Whatever one may think of professional wrestling, it’s inarguable that the biggest, most successful, and most storied game in town is World Wrestling Entertainment.
WWE has largely accomplished this after its raunchy ’90s era by slowly pivoting to more family-friendly content. Another major change? WWE has largely abandoned its more political storytelling.
(For example, one of the most infamous WWE villains during the height of the Gulf War was Sgt. Slaughter — an American patriot/GI Joe character-turned-villainous Iraqi sympathizer.)
All Elite Wrestling, arguably the second biggest wrestling company on the planet — certainly in North America — is still a relative neophyte in this industry, having only launched in 2019.
It has tried to differentiate itself from WWE by being a much more violent spectacle focused more on in-ring work than storytelling.
Apparently, AEW is also trying to differentiate itself from WWE by being overtly political — and in only one direction.
AEW’s top champion, “Hangman” Adam Page (real name Stephen Woltz), caused a stir online when he took to BlueSky to drop an f-bomb while complaining about the fact that the network AEW airs on had the audacity to also air Immigration and Customs Enforcement commercials.
Hangman Adam Page is one of the most boring champions in AEW history.
He’s been trying so hard to find where he fits into any storyline, but he just sucks.
AEW’s Sami Zayn. pic.twitter.com/qHbXtXTHcl
— Kephfas (@Kephfas) October 2, 2025
“f*** ice airing commercials during dynamite, let em know,” he posted Wednesday evening after “Dynamite,” AEW’s flagship show, aired. Page also included links to directly complain to HBO Max (where “Dynamite” is streamed) and TBS (where “Dynamite” airs).
Did you ever watch WWE?
Page’s social media complaint drew all sorts of responses, though the type of response largely depended on the social platform.
On the far more left-leaning BlueSky, Page was mostly lauded for his vulgar remarks about ICE.
On the more agnostic X, Page was largely derided:
I asked them to air more ICE commercials. You’re welcome.
— Frank Rizzo (@SickoFrankRizzo) October 2, 2025
Alas, for any conservative or Republican AEW fans, the company has made pretty clear where it stands politically.
Back in June, AEW similarly made waves when another top male athlete, Brody King, appeared at a Mexico show wearing an “ABOLISH ICE” shirt:
Brody King wearing an ‘Abolish ICE’ shirt during AEW ‘GRAND SLAM MEXICO’ tonight. pic.twitter.com/Xk6xAfp7Nw
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) June 19, 2025
But perhaps no wrestler better demonstrates the philosophical differences between WWE and AEW than CM Punk (real name Phil Brooks).
While in AEW from 2021 to 2023, Punk was as vocal of a proponent for far-left causes as any wrestler. He would routinely wear pro-abortion and pro-transgender shirts on AEW programming.
Since going back to WWE after an acrimonious end to his AEW stint, Punk has not publicly supported such causes. While he’ll still broach those subjects on his personal social media pages, he has avoided such topics when he’s on company time.
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