Max Caster's worst rap

06:39 When he isn't telling me that I don't even go here, Max Caster is doing a tightrope walk on

06:44 the line of what is acceptable to say in wrestling. The problem with walking a tightrope in front of

06:49 an audience is sometimes you fall. During the August 3rd, 2021 episode of AEW Dark,

06:54 Caster decided to skip the tightrope altogether and just jump off the cliff with his rap making

06:59 reference to Olympian Simone Biles' mental health issues, the famous Duke LaCrosse sexual assault

07:04 case, and COVID testing while making a sexual joke about Julia Hart, who at the time was 19 years old.

07:10 Somehow this rap still made air despite being on a taped show, with Tony Khan calling the rap

07:14 "terrible" and effectively suspending Caster for the following month while saying he was

07:19 personally taking over the editing of Dark going forward. Caster was put on the shelf for a month,

07:23 returning for the Dark Elevation tapings on September 1st.

07:27 10. Jeff Hardy is arrested This is especially difficult to talk about

07:31 because I personally love Jeff Hardy and he's the man that got me into wrestling in the first place.

07:36 However, Jeff Hardy's AEW run was barely able to get off the ground. After a solid showing in the

07:41 Owen Hart Cup, including a ridiculous match with Darby Allin and a great match with the Young Bucks

07:45 at Double or Nothing 2022, Jeff and his brother Matt were scheduled for a tag title three-way

07:50 ladder match but had to be removed from said match when Jeff was again arrested for drunk

07:54 driving on June 13th. Hardy blew a blood alcohol level of .291, way above Florida's legal limit of

08:01 .08. He was taken off TV and has not been seen since, with Tony Khan saying Hardy would only be

08:06 back if he completed his alcohol rehabilitation treatment and maintained his sobriety. As of this

08:12 writing, Matt Hardy has said we're close to learning about Jeff Hardy's future, but nothing

08:16 has been confirmed yet. 9. Excalibur uses the N-word

08:20 Let's keep the bad times rolling with this unfortunate incident. During the summer of 2020,

08:25 old videos resurfaced of lead AEW announcer Excalibur using the N-word in a wrestling promo.

08:30 The promo in question was from an old PWG show from 2003, and the clip resurfacing took Excalibur

08:36 off TV for over a month. Excalibur made his return to AEW programming on the September 2,

08:41 2022 episode of Dynamite. This is now the second list in a row where I've had to include an entry

08:46 about the N-word, and I hate it. I hate it more than I can possibly describe.

08:51 8. Matt Hardy at All Out 2020 The Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara rivalry

08:56 from 2020 may have had a run-in with an unsigned Dan Housen, because this feud sure was cursed.

09:02 Sammy's errant chair shot to Matt was one of the most gruesome moments in AEW's short history,

09:06 and could have made it onto this list, but we felt it more appropriate to not include

09:10 simple botches because otherwise we would be here all day. What happened at All Out 2020,

09:15 while a botch it was, is another matter entirely. Within minutes of the start of their last man

09:20 standing Broken Rules match, Matt was speared off of a scissor me lift and smacked his head

09:25 on the concrete below. How anyone thought this spot was a good idea is beyond me,

09:29 but then this match was allowed to continue, with Hardy very clearly not being medically fit

09:34 for any sort of performance. This match did have the stipulation attached that if Hardy lost he

09:40 would be forced to retire, so that more than likely played a role in its continuation,

09:44 but there are always going to be other ways to get the result that you want in wrestling without

09:48 endangering the talent involved, and this was an example of AEW having to make a split-second

09:53 decision and making the wrong one. 7. Sammy Guevara and Eddie Kingston

09:59 That last entry may have been the first time Sammy Guevara's name has come up,

10:02 but it won't be the last, although this is the most recent. Sammy Guevara's turn back to being

10:07 a heel was the best move for him because I don't know if I've seen a more punchable face in wrestling

10:11 since Oklahoma, and it seems Eddie Kingston agreed on that sentiment. After an AEW event,

10:16 Sammy called Eddie a fat piece of s***, something Eddie took exception to as he felt it undermined

10:21 their planned match at All Out 2022. Eddie confronted Sammy backstage, who was said to

10:27 have smirked, and Eddie pie-faced Sammy, leading to a suspension. The summer of 2022 has not been

10:33 kind to AEW, and another backstage altercation was not what the company needed, with the proposed

10:38 match between the two being scrapped. Eddie and Sammy are said to have squashed their beef,

10:42 but the incident did seem to take whatever wind the Eddie Kingston/JAS rivalry had left

10:48 out of its sails. 6. Thunder Rosa

10:51 Thunder Rosa is featured on this list already, but her incident with Ivelisse seemed to be

10:55 much more on Ivelisse's part than hers. Since then, however, it appears to be a different story.

11:00 Reports surfaced early in 2022 that Thunder Rosa was sandbagging her opponents. Sandbagging,

11:06 for the uninitiated, means to not help your opponent lift you up for moves,

11:10 resulting in spots looking incredibly awkward as one tries to hit a chute suplex,

11:14 which is very difficult to do if you're anyone not named Brock Lesnar.

11:18 There has reportedly been a great deal of discontent in the AEW women's locker room

11:22 this year, can't imagine why, but the more time goes by, the more it appears that Thunder Rosa's

11:27 name is a common thread in this sadness sweater. And while this is yet to be more than a rumor,

11:32 there is also a belief that Thunder Rosa's injury that caused her to miss All Out 2022

11:37 was merely a way of getting out of dropping the title in classic Shawn Michaels losing his smile

11:42 fashion. The details of all this have yet to come to light, but it seems as if AEW's women's

11:47 division is heading for its breaking point. Maybe that will be given TV time.

