AEW's Wrestlers Don't Like Getting Thrown Into LED Boards (AEW News)
Turns out, it sucks getting thrown into an LED barricade.
If you're an AEW fan who's noticed certain production changes across the past year or so, there's now a little bit of an update on some of those changes.
There have been changes to pyro, changes to lighting, and, at one point, AEW moved away from LED aprons and barricades. Instead, the company opted to revert to the more traditional aesthetic of simpler ring aprons and standard ringside barricades. That is, until AEW's new deal with HBO Max started earlier this year, which in turn ushered in the return of the LED aprons and barricades.
Per Fightful Select, the initial change to more standard barricades and ring aprons was done for the safety of the wrestlers and also for the audience reaction. In terms of that safety aspect, "a number" of wrestlers had been banged up thanks to the LED barricades, with those LED options being a harder surface to be thrown into or slammed on, and they also stick out more, adding a further safety risk.
Moving forward, AEW will continue to use the LED barricades and ring aprons, and while talent told Fightful that they much prefer the more stripped-back, basic barricades and ring aprons, they also understood the reasoning for the LED ones and the visual benefit they bring along with them when it comes to advertising and the like.
So yeah, it sucks to get thrown into them, but it sounds like the LED elements in and around AEW's ringside area won't be going away anytime soon.