AEW wrestler Ricochet was met with backlash after saying he was glad that a fan critical of his promo skills was living with Multiple Sclerosis.
After a series of negative responses, Ricochet apologized for the comment, saying he took out his issues with the IWC on one person and vowed to do better.
It has been reported that AEW did not force Ricochet to issue an apology, but Chris Hero advised Ricochet that saying sorry was the right call.
During a recent edition of his “2 Count” podcast, Jonathan Coachman took issue with Tony Khan, saying that he should’ve done more in this instance. He said,
“If you really watch what MJF does and you want to be like him. You can see everything he does is strategic, it’s strategic. So, for me, I put a lot of this on Ricochet, I absolutely do. But I also put a lot of it on Tony Khan and when you’re a leader of men and women.”
Coachman isn’t the only person to bring up MJF, as some fans have questioned if the backlash would’ve been as big had MJF made the MS comment.
MJF has never shied away from taking shots at fans, including at least one fan in a wheelchair, but has never faced a backlash akin to Ricochet’s.
Coachman added that such controversies could ultimately hurt AEW as a business, as it could dissuade others from investing. He said,
“You want to be a company that people want to invest in? That you want all these big streaming services to pay you hundreds of millions of Dollars, social media now matters, it absolutely matters. So all the people you said, his wife, Tony Khan leadership, executives, where are they?”
Ricochet joined AEW in 2024 and debuted at the All In: London pay-per-view event, shortly after his time with WWE came to an end.