As wrestling fans, we often find ourselves encountering some of the dumbest arguments possible. It’s part of what we sign up for as fans on Anna Sawai’s internet.
Usually, though, those dumb arguments involve us, the wrestling fans. Either we start something stupid, or we respond to something in a stupid way.
Fret not, friends… we’re not responsible for this one in any way, shape, or form! We’re innocent!
It all started on August 8th, with a simple tweet from the Fightful account, quoting Nattie Neidhart from a podcast interview she did recently. The quote gave praise to Avery Styles, the 19-year-old son of AJ Styles. Avery recently started his own pro wrestling journey, and Nattie talked about Avery wanting to pay his dues in the business and not just get by as the son of a legend. It was an innocent enough tweet that most fans probably weren’t paying much attention to.
Seven hours after Fightful tweeted the quote, longtime independent wrestler Arik Cannon quote tweeted it, saying that he was at the GCW show Nattie was referencing in her interview, and that he witnessed Avery avoid helping with anything at the show. Cannon closed the tweet by saying that his response to what Nattie said is “L O F’ING L !”
Just like that, the Cannon tweet went viral. As of the moment I type this sentence, his tweet has been viewed 2.3 million times, which is especially notable for someone with a shade over 13,000 followers on Twitter.
The virality of the tweet is at least partially due to AJ Styles himself, via a quote tweet of his own, saying that Cannon sounds like a “jealous douche” and that Avery was paid to wrestle for GCW, not to help put their ring up and take it down again after the show.
From there, things have only continued to spiral, with wrestlers from all levels of success within the industry chiming in… some taking AJ’s side, some taking Arik’s side, some dishing their own stories of meeting Avery… and the discourse is still going, several days later.
Let’s break it all down, shall we?
First and absolutely foremost, shame on Arik Cannon for taking his complaint public. It’s “clout chasing” in its purest form. If you didn’t address Avery Styles with your complaints in a private setting, that should be your first option, and if you did already address it privately to no satisfying conclusion, let it go and move on.
Now, no matter what Arik Cannon’s intentions were by tweeting what he did, he is in the middle of having more attention on him than at any point during his entire 25-year career. He’s wrestled in so many places through the years, including appearances on WWE and AEW programming, but this has more people reading his name and seeing his face than anything he’s ever done. That’s something that cannot be ignored here.
GCW immediately distanced themselves from Cannon’s comments, saying that he speaks “for himself,” and not “for GCW.” They realized the possible penalty for angering Arik Cannon didn’t match up to the possible penalty for angering AJ Styles.
With that out of the way, it’s time we talk about how ridiculous and antiquated the term “paying dues” is in the big 2026. Pro wrestling isn’t the same as it once was. The paths to the top of the sport aren’t the same. When people talk about young talents “paying dues,” they’re using the term incorrectly, assuming that the sport is still in the 1970s or 1980s. I don’t know if you’ve seen a calendar recently, but it’s not the 70s or 80s anymore.
“Oh, but so-and-so helps put the ring together and helps to take the ring down again.”
“Yeah, but so-and-so helps put chairs out in the crowd before shows.”
“Oh, but so-and-so offers free handskis to the first 25 men in attendance.”
Who cares?!?
To use a quote from the great philosopher Joseph Antonio Cartagena… yesterday’s price is not today’s price. Just because things were a certain way before, that doesn’t make them a certain way today.
Pro wrestling is one of the last real industries of note that absolutely refuses to fully jump into the here and now. The “paying dues” nonsense, and the infamous “shake hands with everyone when you’re new to a promotion/locker room” stuff, are relics of eras gone by, but there are some people who are simply desperate to hang on for dear life.
It’s one thing if you show up to a new place of employment and you WANT to introduce yourself to people, but it’s another thing entirely if you don’t do it and your co-workers treat you like dog shit for the rest of your time with the company because you didn’t shake 119 hands in the first 30 minutes after you first entered the building.
If you’re a wrestler on the independent scene, and it’s your first time working for a promotion, sure, it might benefit you to make your presence known. It’s also pretty important if you meet up with the person you’re wrestling that night, especially if it’s someone you’ve never worked with before, but all the rest of it? Nonsense. Jibberyjoo.
It doesn’t happen at your office job, fast food job, or any other line of work, but it continues to happen in pro wrestling.
