AEW Fyter Fest went down last night from Daytona Beach, Florida, and while it was a largely well-received show, there was one spot in particular that left fans somewhat worried: Cody Rhodes took an unprotected chair shot to the head at the hands of Shawn Spears (fka Tye Dillinger) that left him a bloody mess and required twelve staples in the back of his head.
Matt and Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks, were asked about the spot in a press conference after the event. When asked about the unprotected shot, Nick interjected. “Well, you think it was unprotected. And I’ll keep it at that.”
When pressed further, he elaborated. “That was all Cody’s idea,” Nick said. “I do know that they ‘gimmicked’ the chair, and it clearly didn’t work, right? Because he was bloody. So I don’t know.”
Cody Rhodes takes an unprotected chair shot at #AEW #FyterFest pic.twitter.com/xBnqk4Balu
— Ringside News (@ringsidenews_) June 30, 2019
AEW President Tony Khan was also interviewed after the show and asked about the same spot, where he appeared to place at least some of the blame on Spears. “It was an unfortunate situation. All I’m going to say…right now, is you could build the safest airplane in the world, and if there’s pilot error, there’s pilot error.”
Chair shots to the head have been banned in WWE for over a decade as a result of increased awareness of concussions, CTE, and brain health in general. While they were once a mainstay in sports-entertainment, knowing what we know now, it shouldn’t have any place in pro wrestling anymore. While it’s encouraging that the chair was supposed to be gimmicked, last night’s nasty spot showed there are still dangers inherent to hitting another man in the head with a chair.
For Cody’s part, it appears he was okay. The AEW Twitter account tweeted during the show “12 staples and no concussion.”
12 staples and no concussion #AEW #FyterFest pic.twitter.com/zbYLl1jPF3
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) June 30, 2019
You can watch Matt and Nick Jackson, as well as Tony Khan talk about this, championships in AEW, and a lot more coming out of Fyter Fest on Chris Van Vliet’s YouTube.
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