AEW has often sprinkled certain four-letter words and mild swearing into Dynamite and Rampage, but that seemed to change recently when Jade Cargill‘s most recent plea to “cut the s–t” was censored. That’s led some to wonder if the policy on language in AEW had officially changed.
According to someone who should know, legendary commentator Jim Ross … kind of? In a recent podcast appearance on AdFreeShows, J.R. addressed the topic of “coarse” language and what he thought would happen going forward (h/t to Fightful for the transcription).
We had a string in AEW where there was a lot of controversial language. I think you’ll see less of that. It’s unnecessary and shows a lack of creativity if you can’t come up with an adjective or adverb that is better than something a little coarse. The times are going to dictate that. … It’s all case-by-case, there is no rule, we all just have to use common sense and logic.
The time of day might have something to do with how AEW approaches language on its broadcasts as well, with Ross mentioning how in his WWE days, the later time slot for Raw (with a third hour going until 11 p.m. ET) gave them more leeway. Dynamite airs from 8-10 p.m. ET, but Rampage only starts at 10, so perhaps that will become the official “controversial language” show.
In any case, there doesn’t seem to be any edict from AEW’s broadcast partners to control what wrestlers are saying, so call this an internal effort to simply clean things up just a tad. Ross is right that there’s almost always a more creative way to express a thought than cursing, but there are also times when it feels appropriate in the moment, and pro wrestling doesn’t have to hunt hard for those times. Maybe Jade’s catchphrase will get to live on.