Jonathan Coachman Calls AEW All Out 2024 Spot 'Disgusting'

Did AEW All Out 2024 go too far? The event's extreme violence set a new bloody benchmark for Tony Khan and AEW, and former WWE commentator Jonathan Coachman was not a fan. Appearing on the "Gabby AF" podcast, "The Coach" voiced his extreme displeasure for the show's brutality, particularly the Lights Out cage match between "Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland. He also presented a strong counterargument for those who try to group wrestling with movies under the same "it's just fictional entertainment" umbrella. 

"People [say], 'Coach, that was a storyline. If this was in a movie ...' It's not a movie. It's a real life movie," Coachman said. "And these are real things with kids in the front row watching it in real time. And this goes back to laziness ... When you can't write a story good enough that you have a hypodermic needle inside somebody's mouth — it was disgusting." Coachman placed much of the blame on Tony Khan's booking. According to Coach, an AEW insider told him directly that Khan routinely scrolls through X to gauge fans' reactions, and makes his decisions based on those. 

"I know for a fact that he does that," Coach said. "So he's listening to these scrubs and these marks who think they know what they're talking about." Lastly, the Royal Rumble veteran said he was disturbed how a respected, old-school wrestler like Bryan Danielson could be convinced to do the plastic bag suffocation spot, considering the potentially tragic consequences if a child were to imitate it. "I'm waiting for — and I hate to say this — the story that comes out that some 9-year-old kid suffocates his brother because they're playing in the backyard, and he saw Bryan Danielson do it, so I'm going to do it. I hated the whole [show]."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Gabby AF" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.