Jacques Rougeau’s backstage issue with AEW at Redemption 2026 has reportedly been resolved.
As previously reported, AEW opted not to air a tribute video Rougeau had prepared for the pre-show segment celebrating four generations of the Rougeau wrestling family during last weekend’s event in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Providing an update on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said there were several reasons AEW declined to air the video, noting that the situation caused some backstage tension before ultimately being smoothed over.
“Number one, there was AI content in the video, and Tony Khan is against AI content,” Meltzer said. “So that’s one. Number two, it was too long. Number three, they did not have musical rights to the music that he had in the video. And number four, there was issue with some of the footage, in particular the footage of Jacques pinning Hulk Hogan, because that was a WCW show, which means that WWE owned the rights to it, which means they couldn’t show it.”
The footage in question was from a WCW non-title house show in Montreal where Rougeau scored a pinfall victory over Hollywood Hogan. According to Meltzer, AEW was aware beforehand that it could not legally air the footage because WWE owns the WCW video library.
“Of course Jacques wants his pin of Hulk Hogan to be out there, and, you know, it’s his big claim to fame locally, is that he convinced and paid Hulk Hogan a lot of money to let him pin Hulk Hogan in Montreal at the Bell Centre,” Meltzer continued. “So he wanted that out there, but they couldn’t air it, and he was unhappy.”
Despite the disagreement, Meltzer said the issue has since been resolved.
“In the end, everything’s fine now, but it was absolutely an issue,” he said. “Like I said, even building security was aware of it. Every one of those issues was a no. Even if there’s even one of them, I mean, they absolutely could not have put the Hulk Hogan pin. They absolutely could not have put that on. They knew they would get sued by WWE.”
For those interested, you can check out our complete AEW Redemption Results 7/26/26 here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.
“This has been an 80-year love story between the Rougeau family and fans all around the world!”
Watch the #AEWRedemption Buy In LIVE on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/aaNgWtHxBD
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 26, 2026
The Rougeau family takes center stage as Montreal celebrates 80 years of the legendary Rougeau Wrestling Dynasty
Watch the #AEWRedemption Buy In LIVE on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/heImxF836Y
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) July 26, 2026
