Mat Matters: An All Elite tale of fans’ Fire and I.C.E.

We’ve all seen by now on AEW Dynamite the footage of Brody King and Maxwell Jacob Friedman(MJF, if you’re nasty) standing in the ring in the main event as the fans at The Pearl in Las Vegas, NV rained down chants of “F*** I.C.E.!” for at least a solid minute. It was a viral moment for All Elite Wrestling that generated more buzz in the mainstream press than the match itself. King, an outspoken critic of injustice, stands in defiance, knowing the fans are on his side. Then there’s MJF, looking directly into the ringside camera, almost breaking character, knowing this is the one moment he is not a complete scumbag. It takes a lot to outwork a heel, but these days it’s not so hard, especially amid the ham-handed tactics of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit.

Brody King is a big mountain of a straight-edge punk man who wears his heart and his politics on his sleeve. Or in his case, his merch. It wasn’t too long ago that King was on an AEW show in Mexico City, and he wore to the ring a shirt with the words, “Abolish I.C.E.” Add to the fact that he been friends with Bandido to make up the tag team of Brodido. Plus, King has worked with Headlocked Comics to publish a comic book, with proceeds supporting the people of Minnesota, who have been suffering under the underhanded tactics of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Big Bad Brody King (@brodyxking)

Even “Hangman” Adam Page once went on BlueSky and demanded that Warner Bros. Discovery take down I.C.E. recruitment ads that would appear on AEW Dynamite and Collision on the TBS and TNT channels, respectively, and even shared where to send feedback so fans’ voices could be heard on the subject.

Oh, the times, they are a-changing.

Now, politics and pro wrestling are nothing new, as our colleague Jonathan Schwartz covered with a more in-depth review. Nor is it a secret that Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment have had a relationship with Donald Trump. It is more blatant as Paul “Triple H” Levesque is part of Trump’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Plus, Linda McMahon, the former wife of Vince, is in the Trump administration’s cabinet as Secretary of Education (which is trying to dismantle the Education Department).

But I digress.

This second turn in Trump’s run has attracted many detractors, who seem to be growing in number. The biggest voice, as far as wrestling was concerned, was Mick Foley, who opted not to renew his WWE Legends deal. He explained on social media that the “Final Straw” was Trump’s comments on the death of Rob Reiner, which led him to no longer be affiliated with the promotion. He’s even gone so far as to ponder how any of his colleagues in WWE choose to stand by Trump and his policies.

Now, the Sport of Professional Wrestling has never been a paragon of virtue, as it has leaned into stereotypes to various degrees of cringe. Also, because of its secretive nature, there have been more stories now coming to light of how dehumanizing it has been out of the squared circle, especially to those athletes of color and women.

But every once in a while, there are those humans who embody the best of humanity, even if they portray villains.

Take the case of Sputnik Monroe. A mainstay of the Memphis territories of the 1950s and 1960s, Monroe was a man who championed civil rights and befriended the black community, which is a hell of a thing to do in the Jim Crow South. He famously put his arm around a black man, which riled up the white wrestling crowd so bad that one woman yelled the obscenity that became his name, as she screamed, “You’re a damn Sputnik!” Monroe even managed to desegregate the Ellis Auditorium, which always put black folks up in the nosebleed section, while white folks sat in the front row. Through bribery and guile, Monroe got more black fans to attend his matches, and when it became overcrowded up top, the management had no choice but to give seating to the black folks who paid to see that damn Sputnik.

As Steve Johnson and Greg Oliver once wrote in their book, The Heels, “Monroe was the porcupine, and the Southern social establishment got pricked.”

Pro Wrestling has always been a bellwether, and in most cases, a distorted reflection of what is taking place in mainstream society. As the Trump administration continues to roll out its policies to the chagrin of Americans, it’s clear that its tactics are starting to wear thin. Even Levesque has stated on WrestleZone that, “Also, my world is not a political world. My world is a world of entertainment.”

Yeah, but politics and professional wrestling go hand in hand, whether it’s getting that top spot on the card or aligning your promotion with powerful people to give it a push to the detriment of competition.

Which brings us back to AEW Dynamite. No doubt this is another watershed moment for the promotion, and it’s clear that in the United States, no matter whether you’re a fan of AEW or WWE, these times are anything but politics as usual, and people like Page and King are there to continue to prick the current social establishment.