The February 8 episode of AEW Dynamite featured MJF wrestling Konosuke Takeshita in El Paso, Texas. Takeshita paid tribute to Eddie Guerrero during the match by hitting a frog splash. While reviewing the episode on his podcast, Konnan had the following to say about the spot:
“Well Takeshita… he’s got heat with me, and he’s lucky I wasn’t in El Paso. Because when he went up, and he did the f*cking Eddie Guerrero thing for the frog splash, you’re not Mexican dude, I don’t care… Stick to your nationality.”
Many were puzzled by Konnan’s opinion. Regardless of whether people agreed with him, one reaction I did not see was “he was joking.” Sure enough, a few days later, Konnan had the following to say about his Takeshita criticism:
“You were being worked. That’s dry humor, that’s wit, that’s sarcasm. . . it’s incredible to me that it even got this much traction but it just shows me a couple of things. People are easily triggered. People are looking for sh*t to get mad about. There’s obviously people that don’t like me so this was a good excuse for them to just pile on.”
On their podcast, Konnan and Disco Inferno seemed perplexed that listeners did not immediately identify Konnan’s critique of Takeshita as humor. These situations come up from time to time. The odd aspect of Konnan’s alleged joke is that I am struggling to locate a morsel of comedic intent in his words. Disco Inferno, Konnan’s podcast partner, did not respond to Konnan’s bit by laughing or even letting out a chuckle.
I’ve been a professional wrestling fan for twenty-seven years. I’ve made friends through my fandom, and I’ve introduced others to professional wrestling. We all come to the table with biases and a certain kind of pro wrestling that we prefer. However, for a majority of fans, they simply want to suspend their disbelief and become invested in a storyline and/or match. Most fans I know enjoyed the MJF/Takeshita match and thought that it was great. Konnan’s critique of the frog splash came off like another needless, head-scratching critique from someone who is full of them.
My point is that this is exhausting. This is not a case of pro wrestling fans being easily triggered. This is not a case of pro wrestling fans looking for things to get mad about. This is a case of pro wrestling fans being burnt out on lazy critiques being lobbed at a product that they are trying to become invested in. The reality of the situation is that it’s almost inconsequential whether Konnan was joking or not. If Konnan was being sincere, we are all a bunch of AEW marks who will support anything that happens on the show. If Konnan was joking, we are all a bunch of AEW marks who became easily triggered and got worked. At the end of the day, Konnan doesn’t need to accept responsibility for his words – he can just reassign blame to the “AEW marks.”
I have to say that I do not think Konnan was joking. I do not think his words were emblematic of dry humor, wit, or sarcasm. I would challenge anyone to listen to the audio and believe that Konnan was intending to evoke laughter with his words. If he was joking, it was a bad bit.
However, pretending that you were joking so you can say that you worked the marks? Now that’s a bit that might have some legs.
I’m interested to see the brand of subtle comedy that Konnan cooks up next!
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