10 Most Shocking AEW Controversies
CM Punk and The Elite's backstage skirmish is just the latest AEW controversy to shock the world!
There's no questioning the fact that Tony Khan and those who helped fire his fledgling promotion into being in the first place all set out with the best of intentions upon making All Elite Wrestling a thing.
And while the good to great that The Land of All Elite has been responsible for since its exciting inception in 2019 far outweighs the moments of unquestionable bad, the latter sudden bouts of controversy have still found a way to steal more headlines than TK and the gang would've preferred this early on in their quest to become far more than simply an "alternative".
In fairness, any company this focused on changing the game and pushing the limits of what can be executed on a wrestling product was always likely to experience the odd speed bump down the road. So, here's hoping that Khan and the team behind the All Elite machine can learn a thing or two from the following high-profile missteps and dramas in the years to come.
From brassing off sponsors with one unfortunately timed and rather intense slice of action, to certain wrestlers not knowing when to keep their traps shut in front of a live mic, these are those AEW moments that provided more than a few All Elite headaches...
10. Shawn Spears Smashes Cody Rhodes' Head In With A Chair
Hopping all the way back to the first-ever Fyter Fest in June 2019, Shawn Spears first real showing upon officially becoming All Elite earlier that month left much of the wrestling world wincing for all the wrong reasons.
Despite the team behind the eventually botched chair shot to Cody Rhodes' exposed head confessing to the weapon in question being "gimmicked" heading into the moment, a poorly timed shot would eventually lead to The American Nightmare boasting a gnarly cut on the back of his head shortly after.
And for all of Rhodes' best (yet still a bit questionable) intentions in wanting "to take chair shots to the head back for the boys", but doing so "safely", all his and the eventually branded Chairman's deeply disturbing chair c*ck-up proved was that this sort of idiotic piece of crowd-popping had no place in The Land of All Elite or wrestling as a whole's future.
As everyone, including the former AEW EVP, should no doubt know at this point, concussions are no joke. And all the gimmicked steel chairs in the world won't change the fact that the safest option will always be to keep those b*stard seats away from a wrestler's skull.