AEW has been around for about four years now, but in that time there has certainly been some growing pains for the company across the board. In and around the all-timer matches, huge spots, and some great storytelling over the years, there has been a fair share of awkward moments too.
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Botches in promos, strange segments, booking mistakes, and controversy have led to an array of very uncomfortable moments for both the wrestlers and all the fans watching too. Unfortunately for AEW there are a fair number of different options to look at and pick between when it comes to awkward moments.
10 Shark Cage Shenanigans
During what was a very poor Barbed Wire Everywhere match between Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston, things derailed a bit outside the ring. The Jericho Appreciation Society were suspended in the air in a shark cage, with the idea that Tay Melo would eventually help them escape.
However, Melo failed to unlock the door with a key, leaving a very delayed and awkward period of time with everyone trying to use the key themselves. In the end, the members of the group simply slipped through the bars of the cage, proving that they could have escaped the entire time if they wanted to.
9 Cody Rhodes Teasing Retirement
The trajectory of Cody Rhodes’ babyface run in AEW was a tough one to witness, but what really took the cake was the obvious attempt at sympathy when just one loss to Malakai Black led to Rhodes taking off his boots and teasing retirement, making Rhodes look like a sore loser.
It was far too obvious that it wasn’t a real retirement that it just felt jarring and awkward to watch. The crowd had a lack of a proper reaction too, to make matters worse.
8 Saraya’s Debut Promo
Saraya’s AEW debut was met with a lot of love and happiness to see her in a new surrounding. However, the follow up from this was her first ever AEW promo.
Due to her time away from the ring and talking in front of a live audience, Saraya stumbled through a very awkward promo, with lines taking digs at WWE not landing at all. After such a hot introduction, it felt like this derailed her momentum immediately.
7 “9 Days From Tonight” Tony Khan Promo
Tony Khan is rarely put on-screen as a character. He is mostly just himself, making big announcements and such. On an episode of Dark he made an appearance in a typical on-screen authority figure role, but it was ugly to say the least.
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Khan interrupted Kenny Omega attacking Matt Sydal, and went on a tirade repeating “nine days from tonight” Omega would go one-on-one with Sydal. It was a painfully awkward promo and perhaps proof that Khan should never become a proper character in AEW, but rather a tool to drive forward the weekly booking of the promotion.
6 Dark Order Stand Tall
The early iteration of the Dark Order faction was among the worst things in AEW history. On the final episode of Dynamite in 2019, the Dark Order ran wild, attacking all the top babyfaces and standing tall to end the show.
What made this ten times worse was the poor quality in the beat down, with one member of the group clearly punching the ring instead of an opponent. Of course, worked punches are a part of wrestling, but this was glaringly obvious and it made it hard to suspend disbelief. This was a terribly awkward way to cap off the first year of AEW
5 Cody Rhodes & Anthony Ogogo Weigh-In
The Cody Rhodes vs. Anthony Ogogo feud as a whole could be considered as “awkward”, but this segment in particular deserves its own special mention. Ogogo and Rhodes were set for a weigh-in, despite it being pointless in the realm of professional wrestling.
Not only did Rhodes have an obscenely big entourage who couldn’t all fit on the stage, “Big Show” Paul Wight couldn’t get the scales to work at all. They were broken, and minutes were spent fiddling around with no one filling the dead time to make things less awkward.
4 CM Punk Botches Buckshot Lariat
During CM Punk’s AEW World Championship challenge against “Hangman” Adam Page, Punk went out of his comfort zone to try and mimic Page’s finishing move - the Buckshot Lariat.
However, Punk failed not once… but twice. The first time the pair managed to work around it, but the second time it completely failed once again, and the crowd’s lack of response left things feeling very awkward. In the post-show scrum, Punk addressed it and simply said that “mistakes happen”.
3 Matt Hardy Concussion Controversy
At All Out 2020, Matt Hardy took a scary bump during his match with Sammy Guevara that looked as though it knocked him out cold. Instead of ending the match then and there, with Hardy clearly concussed, AEW cleared him to continue and finish the match.
Not only was it awkward, but it was hard to watch too as Hardy would go on to scale some scaffolding to complete the finish of the bout. It was a terrible moment for AEW.
2 Dud Explosion
All fans were really looking forward to at Revolution 2021 was the promised explosion at the end of the show following Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley’s Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch. The match itself was fun, but it couldn’t distract from the fact that everyone was waiting for the conclusion.
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After the match ended, Moxley was left lying in the ring, ready to take the brunt of the explosion. Eddie Kingston would run out to protect him in what looked to be an incredible babyface turn moment. And then… the explosion was a dud. A few feeble sparklers sprayed out, and to make matters worse Kingston sold it as though it was a real explosion. The show went off the air with boos. It was painful.
1 All Out Media Scrum
CM Punk’s outburst at the All Out 2022 media scrum is by far the most awkward moment in the company’s history. Seeing his own boss, Tony Khan, sitting next to him and listening to him tear into his fellow workers and the company itself was a cringe-worthy experience.
Punk talked Khan down a couple times too which was painful to witness.
