The most intriguing storyline in pro wrestling this month is not a title chase or a bloody feud, but whether or not fans are going to keep chanting "Fuck ICE" at shows. I am more than happy to explain this to you. What's your first question?
To be honest, I think of pro wrestling the same way I think of NASCAR. Are the right-wing rednecks turning against ICE?
I appreciate your honesty, but your information is out of date. Yes, if your main intersection with pro wrestling was the late-'90s boom on U.S. cable TV, then you definitely saw a product rife with misogyny and homophobia. But it's a much more inclusive hobby than it used to be, and I tell people who I want to convince to go to an independent show with me that they should expect something like a comic-con atmosphere, not a frat house. While every fandom has its jerks, I'm confident calling a wrestling show a safer space for queer people than a men's sporting event. Well, unless you're going to Saudi Arabia for a WWE show.
Yeah, what's the deal with WWE?
So WWE is undeniably a right-wing company, even beyond the whole "we like to screw over our workers" thing. Their sibling promotion, UFC, laps the field in the creation of Trump propaganda. Paul Levesque, their head of creative, is vice-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, made up of a who's who of right-wing athletes, as well as a couple commissioners. And the current Secretary of Education is Linda McMahon, whose creep of a husband delivered unprecedented profits to the pro wrestling business. The actual WWE television shows are self-consciously sanitized and corporate-friendly, and Ron DeSantis got booed while attending a WWE show in Florida last year, so that tells you something about the overall wrestling audience. But still, WWE makes All Elite Wrestling look like the DSA by comparison.
I've read a few of your blogs. They're the No. 2 promotion, right?
Thank you! Yes. AEW began in 2019 as a WWE alternative, and they've solidified as a successful, entertaining wrestling company. They're run by Tony Khan, the son of a billionaire who used to support Trump and still might, so you're free to draw your own conclusions about his personal politics. There are undoubtedly conservative wrestlers in AEW—one of the most explicit Trump guys in the industry, Chris Jericho, was a cornerstone of the company in its early days—but as a leader, Khan is notable for both allowing his lefty wrestlers freedom of expression and for imbuing the company with a sort of "Be respectful to folks who are different" ethos that scans as particularly progressive in 2026. He may not be a liberal, but he's not a zealot like Dana White or an ass-kisser like Levesque.
One of AEW's earliest women's world champions, Nyla Rose, is trans, and it wasn't treated like a big or even a little deal. The promotion's wrestlers have made gestures of support on TV for abortion rights and the rights of trans kids. One of AEW's signature stars, "Hangman" Adam Page, is explicitly described by announcers as a friend to immigrants, and serves, in a way, as the conscience of the company. He spoke out against ICE running commercials during AEW programming, without reprisal from Khan, and overall he displays some endearing Good Dude politics. He gave a long, impressive speech in Spanish last year before winning the world title, about how he was going to kick Jon Moxley's ass but also about how cool it is when Americans and Mexicans work together.
The vast majority of AEW's television scans as apolitical, "normal" pro wrestling, but if you're an alienated progressive searching for pop-culture heroes, this company comes close.
So this "Fuck ICE" thing is about "Hangman" Page?
Actually, no! I think Page's status as an openly progressive top star helps set the tone, but the guy who took some of the subtext of that speech above and made it blunter is the wrestler Brody King, who wore an "Abolish ICE" shirt on that same episode of TV from Mexico City. King is big and tatted up. He fronts a hardcore band and appeared on I Think You Should Leave. The California native, who is crucially not an ex-WWE guy, is a longtime member of AEW's middle class, and he's liked and respected by the fanbase. In the past several months, he's been given a stronger push than usual, first with a really good 2025 tag team run alongside the Mexican luchador Bandido, and then with a title feud against the villainous rich douchebag Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
It was King's first confrontation with MJF, at a show in Las Vegas on Feb. 4, where our story really begins. Before the start of the match, a vocal portion of a fairly modest crowd started chanting "Fuck ICE," and there was enough dead air in the ring that it really sunk in for anyone watching the broadcast.
That's cool. I mean, yeah, fuck ICE, obviously.
Obviously. This and other anti-ICE chants at sporting events are relatively small gestures of resistance, but AEW's came in the right context to break into the mainstream. Particularly for those who still associate wrestling with lunkheaded conservatism, the implication was irresistible: "These guys are so unpopular that even wrestling morons hate them!" That's not exactly accurate, as you now know, but it gave AEW more coverage from non-wrestling outlets than it's had in a long while.
So how did AEW respond?
