AEW Producer Ace Steel was fined for using explicit language on last night’s All Out go-home edition of AEW Dynamite on TBS.
As a part of All Out Week, AEW officials issued an e-mail to talents to discuss a number of items for the week and the various events going on. PWInsider notes that one of the points was to be careful not to use expletives on live TV this week for obvious reasons.
Last night’s All Out go-home edition of AEW Dynamite saw AEW World Champion Jon Moxley issued an open challenge for main event of Sunday’s pay-per-view and Steel later came down to the ring to grab the contract, then take it backstage. Steel later came to the ring and hyped up his longtime friend and trainer to challenge Moxley at All Out and during the intense promo, he reminded Punk of his motto to get back up after getting knocked down.
“You fucking get up!,” Steel said to Punk. The segment went on with Punk issuing a heated promo and taking the contract into the hometown crowd, promising that he’s coming for Moxley and the AEW World Title on Sunday. The promo has received strong praise from fans on social media.
Word now is that Steel immediately returned backstage after the promo, and took responsibility for the error in using the adult language. Steel agreed to a fine, and then paid it.
AEW sources noted today in their communication to talents that the fine is being donated to a charity. The company’s communication included praise for Steel’s immediate reaction as an example of how to deal with errors and accept responsibility for errors when they accidentally occur.
Steel had a lengthy in-ring career that ran for more than 25 years. He first teamed with Punk, his former student, in NWA-TNA and ROH. WWE hired Steel to work as a Performance Center Coach in November 2019, but he was furloughed in April 2020 due to COVID-19 budget cuts. Steel returned to work for WWE in October 2020, but was released on January 5 of this year, along with other budget cuts from WWE NXT and the Performance Center. Steel then joined AEW in March of this year, and has worked behind-the-scenes since then.
It was reported in late August that Warner Bros. Discovery officials asked AEW to tone the adult language down. However, it was later reported that this came from a quote that was likely taken out of context from a mandatory talent meeting on promos and talents going into business for themselves. The point was to stress that AEW could get heat with WBD if they “fly too close to the sun” but word is that this was not an official edict from the network.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. Below is video from last night’s related segments on Dynamite:
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