AEW has recently broken into mainstream conversation in an unexpected way.
The pro wrestling promotion made headlines in recent weeks as Brody King, a popular heel character within the AEW universe, spoke out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the aftermath of two killings by federal agents in Minnesota.
King’s comments spurred the crowd at an AEW event in Las Vegas earlier this month to begin chants of “F*ck ICE,” which were clearly heard on the TBS broadcast of the event.
Wow! What sounded like the entire AEW Dynamite audience in Las Vegas tonight chanted “Fuck ICE! Fuck ICE!” in unison before the main event pic.twitter.com/KBrEag34Ax
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 5, 2026
Following the Las Vegas incident, King was conspicuously absent from AEW’s next event, despite the fact that he’d be prominently featured in one of the promotion’s biggest cards of the year, AEW Grand Slam: Australia, just days later. Such an absence rarely happens in pro wrestling, which led longtime pro wrestling insider Dave Meltzer to report that King’s absence was spearheaded by Warner Bros. Discovery, the company that owns broadcast rights for AEW in the United States. WBD is, of course, in the midst of selling itself to Netflix, a deal that will need approval from the Trump administration. Meltzer suggested the company pulled King from the card to avoid controversy with the administration.
“Nobody wants to get on Trump’s bad side. If it wasn’t for that, nobody would care, it’s just a chant, but unfortunately, they’ve got a company they’re trying to sell and get regulatory approval from a guy who is gonna take that stuff personal,” Metlzer reported.
WBD later refuted that report in a statement to Awful Announcing. “Warner Bros. Discovery did not have any involvement in Brody King’s upcoming AEW schedule. Any speculation to the contrary is categorically false. Brody is scheduled to appear during the next AEW event, which will air this Saturday on TNT and HBO Max,” a company spokesperson said.
King did, in fact, appear on Saturday’s event. And even though AEW traveled all the way to Brisbane, Australia, for AEW Grand Slam: Australia, it seems the “F*ck ICE” chants followed King down under. The Aussie crowd can clearly be heard saying the chant on AEW’s broadcast, undercutting the suggestion that WBD feared King’s inclusion in the previous card would jeopardize any potential deal needing Trump administration approval.
“F*CK ICE” CHANTS WERE KEPT IN THE BROADCAST!#AEWGrandSlam
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) February 15, 2026
Even if WBD was at one point worried about the chants impacting approval of its sale to Netflix, that no longer appears to be the case.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.