AEW has had a rough couple of months as they’ve dealt with backstage drama and mounting injuries, and the latter has earned Tony Kahn more heat for not doing more to ensure their wrestlers’ safety.
Hangman Adam Page’s injury brought out the fans as they joined in with long time critics of the promotion Jim Cornette and Dutch Mandell and others.
Cornette has blasted them from top to bottom over the years, and Dutch has been saying they need to bring in a safety manager to protect the wrestlers from themselves.
Billy Gunn has previously said he keeps telling some to slow down and that they don’t need to have so many high risk maneuvers to make their matches 5 star and so on.
What hasn’t helped is a interview Tony Kahn did on the Swerve Coty Podcast where he stated AEW doesn’t conduct traditional training because they have a different approach.
Taking risks
Professional wrestling is dangerous as it is, and one of the common phrases we’ve heard over the years is wrestlers have to trust each other with their bodies.
From the earliest segment of WWE’s Tough Enough, we heard that mantra from Al Snow and the other trainers when they started training on body slams and other lifting holds.
It’s the ultimate form of trust, and Bret Hart has often talked about his goal was to make sure his opponent went home in the same condition they began the match in.
Sure, there have been shooters and other that worked stiff and didn’t take in the safety of their opponents, but for the most part everyone works to keep each other safe.
But the pressure is there, whether it’s of the wrestlers’ own making or outside influences, to have great matches. Everyone wants to steal the show instead of telling an engaging story.
Finding a balance
For many, the whole point of spot fests is to put on an exciting match and captivate the fans, but often times less is more.
It’s fun to watch a chess match in the ring where they try to outsmart and maneuver each other instead of who can hit the more impressive move, and doing those types of moves can also lead to injuries.
This is one area where AEW hasn’t been able to get a lot of support as their previous rash of injuries was believed to be a result of the wrestlers working so few dates that their bodies couldn’t take the bumps, and now they’re being viewed as dangerous or careless of each other by some.
We hope Tony Kahn figures out what’s causing these injuries and correct it before someone’s seriously hurt. What do you think? Are AEW’s injuries preventable by a coach and more oversight? Let us know in the comments below.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get The Overtimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
