Those watching All Elite Wrestling's weekly Dynamite program are likely familiar with the ongoing feud between Chris Jericho and MJF. Currently, the feud is seeing Chris Jericho overcome five "labors" in order to get another match with his archenemy MJF, with last week's labor seeing Jericho go one-on-one with ultraviolent deathmatch legend Nick Gage. The match was a brutal spectacle and featured a number of grisly spots, with one in particular catching the attention of Domino's Pizza.
The latest episode of AEW Dynamite, the Fight for the Fallen special, saw Chris Jericho fight Nick Gage in a "No Rules" match, with both competitors using light tubes, glass, and other weapons against each other. One of the more notable spots occurred when Gage uses a pizza cutter on Jericho's forehead, making the former AEW World Champion bleed even more than he already was. Due to some hilariously unfortunate timing, this pizza cutter spot was followed up by a Domino's Pizza commercial.
Not only that, but the Domino's Pizza commercial was actually featured as a "picture-in-picture." For those that may not follow AEW, picture-in-picture is when the in-ring action remains displayed in a small screen on the right while a commercial plays on the left side of the screen. So viewers at home were essentially watching Chris Jericho being mutilated with a pizza cutter while simultaneously seeing a Domino's pizza being sliced with one.
Unfortunately for AEW, it seems that Domino's Pizza may now be pulling its advertisements from the show. Domino's Pizza spokeswoman Jenny Fouracre-Petko spoke to Front Office Sports and said, "We share the concerns expressed about this incident and the content of this TV-14 rated program, and are assessing our advertising presence on it going forward." It's never a good thing for a TV show when an advertiser threatens to pull its support, but it doesn't seem like it will take long for AEW to find a replacement.
The news that Domino's could potentially pull its ads from AEW Dynamite over the Nick Gage match has caused somewhat of a stir on Twitter, with beer company Pabst Blue Ribbon weighing in on the situation. In a possible attempt to win the favor of AEW fans, PBR said, "This ain't it," to Domino's and asked AEW if it could have Domino's advertising spots instead.
While Domino's Pizza potentially pulling its ads isn't good news for AEW, this is otherwise an exciting time for the company. Rumors persist that wrestling superstars Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan in the WWE) and CM Punk are on their way to AEW, which should give the promotion a significant boost in its ongoing competition with WWE. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but fans should stay tuned.
Source: Front Office Sports