Jim Cornette… perhaps the biggest protector of old school wrestling and old school wrestling values anywhere in the world… strongly stated that it isn’t the job of Avery Styles to put up a wrestling ring or to put chairs out in the crowd. If there was ever going to be someone who would wag their finger in the face of Avery Styles, you’d think it would be Corny, but he finds the entire situation laughable.
It’s weird. Cut it out.
Now, I’ve seen a lot of hate sent in the direction of AJ Styles for how he handled reacting to Arik Cannon, but I don’t agree with that line of thinking. Yes, the whole “you could’ve handled this in private instead of on Twitter” thing applies to AJ… not as much as it applies to Arik, but it applies nonetheless… but as a father, I can completely understand the need to rush to the aid of your child, even when your child may not necessarily “need” your aid. I’m not going to fault AJ for that.
The more I think about the entire thing, and the more I type about it, the angrier I get at Arik Cannon. The man is nearly 45 years old, and he decided to take a nice, uplifting tweet from someone within the business and turn it into some big “gotcha” moment. He comes across as… well… a jealous douche. There’s no fucking reason he couldn’t have handled this behind closed doors, but he saw the attention and adoration Avery is receiving… a 19-year-old kid with literally a couple of pro matches under his belt… and it probably drove him nuts. Again, we’re talking about a man who is almost 45 years old… a man who was a pro wrestler for approximately six whole years before Avery Styles was even born. If that were me, I know I’d be pretty upset about it, but I’d have to handle it in a different way.
Look… me taking a stance here isn’t me saying that Avery Styles is some super stand-up human being and blah blah blah. I don’t know the guy. I’ve never met him, nor do I know anyone who has. He could be a real asshole for all I know. Luckily for him, though, that his personal temperament and attitude doesn’t really matter here, when looking at the grand scheme of things.
One final thing about this has been very, VERY interesting to me.
As the discourse drags on, day after day, I see a lot of people from the independent wrestling scene chiming in. I’ve seen wrestlers, ring announcers, managers, and so on… and I’d say the majority of them seem to be on Arik Cannon’s side of things.
That’s fine. It makes sense for them to take that stance, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. However…
Why is there more of an uproar about what Avery Styles did or didn’t do than there is about the infestation of pedophiles, scammers, and sexual predators in independent wrestling?
There are still wrestlers at independent shows that not only shouldn’t be wrestling, but shouldn’t be allowed within 100 yards of a woman or a child. That type of thing gets swept under the rug, though. They keep getting booked, and the only time that something is done is when someone comes public with a story about the wrestler’s transgressions. What are the odds that every single sex pest on the indy scene is doing their dirty deeds in complete privacy? All of them? Word?
No, there are PLENTY of people on the scene that know what’s going on, but refuse to speak up for one reason or another. Then, when those issues come to light, you see a lot of performative anger from people, and not much changes.
If you sat in silence when predators and abusers were outed, but decided to get vocal when Avery Styles didn’t pick up chairs after a show, I suggest that you kindly go fuck yourself.
As I said in the beginning of this column, this is yet another instance in a long, long, long line of the dumbest and most insane arguments in pro wrestling history. It’s sad that a column like this even needed to be made, and it’s even more sad because I know I’m far from the only person to have done a column or a podcast dedicated to the topic.
What are we even doing here?
Just for fun, what’s the most asinine argument/debate you remember witnessing in your years of being a pro wrestling fan? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s switch things over to my Weekly Power Rankings before closing it out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Chelsea Green: Live crowds continue to support her more and more, and she is playing her role to perfection. She cut a very passionate, emotional promo on Smackdown after becoming the interim WWE Women’s Champion. It led to Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis teasing that he would be stripping her of the title due to her broken orbital bone, which really drew anger from the crowd, but Aldis eventually said that he was giving Chelsea 30 days to defend the title instead. Forget how stupid this makes Raw General Manager Adam Pearce look after letting Liv Morgan go over three months without a single defense of her Women’s World Title. This was another star-making performance for Chelsea, who has become one of the most over faces on the WWE roster.
Zilla Fatu: It feels like the guy has been on WWE’s radar for years now, but he finally made his debut for the company, showing up on NXT to attack Cruz Montana and Grayson Waller, before calling out NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo at ringside. Right away, it looks like he’s in the title picture. It was a very memorable debut, and the crowd reacted as such. From the moment he slid into the ring, before it was even crystal clear who was there, the crowd erupted, as they’ve been waiting for him to show up for a long time. It’s fair to assume he’ll be joining his family on the main roster sooner than later, so I’m going to enjoy his time in NXT while I can.