You're jumping ahead of yourself by assuming that they did respond. MJF, King, and referee Bryce Remsburg all acknowledged the chant on their socials (King and Remsburg proudly; MJF in character). But the company itself remained conspicuously silent despite requests for comment. Then, on AEW Dynamite from California last Wednesday, one show prior to King's official world title match with MJF that coming Saturday in Sydney, Australia, guess what he did.
What?
Nothing. He was in a video package promoting the match, but he did not appear live.
Do I smell a cover-up?
It's complicated. King almost assuredly would have received a massive ovation at that California show, and by normal pro wrestling standards, if you've got a guy challenging a villain for a world title on the next show, you want him to look as strong and popular as possible coming into it. After the show ended, Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer, in what was apparently speculation disguised as reporting, went on his podcast and said King wasn't there because Warner Bros. Discovery (AEW airs on TBS, TNT, and HBO Max) didn't want him on the show.
Cover-up! Cover-up!
Faster than you could say "Streisand effect," a lot of people had that same reaction, particularly because WBD wants to be on the government's good side as they navigate a labyrinthine sale process. But WBD issued a strongly worded denial that they had anything to do with King's absence, and Meltzer backtracked a little (while still maintaining that it was notable the company didn't lean into the publicity at all).
Do you believe WBD?
I don't know. AEW is pretty unconventional in that they don't give their top feuds all that much more screentime compared to their midcard feuds, and given the fact that they had a packed show set up and MJF was already doing media over in Australia, the explanation that their higher priority was making sure King got to Sydney in plenty of time for Saturday is plausible enough. There's no reason to trust them, but it wouldn't be an out-of-character move.
Here's something else that added intrigue to the Australia show on Saturday.
Tell me!
Well, for starters, this rare appearance on the continent was a loaded card by AEW's TV standards (even though it aired here on Valentine's night against the Olympics, go figure). Crucially, the time difference meant that the TV premiere was tape-delayed, and therefore open to whatever post-production manipulations the editors desired.
So what happened before the King-MJF match?
The Aussies chanted "Fuck ICE!"
They did? Really? You could hear it?
Yeah! The crowd was several times larger than the Vegas one, so it was a smaller proportion and not as emphatic. But it came across on TV.
Who won the match?
MJF beat King to retain the title, which was a result that even King's most ardent supporters saw coming from a mile away. King improved his status from middle class to upper-middle class, but he's not really in the conversation at the top of the roster. What's most interesting is what happens next.
What's next?
AEW's roster is overloaded with talent, and they have a reputation for pushing these kinds of middle and upper-middle guys for a while, then letting them cool on the bench for a long time while other dudes get their turn. King is the exact type of wrestler whom this would happen to, which—
—which would be cover for letting the ICE chants die down.
Right. However! In the aftermath of his loss, King cut a promo advertising the exact date he would be back on TV: Feb. 25 in Denver. This is actually a noteworthy thing, because AEW is typically very bad at telling fans in advance who is going to be at their shows.
What do you make of it?
I think that if King was left off Dynamite this Wednesday without any prior notice, it would have meant another unflattering news cycle for AEW. This way, they get to hit the pause button on the ICE thing.
And then they'll chant "Fuck ICE" on TV in Denver?
I hope so! I'm not an expert on Denver, but I'm pretty sure they hate ICE there, too. And while I don't want to imply that these chants are anywhere near as important as the extraordinarily brave on-the-ground work that's being done in communities that ICE is terrorizing, I'm invested in "Fuck ICE" continuing to spread throughout pro wrestling and beyond. It's a step in the right direction toward making anyone associated with ICE a pariah. Though I'm planning to see the very cool Japanese wrestler Yuto-Ice make an appearance in New Jersey later this month, and I hope he doesn't get the wrong message from it.
Where does this leave AEW?
My interpretation is that Tony Khan does not want to encourage these chants, but he's also aware of how quickly he would lose control if AEW fans thought he was actively discouraging them. Because WWE is so clearly monstrous, Khan's been awarded a certain level of progressive cred without actually doing anything to earn it, and I imagine that's a space he'd like to continue living in. I mean, speaking personally, if I had more money than God, I wouldn't be a coward about condemning armed thugs murdering people in the street and disappearing others to torture camps, so I'd like to see Khan's hand be forced on this.
OK, I feel smarter about pro wrestling now. Wrap this up?
Nepo-baby billionaires aren't your ally, but if they provide a space for you to get together with like-minded folks and reaffirm how much we hate being tyrannized by dicks with guns, that's cool. As the Australians say, fuck ICE.
Fuck ICE.
