10 Major AEW Stars Who Publicly Savaged The Company

7. Jim Ross

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AEW

If you wanted to be facetious about things, you could make the argument that Jim Ross publicly savages the company most Wednesdays.

Every time more than six men appear in the ring, you can feel his mood sour. He'll start to question the role of the referee. "I don't know how one ref can maintain control of a 10-man tag" is Oklahoma code for "The boys are getting their sh*t in again". Similarly, when certain wrestlers kick out of one too many impact moves delivered to the head, he will subtly question the work; when he says "I don't know how they're doing this," he isn't exactly putting over their perseverance but rather scolding the lack of discipline.

He wasn't nearly so obtuse when burying what is known in shorthand as "the Dark Order angle" in the wake of the December 18, 2019 Dynamite.

There, in a poorly-received, retconned and disastrous "initiation" angle, John Silver and Alex Reynolds joined their ranks as Evil Uno drew blood from a condom in Matt Jackson's throat. The crowd sh*t on it, Kenny Omega and Cody were battered like they were security guards and the creepers were Wardlow, and AEW was genuinely thought to have sh*t the bed.

Dave Meltzer said that the scene reminded him of WCW "in all the worst ways," and Jim Ross was even more acerbic. "[It was] the drizzling sh*ts," he said on his Grilling JR podcast.

"I was embarrassed to see what I saw. It was poorly executed and hopefully nothing like that will ever occur again."

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!