Brody King Could be the Casualty of AEW Chants

When I started writing for NoDQ, I told Aaron Rift that I’d keep politics out of it. Well, that worked for one article. So, lets talk “F*ck ICE” chants on AEW TV, shall we?

In the interest of fairness, I’m going to keep politics out of what I have to say here. I could get fired up and rant and rave about aspects of this whole debacle and drop some political lingo that is inflammatory but all that does is turn off roughly half the audience. Let me do my famous one sentence paragraph and reiterate the point I just made.

All that does is turn off roughly half the audience.

Do you smell what I’m cooking? Are you picking up what I’m putting down? Do you feel me, dawg? Choose whatever goofy slang term you like best to ask the simple question – Do you understand what I mean?

Pro wrestling is a non political show. Sure, politics and the current goings on in the world always spill over onto the show in some form or another. Doing so always garners national news attention but ultimately fails. I’ll cite the example of Sgt. Slaughter becoming an Iraqi sympathizer in 1990 and facing the challenge of the “Real American” Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VII. While some debate the story that there was a bomb scare at the Los Angeles Coliseum, a claim that sounds far fetched, I choose to believe there is something to it. For that matter, so does Kelly Slaughter, Sgt. Slaughter’s daughter, as she revealed to me in an interview a few years ago. Regardless if you believe that tall tale or believe it is bogus, there is no denying that the angle didn’t land as well as it could or should have.

Another example of political events causing problems in pro wrestling would be when Muhammad Hassan carried out a masked terrorist attack on WWE SmackDown taped before the Jly 7th London bombings in 2005 but aired the night of. That is a pretty big “whoopsie” which cost Hassan his spot in WWE through absolutely no fault of his own. They ought to do documentaries on that subject. Oh wait, they did with Dark Side of the Ring. I’m on that season, by the way!

There are tons of smaller examples. For example, David Siera was the lower card character The Terrorist in WCW in the early 1990’s and Turner executives objected to it. For that matter, he couldn’t even be the Cuban Assassin on Turner television which is why the name David Sierra and Fidel Sierra was used for years. Regardless, it is just another example of political events spilling onto wrestling TV and the executives having their sphincter’s slam tighet than Fort Knox.

To the matter at hand – At last! brody King wore an “Abolish ICE” shirt to the ring and has been marketing that shirt away from AEW – nobody tell Danhausen who paid a price for doing much the same with his own merchandise. Brody King is anti-authority. He has, in recent years, posted pictures of the Big Bossman bleeding and suggested that all cops should bleed like the pigs they are. Well, ICE is Federal Law Enforcement just as was the Big Bossman character an example of law enforcement. Remember, if you ever take a trip down to Cobb County, Georgia, you better read the sides and respect the law and order or you’ll be serving hard times! Brody has also been donating the money earned for his politically charged merchandise to bail out prisoners who are arrested for obstructing ICE officers.

The AEW crowd at the small Las Vegas venue chanted “F*ck ICE” during Brody King’s introduction on AEW Dynamite a few weeks ago. The Australian crowd, in a country where you can’t set foot on their land without expressed documentation of the longevity of your stay down to the details of your return flight out of there, chanted “F*ck ICE” as well. It is clear that this has been a thing picked up on by the AEW faithful and as a result, they intend to do it as part of Brody King’s character just as they might woof at his rally cry.

Here’s the problem. And, this is a double short paragraph for emphasis. Are you ready?

All that does is turn off roughly half the audience.

Donald Trump won the 2024 election in an electoral college landslide and won the popular vote handily as well. That means that there are a whole lot of people who agree with the actions of ICE. Some of those people are watching AEW programming. So, why run the risk of chasing those people away by allowing a continued political bias to be shown on your television show each week? That is why I don’t believe Warner Brothers Discovery’s mea culpa denial about keeping Brody King off Dynamite last week. If you believe it, clue me in on when the last time you saw Nyla Rose was. The defense rests.

Simply put, the reason a wrestler like Chris Adonis couldn’t take his pro-Trump gimmick from Mexico to the United States is that it would rub some in the audience the wrong way and potentially inspire them to simply no longer watch. That is the same exact thing, on the other end of the political spectrum, that this Brody King chant could do to AEW TV. And, with viewing audiences down to about half what they were 3 years ago, do we really want to continue the diminishing returns?

Everybody loves it when the home team wins a game. I’m sure those that agree with Brody King celebrate the fans’ chants like it is a home team win, an affirmation of their opinion. All I’m saying is, just as many, arguably more, disagree with those chants. Why run the risk of driving fans away? There is nothing to gain from it. So, for the Internet fans that celebrated, I believe you likely celebrated the disappearing act of Brody King from AEW TV. If the fans can’t control themselves, the network will by simply saying no more Brody King on the show.

In the interest of fairness, part of why I promised to be as un-political as possible with Aaron on his website is we don’t agree. I’m a little more right leaning than he is. And yet, I think he’s a good person and I consider it an honor to partake in his website which he’s devoted his life to. I respect his opinion even though I don’t always agree. That is called being a human being living in a society. I encourage everyone, on both sides, to be like me. God help us all!