10 Times AEW Took It Too Far
7. Dan Lambert Gets Homophobic
Dan Lambert is AEW's fictionalised version of Jim Cornette: a ranting, out-of-touch parody of an old school critic who can't sanction the new generation of wrestlers and their flippy sh*t and such. He's the supposed man's man who, deep down, is a coward. That's the heat.
It never worked as well as it should have, given how much Cornette is a massive heel in the eyes of the AEW audience. Was the character too meta? Was Lambert's slick-tongued, red-faced delivery too good?
Or did AEW miss the actual point, all this time?
The parallels are almost too uncanny; many of Cornette's ugly opinions shouldn't be fictionalised, and the specifically venomous way in which he describes Kenny Omega is one of them.
Back in October 2021, when building the American Top Team Vs. Inner Circle programme, the latter's Sammy Guevara faced Ethan Page of the former in a TNT Title match. They shared a verbal segment on the 23rd, a typically eye-rolling exchange in which edgy sh*t was slung over the dreaded invisible wall. Lambert claimed, with a certain cadence, that Sammy "sucked on the stick". Obviously, Lambert wasn't criticising Guevara's promo ability; with openly gay wrestlers backstage working for the promotion that is for "everybody," Lambert suggested that a gay sex act is something worth mocking.
Lambert was the heel, but that justifies precisely nothing; this was lame bro sh*t from a company that should be above this.