Jacques Rougeau vs AEW: Exposing a bigger problem with AEW

I wanted to do a follow-up column about Jacques Rougeau and why he’s not well-liked in the industry, especially in Quebec. But then I watched the tribute video that AEW didn’t want to air because of all the problems it would have created for them, and it made me change my mind. For once, I’m actually going to side with Jacques on this one.

After seeing the video, I want to explore and debunk some of the excuses AEW gave for not airing it.

First, let’s look at the whole copyright issue regarding some of the clips Jacques decided to include in the video. This shouldn’t have been an issue at all because every moment Jacques used in the video is owned by Jacques, including the clip of him beating Hogan, which Tony Khan and Dave Meltzer believed was WWE property.

The reality is that the show wasn’t a WCW live event, as Meltzer reported. It was an independent show financed by Jacques and his attorney, who fronted the money, found the sponsors, and rented the Bell Centre at a lower rate because Jacques’ sister worked there at the time and was able to secure a discount. As for the WCW talent on the show, they weren’t paid by WCW. Jacques actually paid them himself, including the large payday Hogan demanded to appear in Montreal. On that front, AEW had nothing to fear.

The music rights are also something that could have been resolved quickly if AEW had genuinely wanted to include the tribute video. We’ve seen how quickly Tony can acquire music rights when he actually wants to. So, in my opinion, this was simply another excuse for why they didn’t want to air the video.

Finally, there’s the whole AI issue. Yes, the video did use a lot of AI-generated material. But if AEW has a strict no-AI policy, then it was AEW’s responsibility to tell Jacques about it. The fact that they didn’t is what created the situation in the first place. Also, if they only found out about Jacques making the tribute video at the last minute, they could have easily edited the video before airing it. So, in my opinion, that was also just another excuse, and I understand why Jacques was upset that AEW didn’t want to air his video.

In the end, this exposes a major problem within AEW that has existed since day one: a lack of communication. Nothing against Tony, but if he didn’t want to air a tribute video to the Rougeaus, he should have simply told Jacques instead of creating excuse after excuse for why they couldn’t air it. That’s what they were in my eyes—excuses.

Also, if they had a no-AI policy, why not tell Jacques before he made the video instead of saying nothing and then using that as an excuse for not airing it? It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble, and we probably wouldn’t even be talking about this right now.

In the end, while I’m not a fan of Jacques, as he is as egocentric as everyone says and has done very little to help the Quebec wrestling scene, and doesn’t even seem to know who some of the biggest stars from the area are—including Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn—for once I will side with him because I believe AEW did him and his family a disservice with how they handled the tribute. If AEW didn’t want to do a proper tribute to the Rougeaus, they could have simply told him instead of letting him put all that work into making the video.

On a side note, WWE has just released Jacques’ first retirement match on YouTube, which shows that the door may be starting to open for the Rougeaus to be honored by WWE someday.