The All Elite Wrestling Dynamite show on TNT Wednesday saw quite a late change. Originally, it was set to feature a match between Jon Moxley and Brian Kendrick, a long-time wrestling figure that WWE only released Tuesday. But, as AEW’s Tony Khan tweeted Wednesday, that shifted to a match between Moxley and Wheeler Yuta following AEW’s discovery of past “abhorrent & offensive comments” from Kendrick:
In his #AEW debut, @mrbriankendrick will face the toughest of tests tomorrow night on #AEWDynamite
LIVE @ 8pm ET/7pm CT on @TBSNetwork when he goes one-on-one with former AEW World Champion @JonMoxley!Jon Moxley vs Brian Kendrick tomorrow night LIVE on Wednesday Night Dynamite! pic.twitter.com/0qZsAj2lPA
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 2, 2022
We’ve been made aware of abhorrent & offensive comments made in the past by Brian Kendrick. There’s no room in AEW for the views expressed by Brian. We think it’s best for all that Brian be pulled from tonight’s card as we gather more info. We’ll announce a replacement bout ASAP.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) February 2, 2022
Under the tutelage of Best Friends, @WheelerYuta is a rising young star in #AEW. Tonight he has a shot to prove himself in a rematch vs. his toughest opponent yet!
With @orangecassidy + @DanhausenAD in his corner, @WheelerYuta vs. @JonMoxley TONIGHT live on #AEWDynamite on TBS! pic.twitter.com/poVKZYVhyw
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) February 3, 2022
What are those “abhorrent & offensive comments”? Well, as per a piece from Paul Davis at WrestlingNews.co Wednesday, Kendrick has apparently had quite the run of expressing offensive comments on everything from the Holocaust to 9/11 to Sandy Hook. And that piece includes a lot of videos of Kendrick making amazingly offensive comments. Here are some excerpts from Davis’ piece:
An interview from 2011 posted under the tweets below also shows Kendrick saying that the 911 tragedy was a hologram and Osama Bin Laden’s killing was fraudulent.
There are other comments (posted in 2013 from a Highspots interview) of Kendrick saying the following:
The Holocaust is overblown and the Red Cross stated it was only 250,000 Jews who were killed and the number was blown up to justify the creation of Israel. The gas chambers were for delousing and some evidence suggests that the Allies mocked up death camps to expand the lie. The Russians killed ten million Catholics during the same period and they didn’t receive a country for their loss.”
On Sandy Hook:
This was an attempt to further a plan to cause an eventual civil war in America. Robbie Parker was “caught” laughing before being told he was “on” at which point he began to act sad: His daughter was named as a victim and was then photographed 2 days later with Obama: Sandy Hook is suppose to help lead to our guns being removed and eventually those who continue to push back against the government will be sent to FEMA camps.
There’s a lot more. At this link, there’s a recap of Kendrick’s thoughts on the holocaust, 9/11, the JFK assassination, the moon landing, big brother, ghosts, Denver airport, Michael Jackson faking his death and many other conspiracies that he buys into. For the record, all of the theories he talks about have been debunked.
Kendrick did offer an apology Wednesday night:
I spread the most vile comments without thinking of the damage it would cause. I will live with this regret for the rest of my life. I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused.
— Brian Kendrick (@mrbriankendrick) February 3, 2022
But it’s still remarkable that none of this emerged widely until now. Kendrick had been a notable wrestling figure since 1999 in one way or another, and his status as a “professional wrestler” was key to why he was featured in many of the above conspiracy documentaries. In that time, he had multiple runs with WWE, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, the independent circuit, and more. And he was a backstage producer for WWE from the end of 2020 through last week. But the above-linked post on him at Culture Crossfire was published in November 2013, and considering the way everything in wrestling seems to be reported on extensively, it’s somewhat amazing that none of these interviews turned up in wide circulation until this moment.
This does seem like a logical move from AEW to replace Kendrick rather than let him appear on their main TV show after this came out. That’s certainly unfortunate for what they had planned, but the quick decision here means that Kendrick isn’t all that associated with them; yes, they announced him, but that match didn’t actually take place, unlike all the WWE matches and backstage work he’s been involved with in the past few years. But the bigger question here may be about why these videos of Kendrick didn’t get more attention over the past decade while he was a high-profile WWE figure. None of this is new, and it’s remarkable that it’s only now leading to consequences.
