AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
No Kings!
The March 25 Dynamite aired from St. Paul, MN, part of the
region that have been under occupation by ICE during
Operation Metro Surge. This incursion, which resulted in the
killings of civilian Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and injury
of a third, Julio Sosa-Celis, caused widespread nationwide
outrage. Many viewers and commentators expected loud "Fuck
ICE" chants out of a Twin Cities crowd that has endured
occupation of its region, with harassment of citizens and
immigrants. Much of the community united against ICE and
accompanying Border Control personnel over the last several
months.
It certainly appeared that for the first time this year, AEW
attempted to manage these chants...or at least the frequency
of them, as recent shows have either chanted when Brody King
came out or when Don Callis came out with a "Fuck Don
Callis...Fuck ICE" paired chants. Those in the live St. Paul
crowd chanted for King on and off most of the night,
particularly during commercial breaks.
Finally, at the main event of Darby Allin vs. RUSH, the live
crowd figured out what was up, and started with loud,
extended and probably cathartic "Fuck ICE" chant for a good
90 seconds (with just the briefest, sly smile by RUSH). No
attempt was made to lower the sound. Dynamite didn't even
see Don Callis brought out until the very end of Dynamite
bringing out his crew to jump Darby Allin post-match. The
show did see a Brody King appearance (seen live by the line
crowd only, but spread all over social media by fans their
live), as King and Top Flight came out shortly after
Dynamite went off air and made the save for Darby. Viewers
indicated it was hard to tell when they cut, but the
announcers left before the three hit the ring for the save
happened. The live crowd continued to bark and chanted "Fuck
ICE" very loudly.
There was a lot of heated social media conversation claiming
everything from AEW kowtowing to WBD, all the way to
thinking WBD was necessarily protecting itself given the
potential Paramount takeover. I think it was more a
practical matter of Tony Khan not wanting the St. Paul crowd
to hijack the show by potentially chanting all night if King
was announced. It's also been suggested that AEW is trying
to get King away from being identified solely with these
chants and open him up to competing for a title. Why the two
are incompatible is beyond me.
What actually happened (which Khan likely also figured out
would happen) it that it was late in the show and they
figured out King wasn't appearing live, they knew their
assignment and chanted loudly on their own. No attempt was
made to censor the chants on TV.
Meanwhile, Brody King's commented on the situation and the
publicity it received in a Denise Salcedo interview at
Square Circle Expo:
"I mean, it has been great, and I feel like when I was
younger, I always wanted somebody that felt like me on a,
you know, on TV or wherever, like, to express the way that
they felt so I can have someone to, like, champion for me,
and if I can be that for other people that are being
marginalized, then… I want to be that for them.
Everyone tries to bring up the political thing. In my
opinion, it’s just what’s right and what’s wrong, and
there’s a lot of wrong happening in the world, and if I can
speak out against it, then I will, and we’ve got guys like
Mick Foley who also do the same thing"
Wednesday's Dynamite, did 765,000 viewers (up 35,000
viewers) with a 0.14 18-49 rating (up .01), finishing #4 in
cable, the best placing it's done in some time. It's the
best viewership since the 2024 Blood and Guts on July 24,
2024, and the MJF vs. Will Ospreay one hour match on July
17, 2024. It appears that the Slam Dunk Saturday and Sunday
Night post-NCAA March Madness mini-episodes may have helped
add some viewers.
Then on Thursday, it was reported that AEW+ on Triller is no
longer accepting new subscriptions. As of this minute,
AEW+ on Triller is still working fine, and still works for
existing accounts. There's no official word on how long it
will continue to operate...which is largely the reason for
the creation of MyAEW (given the questionable financial
health of Triller) . Given that, it's logical that AEW wants
any new international signups (or those using VPNs) to go to
MyAEW.
With April comes Wrestlemania and NHL playoffs, As a result,
there will be a special Thursday Night Collision coming on
Thursday, April 2 at 8:00pm ET on TNT and HBO MAX, because
of NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament on April 4. A
repeat of Collision will also air immediately after NCAA
March Madness coverage at approximately 11:30 pm ET.
There will also be other rescheduled AEW episodes through
April, as AEW Collision will air live on Thursday, April 16,
instead of its usual Saturday night slot. According to TNT’s
official schedule, Collision is set to broadcast live at 8
p.m. Eastern time, because night 1 of WrestleMania 41 will
be aired on Saturday, April 19. It's notable that the NHL
Playoffs begin that night as well, and would likely have
requiring a rescheduling even without Wrestlemania night 1,
The NHL Playoffs are split between ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC and
TNT, TBS, and truTV. The rescheduled Collision will,
however, go head-to-head with the TNA Unbreakable Thursday
special event on TNA+. Finally, the April 25 Collision will
air at an 8:30PM ET, 30 minutes later than usual (or after
completion of the Stanley Cup playoff game airing). It's
possible that other changes will happen in April or May due
to the Stanley Cup playoffs as well.
Until next time...
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