11:51 #5 Jonathan Gresham Quits Talk about a moment that's been

11:55 completely lost in the shuffle of a ridiculous summer of news. Jonathan Gresham is one of the

12:00 best technical wrestlers in the world and seemed primed for a big run in AEW and the newly purchased

12:05 Ring of Honor going forward. He had a pair of matches in AEW against Dalton Castle and Lee

12:09 Moriarty, and had his biggest title defense scheduled for death before dishonor against

12:13 Claudio Castagnoli. Unfortunately, the match and Claudio's title win were overshadowed on the night

12:19 by the news that Gresham cussed out Tony Khan backstage over the booking of his character prior

12:23 to the start of the show. Gresham still went ahead and dropped the title to Claudio, but has not

12:28 appeared in AEW or ROH since then, instead wrestling sporadic indie matches including a

12:33 four-way at Ric Flair's last match, The Show. #4 Big Swole and Tony Khan

12:40 While you rarely get to hear the genuine thoughts and opinions of many promoters in the wrestling

12:44 business these days, that is not the case with Tony Khan whose Twitter fingers could be diagnosed

12:48 as a medical condition. Big Swole had a lot to say about the company when her contract wasn't

12:52 extended in 2021, citing a lack of structure and diversity in AEW, which Tony Khan then took

12:58 exception to. Tony responded to these comments, saying he let Swole's contract expire because he

13:03 felt her wrestling wasn't good enough. I mean, this is a fine opinion for a promoter to have

13:08 about their talent, that's his right, but the need to broadcast that opinion when a talent is already

13:13 on their way out the door was received poorly by many in the business, especially when conversations

13:18 about diversity in wrestling are so rarely given a chance to stand as necessary talking points to

13:23 have. #3 Sammy Guevara and Sasha Banks

13:27 And here's Sammy again. In another case of old clips being dug up, Sammy Guevara found himself

13:32 in very hot water on June 22, 2020, when a clip of him saying he wanted to sexually assault WWE

13:39 star Sasha Banks was unearthed. Except he didn't say sexually assault, he said the R-word that you

13:44 definitely should not use in a joking manner. Guevara was suspended by AEW for a month while

13:49 he underwent sensitivity training. Guevara apologized for his comments on his YouTube

13:53 channel, while Sasha Banks posted to Twitter to say she and Sammy had engaged in an open discussion

13:58 to ensure he understood the severity of what he had done. Guevara had been a primary part of Chris

14:03 Jericho's inner circle act prior to the suspension, and was inserted right back into the group upon

14:08 his return on July 22, 2020, costing Jurassic Express a match against Jericho and Jake Hager,

14:14 while being disguised as Serpentico. #2 MJF

14:18 The souring of MJF on AEW is where a lot of the vibes started changing with the company in 2022,

14:24 at least for me personally. Reports of a massive backstage fight between MJF and Tony Khan began

14:29 to emerge as Khan was cross at MJF for doing an interview with Ariel Helwani without company

14:34 permission, permission he would have granted if asked. MJF's issues, however, were much deeper

14:39 than that. While we don't know what was said in that room verbatim, MJF's frustrations with not

14:44 being given a raise were said to be a key point of contention. MJF continued on his way doing

14:49 business until everything came to a head the week of Double or Nothing 2022. MJF no-showed a meet

14:55 and greet, and had a plane ticket to go home that would have seen him miss the pay-per-view and his

14:59 blow-off match with Wardlow. He didn't get on the flight, he went to the building and was squashed.

15:05 Then on TV a few days later, he called Tony Khan a f***ing mark before walking out of the company.

15:10 He would return it all out, but the whole ordeal greatly undermined Wardlow's rise to prominence.

15:15 We will only now see the payoff of this angle and determine if it was worth it.

15:20 #1 The Suzuki Incident

15:23 Never has there ever been a bigger scandal in pro wrestling than All Elite Wrestling cutting

15:27 Minoru Suzuki's entrance short on the September 8th, 2021 episode of Dynamite. Well, except for…

15:34 #1 CM Punk

15:36 What a difference a year makes. In the words of the great George Costanza,

15:41 this was supposed to be the summer of Punk.

15:43 Punk's AEW Championship run never got off the ground as he sat out with a broken foot. When

15:48 he came back, he decided this company hadn't had enough drama this year and launched AEW into

15:53 turmoil. He shot on Hangman Page in his return promo as a receipt for Page making a comment

15:58 about workers' rights, a comment Punk took in slight as a comment against his murky history

16:03 with Colt Cabana. And then, after beating Jon Moxley at All Out, things got real bad.

16:08 Punk shot hard on Cabana, Hangman, The Elite, dropping F-bombs galore while eating a cupcake

16:13 into the mic. While Tony Khan was sitting there wide-eyed wondering what exactly was happening

16:18 to his once-happy-go-lucky wrestling company, a security guard ran off after Punk was finished

16:23 to break up a massive brawl between The Elite, Punk, and Punk's trainer Ace Steel.

16:28 As of this writing, everyone involved has been stripped of their championships and suspended,

16:32 while the belief is that CM Punk may indeed be done with the company. It remains to be seen what

16:37 the long-term ramifications of this skirmish will be, but this is the lowest point that the company

16:42 has faced to date, one year removed from the greatest night in the company's history.

16:47 What a difference a year makes.

16:50 And that's our list! If you liked it, I'd be masochist. I don't know what's wrong with you,

16:54 but like this video and give us a subscribe just so you don't miss out on any other more

16:57 cheerful lists in the future. Make sure that you click on one of them, it's on screen right now,

17:01 we'll put up a good one, we'll make sure it's as nice and cheerful as possible. I'm gonna go

17:06 and talk to my friend Sat, he's great, I need cheering up now.

17 Biggest AEW Scandals So Far | partsFUNknown

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