AEW has always been lenient when it comes to its strong programming language, to the point that even the strongest language is not censored on some services. Cable TV shows, as well as satellite TV and streaming services, aren’t required to keep the same language clean as shows that air on network TV, but AEW wrestlers have reportedly gotten into trouble for profanity.
in the last edition “Wrestling Observer Radio,“Dave Meltzer and Brian Alvarez were revising September 16 episode of AEW Dynamite when they touched on the part where Francesco Akira said “Let’s kick the s*** out of the death riders.” Akira’s tag team partner for the night, Will Ospreay, apologized and stated that he would pay a fine, leading Meltzer to reveal that fines for strong language in AEW are very real. “There’s a fine for cursing… legal, the guys were fined legally, yes, I think it’s a $500 fine.” Alvarez followed up by saying that the fine is only $500, which is probably why so many people swear off AEW because the fine is so low.
It wasn’t that long ago that AEW was actually told to tone down the language for their programming. Still in 2022 Warner Brothers Discovery Reportedly emailed All Elite Wrestling demanding that the strong language be cut, following an episode of Dynamite on June 1, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, with WBD executives in attendance. That was the night MJF infamously cut a scathing promo on Khan where he ended up calling the AEW president a “f****** mark”, though it was never officially confirmed if the promo was the reason WBD asked for softer language.
Please credit Wrestling Observer Radio when using quotes from this article and give H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
