Ilja Dragunov’s AEW debut remains the biggest story to come out of the promotion’s WrestleDream PPV this past Sunday. But I bet the second most talked about thing that happened in Orlando, Florida’s Addition Financial Arena on Oct. 18… Tommaso Ciampa “wrestling” Andrade El Ídolo pants, and the pants kicking out.
Denise Salcedo’s reaction to the spot pretty much mirrors my own. It was an amusing moment, made more so by the crowd’s enthusiastic buy in (no pun intended). Too much of the match focused
on pants-related gags for my liking, but I acknowledge that Ciampa mocking and/or being frustrated with Andrade’s current Latin Lover schtick has been a part of their feud over the International title. And “psycho” is right there in Tommaso’s nickname, which makes snapping like this seem in character.
So the spot wasn’t my favorite, but it also wasn’t anything I would have thought too much about after the fact… except that I’ve been doing this job long enough to know it was going to drive some wrestling watchers nuts.
That’s why it came up on the post-PPV media scrum, prompting Tony Khan to explain it wasn’t his favorite, either. AEW’s president and head of creative did have a match psychology-based answer ready, though:
“I felt like it was a little bit of him trying to have fun and play mind games like Orange Cassidy might do. In this case, we see Andrade play mind games with his opponent a lot and he’s always having fun, taking selfies during the match. I felt like Tommaso was trying to reverse the mind games on him. In this case, it’s not a legal fall, but I think he’s having fun. It’s fun within the context of the sport, but on the other hand, it’s important to remember that it is a spot and they’re both great wrestlers and I’m glad they got back to the wrestling after that…
“In the context of AEW, there is a place to have fun, but it is a sport and commentary did make it a point of addressing it that this is mind games on the part of Ciampa.”
A vocal portion of the wrestling fanbase doesn’t want those kinds of mind games from Ciampa, or “sports entertainment” from AEW, though.
At least that’s how it seems, even after you account for the percentage of noise coming from those who just stoke tribalism around anything from either AEW or WWE that sparks debate among the wider community. The chatter’s continued since Sunday, and Jeff Jarrett’s sort-of defense of Ciampa vs. Pantalones has been generating another round of discussion.
On his My World podcast, Jarrett said:
“I mean, ‘funny don’t draw money’ is such a situational [concept]. I just don’t think you can paint it as… look, creative is subjective. Did you hear the reaction? They loved it. So I just think — and I get it, to each his own. It’s [that sort of spot] not for everybody.”
Double-J is on Tony Khan’s payroll, but he makes a good point about the crowd reaction. I’d add that if part of a pro wrestler’s job is to get people talking, Ciampa and Andrade (or his trousers) certainly did that.
What’s your take, though? Tell us below, or even with a longer take in The Feed!
