10 Times AEW Took It Too Far
2. Max Caster's Raps
Allowing a great promo artist to go out there and advance a story in their own words is one thing. It's actually crucial to fan investment, to getting over, to everything.
Allowing an entertaining guy with no clue where the line is free rein to say what he wants is quite another.
In a "Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point" deal, Road Dogg, when explaining WWE's scripted promo model, said to Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast in 2020 that fans can't "fathom" the idea that a guy might be a "loose cannon" who says a "cuss word or something".
"So we script his promo word for word now because we don't trust you yet".
While this scanned as hysterical WWE arrogance at the time, AEW's Max Caster has proven him right - somehow, on more than one occasion. After drawing outrage for stating that PRC tests were "fake", insinuating that the deadly pandemic was overstated, Max in the next breath made a horrendous rape joke. Caster was suspended for this 2021 promo, and Tony Khan promised to tightly edit Dark in future, where he hadn't previously - but Caster continues to say ill-advised sh*t well into 2022.
Mocking Hunter Biden's addiction issues and "dunking" on Amber Heard in particular is big yikes sh*t. The indirect ramifications of the reaction to that case (without saying anything of it on its own terms) are the opposite of escapist showbiz b*llocks.