Kyle O’Reilly vs Roderick Strong: Remember when it was a running gag in my columns to see KOR, Roddy, Bobby Fish, and Adam Cole seemingly working every match with each other, either as partners or as opponents? Those were the days. With Fish no longer in AEW, and with Cole still on the sidelines after battling concussions, we’ve seen Roddy and Kyle teaming up for a while, but this was the first time they’ve faced each other in almost two years to the day. Banger of a match here, with both men working extra hard in the first round of the Continental Challenge Cup. As I always say, I love these tournaments in AEW, because everyone seems to wrestle as if something special is on the line, and it leads to match after match after match that are fun, entertaining watches.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey vs MJF vs Nick Wayne: It wasn’t a tournament match, but these three were competing for the #2 spot in the Casino Gauntlet Match at All In(nit), so there was something on the line, and once again, it showed in their performances. At this point, AEW needs to just have every single match on every single show be for something.
Oba Femi & Bron Breakker: Am I excited to see WWE teasing a showdown between Oba and Bron for some point in the future? Yes. Would I like to see Oba and Bron square off at some point in the future? Yes. Am I terrified at the thought of Oba and Bron squaring off at some point in the future? Yes. I’m hoping that, despite the tease, WWE can hold off on having them face each other, because right now, neither man should be losing. Oba needs to continue his reign of terror, and Bron could really use some momentum after not having won a high-profile singles match in over three months.
Jack Perry vs Jon Moxley: Okay, let’s see here… AEW match? Check. Something on the line, this time being a spot in the next round of the Continental Challenge Cup? Check. This was always going to be a good match, and sure enough, it was.
Penta vs Laredo Kid: Hey, it isn’t just AEW that has people stepping their games up when something extra is on the line. Penta and Laredo Kid were competing to move on in the tournament to crown Roman Reigns’ challenger for the World Heavyweight Title on the September 14th episode of Raw that will be taking place in Mexico City, and both men delivered high quality performances here, even if the outcome was never truly in question.
Katsuyori Shibata vs Nigel McGuinness: Here we go again. AEW match? Check. Something on the line, yet again involving a spot in the next round of the Continental Challenge Cup? Check. Two grizzled veterans here, but some not-so-great news came out of it, as it was announced Nigel suffered some sort of an injury during the match. It remains to be seen if he will be able to remain in the CCC.
Jacy Jayne: Congratulations to the brand new WWE Women’s United States Champion. Fatal Influence has been on fire since making their main roster debut. Now, less than a month after Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles, Jacy brings a title back to the group, as well. It’s crazy to see how big their initial pushes have been.
CM Punk & Kevin Owens: They had themselves another really entertaining promo exchange. What brings this down a bit is the super weird “endometriosis” line from Punk. At best, that was a weird line that 99.9% of fans aren’t going to understand, and at worst, it was a terribly mean-spirited line that probably had no place in a wrestling promo.
Sol Ruca & Iyo Sky vs Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez: Nothing that you’re probably going to remember a few weeks from now, but a fun match nonetheless. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
Tama Tonga & Talla Tonga: Congratulations to the brand new WWE Tag Team Champions, who continue to receive a push since the arrival of Haku to be in their corner. Again, it’s probably more because nobody at WWE wants to piss Haku off, but my point remains.
This Week’s Playlist: “500 Horses” by Nipsey Hussle & Bino Rideaux… “No Love Lost” by Ends & Bizzy Bone… “Body Talk” by October London… “TOPDOWN” by Ojerime… “Homies & Thugs” by Scarface, 2Pac & Master P… “I Seen A Man Die” by Scarface… “Hand Of The Dead Body” by Scarface, Ice Cube & Devin The Dude… “Close To You” by Maxi Priest… “Caught Up In The Rapture” by Anita Baker… “I Wanna Get Next To You” by Rose Royce… “Don’t Disturb This Groove” by The System… “Nothing In This World” by KeKe Wyatt & Avant… “When Somebody Loves You Back” by Teddy Pendergrass… “Charlene” by Anthony Hamilton… “How Can I Ease The Pain” by Lisa Fischer… “More Than A Woman” by Bee Gees… “Shake You Down” by Gregory Abbott… “Dream On” by Aerosmith… “I Love You Out Loud” by Larissa Lambert… “Another Way” by Sleep Theory… “Numb” by Sleep Theory… “Aqua Regia” by Sleep Token… “White Jesus” by Rittz… “Brass Monkey” by Beastie Boys… “Don’t Wanna Try” by Frankie J
