Brian Kendrick was slated to make his debut for AEW on Wednesday night during Dynamite from Chicago. Instead, he was pulled from the show after some controversial statements he made in the past came to light.
Kendrick had previously asked for his release from WWE and was granted his request. He was then booked to face Jon Moxley this week on Dynamite until just hours before the show.
A video circulated on Twitter Wednesday of Kendrick making some reprehensible anti-semitic statements during a 2011 interview.
“We’ve been made aware of abhorrent & offensive comments made in the past by Brian Kendrick,” AEW President Tony Khan stated. “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.”
Moxley ended up facing Wheeler Yuta in the opening match of AEW Dynamite. The two had a fantastic match, and after the bout, Moxley and Bryan Danielson had a face to face where Bryan pitched an idea for the pair to team.
As all this was going on, Kendrick took to his Twitter page to apologize for his comments from a decade ago.
“I apologize for all the hurt and embarassment I have caused with my words. These are not my beliefs and never were beliefs of mine, and I crossed the line,” Kendrick said in his first statement.
He then posted a second which read, “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.”
Kendrick’s comments consisted of a minimization of the Holocaust, some wild claims that the Rothschild and Rockefeller families were “interbreeding,” claims of a link between Zionists and the Illuminati, some strange conspiracy theory ideas about Jewish medics and a 2010 Haitian earthquake, and more.
You can read an article by Culture Crossfire from 2013 which covers some of this.
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