10 Wrestlers Who Turned Heel On AEW

6. Jim Ross

Bret Hart
AEW

Jim Ross caused a stir amongst certain wrestlers on the AEW roster when he took a verbal swipe at the contrived nature of dive spots in late-2020.

Speaking on his podcast, the iconic commentator opined;

“All you guys go outside, you cluster up like quail, you stand there in a huddle, friends and foes together, side-by-side, so you can catch some leaping idiot going over the top who never wins with this move. They are looking for the ‘holy s**t’ chant. They love to hear, ‘this is awesome’. It’s a spot, folks. It’s a trapeze act. I don’t buy into that.”

It was his well-articulated and reasoned opinion, but it wasn't the only time he'd been hyper-critical of things in AEW, including during spells at the announce desk. At various points, he's dampened Tony Schiavone's enthusiasm for all in front of them, referred to something as "not good booking" and seemed intentionally keen to dismiss a backstory for a Kenny Omega halloween bit.

Whether you agree is subjective, but a man tasked with putting over the show shouldn't really be doing the opposite. Especially when he spent the most defining period of his career defending things just as preposterous.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett