AEW had to engage at some point

I was at Collision the night Tony Khan announced CM Punk had been fired. It was surreal, and shocking how quickly the crowd got over Punk's nonsense. I expected it to be a long night.

Adam Copeland addressed an elephant in the room Wednesday night when he addressed the crowd to open the show, something that has a lot of people who don’t watch AEW or pay attention to wrestling outside of WWE very upset.

“I want to talk about positives, and if you’re a fan of pro wrestling, man, it is a great time to be a fan or pro wrestling,” Copeland said. “There’s a whole lot of positives right now.”

It doesn’t have the same impact when written down, given nobody's cheering like mad at the written word except for the editing perverts who notice brilliant comma usage.

But Copeland, and his Fansided-blog of a promo actually make a pretty cogent point through the whole thing. Wrestling’s pretty fun right now, even for those that don’t engage in WWE’s nonsense. It’s Wrestlemania weekend, which means there’s card after card for fans of all different kinds of wrestling to enjoy. There are live alternatives available to watch just about anywhere for those willing to run a quick Google search, something that wasn’t possible until just a few years ago.

AEW exists to be the fun side of wrestling, a place where people who care less about the spectacle and more about the graps go. They've got a solid 800,000 fans who watch every week. It appeals, specifically, to hardcore fans. There hasn't been a promotion for that kind of thing since ECW closed its doors.

Copeland ran down the list of wrestlers he can face for the first time in AEW, and recapped from the names of the people who started the company all to a good pop, but it’s relatively clear why he was out there. AEW felt that the fans, specifically the people who watch every week, needed a pep talk. They’re probably right, too.

It’s been pretty strange for a while: No matter how well AEW does, whether the matches or storylines are on point, there’s a whole section of online fans who exist only to act like it’s 2012 TNA or 2000 WCW. There’s a cottage industry of bloggers and posters spending hours per day searching for something to be mad about, and Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite is their new topic to discuss. Copeland talked about the Punk interview! Jay White had a bad match and is being wasted!

Following Tony Schiavone’s stance on all this is preferable.

“I really don’t give a shit about it. I’m not going to get into this. I know what he said and let him continue to talk if he wants. That’s all I got. I don’t give a shit.”

To clarify, Tony wasn’t mad when he said this on his podcast earlier this week. He just didn’t want to talk about it, and it’s definitely a route AEW would’ve taken in the past. Can they keep being quiet, though?

The other company’s entire main event scene right now is built off of real-world issues stemming from both Cody Rhodes’ departure from AEW and CM Punk’s firing from AEW, both of which were honestly for the better. Rhodes seems happier and he’s having the best run of his life. Punk will get hurt a second time, flame out, and “retire” because nobody wants to put up with him anymore.

So, Copeland came out last night and asked fans to enjoy wrestling, something innocuous that shouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s, unfortunately, going to fuel another blog cycle of non-viewers catching clips and claiming there’s something wrong with AEW for engaging, or that Copeland giving a talk like that is cringe, or that the company only cares about matches.

It’s all in bad faith from people who have no interest in participating in good faith. They don’t want a discussion. They want to be right. They don't even want to watch wrestling.

The haters do have one thing right, though: That Jay White/Billy Gunn match sucked the air out of the room. It should’ve gone half the time, though I’m not on board that it should’ve been a squash. Jay’s always been a chickenshit. It’s the whole gimmick.

Regardless, it’s an exciting weekend to be a wrestling fan. Here’s a good old-fashioned list of shows to watch, all available on TrillerTV+ unless otherwise specified.

Stardom: American Dream 2024, 2 p.m. Thursday, available on TrillerTV PPV for $24.99.
Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X, 3 p.m. Thursday
DDT Goes Philadelphia, 7 p.m. Thursday
GCW/JCW vs. The World: 10:59 p.m. Thursday
TJPW Live in Philly, 10 a.m. Friday, also on Wrestle Universe
Joey Janela’s Spring Break 8: 6 p.m. Friday
Effy’s Big Gay Brunch 9, 10 a.m. Saturday
GCW vs. TJPW, 1:30 p.m. Saturday
Joey Janela’s Spring Break: Clusterfuck Forever, 10:59 p.m. Saturday

These are just the ones I plan on watching. Go ahead, try them out. You might find something new.