10 Defences Of Horrible Wrestling Moments

7. Jack Perry's Conduct At AEW All In: London

The Devil AEW
AEW

Jack Perry was absurdly unprofessional at All In: London.

He bragged about using "real glass" and told CM Punk to cry him "a river" in his pre-show match with HOOK. This led to some sort of physical altercation backstage.

The response to his conduct was wildly disproportionate. He has been suspended indefinitely and was not rewarded with a renewed heel push to capitalise on his newfound notoriety, which would have happened in virtually any other era. He was punished by AEW for his first unprofessional act. There are people in that company who feed the "sheets" and cry foul and use more shadowy tactics to undermine everything. The mistake Jack Perry made was doing it out in the open in an unmistakable way.

He's still very young and naive in this game, and perhaps he was simply tired of storing that much frustration. He couldn't have picked a worse time to unleash it even if the outburst didn't lead to the physical confrontation.

Jack Perry might be aloof and possibly even arrogant and entitled, but this was strike one for unprofessional conduct. Still, many have called for outright excommunication. That is BS. The snarky remark did not form a pattern of behaviour. In a very stupid and selfish way, Perry may well have thought he was doing the right thing by sticking it to somebody who does have a pattern of unprofessional behaviour. AEW had all but opened a shooting range the year prior. Several wrestlers who made similar remarks went unpunished. The company failed to improve the culture. Also, Punk was going to do something to blow everything up regardless. He'd been trying his level best all summer.

Again: Perry was suspended indefinitely for his first infraction. What more do people reasonably want?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!