If AEW (All-Elite Wrestling) was making an attempt at humor on Wednesday’s telecast of AEW Dynamite on TNT, Domino’s Pizza didn’t think it was funny.

As reported by Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy, the nationwide pizza chain publicly distanced itself from any knowledge or connection to the use of a pizza cutter in a match between Nick Gage and Chris Jericho. At a climactic point in the bout, which drew the fourth-highest viewership in AEW history, Gage used the utensil to cut Jericho’s forehead open, causing him to bleed.

What Domino’s more strongly objected to was the TNT telecast going to a commercial, picture-in-picture, during the match with a spot featuring the pizza chain and workers slicing a pie before boxing it up for delivery or pick-up.

https://twitter.com/trillmoregirls/status/1420740036841050113

The timing of the ad and its placement during a match implied that there was some sort of commercial tie-in, at least in the view of Domino’s. Obviously, that’s not the family-friendly association the pizza chain prefers. (Though one might guess that any advertisers would be aware of some risk in buying spots during pro wrestling telecasts.)

https://twitter.com/JpDeathBlade/status/1420698088713379842

“We share the concerns expressed about this incident and the content of this TV-14 rated program, and are assessing our advertising presence on it going forward,” said Domino’s spokesperson JennyFouracre-Petko told McCarthy.

McCarthy also reported that Domino’s was troubled enough by this incident to consider pulling its advertising from AEW broadcasts, something that would surely get the attention of the wrestling promotion and TNT executives.

In the future, AEW performers might want to consider a different sort of pizza cutter for cutting open opponents’ heads. Would the rocker blade-style of cutter be too on the nose? Not to mention it could be difficult to conceal.

What about those wheel-type cutters with the protective guards? Are those popular? (Personally, I have one of those and I hate it. This guy needs a handle, apparently.) Some people use scissors too, but the guess here is that those aren’t safe to bring into a wrestling ring, bloody results aside.

No word if any light tube manufacturers were upset over Jericho smashing a fluorescent (or LED?) bulb over Gage’s head. Maybe if an ad for Philips or Sylvania had run during the match, we’d be hearing about it now.

[Front Office Sports]

About Ian Casselberry

Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.