In what could signal to the Trump administration the cultural vibe shift sweeping the nation, the crowd at All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite broadcast on Wednesday night spontaneously broke out into a loud and sustained “F*** ICE” chant during the main event match.
The main event saw AEW Men’s World Heavyweight Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman take on Brody King in an “eliminator” bout, which would give King a shot at MJF’s championship if he came out victorious. However, before the two combatants locked up, the Las Vegas crowd began chanting the profane slogan about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As the fans grew louder with their disdain for the administration’s brutal immigration crackdown, which has grown increasingly unpopular in recent weeks following the shooting deaths of two Americans by federal agents in Minnesota, MJF – who portrays an arrogant, sarcastic heel – looked directly into the camera with a comical and quizzical expression.
Meanwhile, the chants also showed the audience’s support for King, who has been outspoken in his disapproval of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and ICE’s tactics.
An avowed leftist and the lead singer of the hardcore punk band God’s Hate, King came out in an “Abolish ICE” t-shirt during a match at AEW’s Grand Slam event in Mexico last June, attracting mainstream media attention at the time. In the wake of that event, he raised over $27,000 for families affected by ICE last summer by selling shirts of his likeness featuring the slogan.
In recent days, following the killing of Alex Pretti amid the administration’s Operation Metro Surge, King and comic book artist Daniel Warren Johnson partnered with Headlocked Comics to raise funds for families impacted by the ICE raids in Minnesota. Hours before Dynamite took to the air on TBS, King revealed that the effort had resulted in nearly $59,000 being donated to the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee - Education Fund.
“Thank you to everyone that bought a shirt or a comic,” King tweeted Wednesday afternoon before adding: “F*** Ice.”
Bryce Remsburg, the referee for the match on Wednesday night, revealed on social media that he waited a beat before calling for the start of the bout – which saw King squashing MJF following a distraction from Hangman Adam Page, thus securing his AEW World Title shot.
“It seems like the referee may have waited to ring the bell so these could resonate longer? Oh no. Whoops,” Remsburg tweeted in response to a video clip of the chants.
Social media was soon abuzz over an entire arena of pro-wrestling fans shouting “F*** ICE” during a live primetime television broadcast, with many pointing out the differences between AEW and World Wrestling Entertainment, its larger and more established competitor.
“If they started chanting this at a WWE show, HHH would turn the lights off and pull the fire alarm,” one fan posted on X, while another wrote: “Triple H would have a stroke if WWE fans did this lmaoooo.”
For years now, WWE has been closely aligned with Trump. Besides featuring the then-reality show host in a WrestleMania match in 2007, WWE has also seen several members of founder Vince McMahon’s family take on roles in his two administrations.
Linda McMahon, the former CEO of the federation, was Trump’s Small Business Administration chief during his first White House term and appointed Secretary of Education after he was elected a second time. Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the company’s chief content officer who married into the McMahon family, was named to Trump’s newly restored President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition this past summer.
Recent polls show that after the fatal shootings of Pretti and Renee Good, the vast majority of Americans disapprove of ICE. A new survey by NPR/Marist finds that 65 percent of US citizens feel that ICE has “gone too far” in enforcing immigration laws. That poll also revealed that 60 percent of respondents disapprove of the agency and 62 percent feel that ICE is making Americans less safe.
White House border czar Tom Homan – who has taken over the Minnesota operations – announced on Wednesday that he was drawing down 700 federal agents from the state. In an interview with NBC News, the president said the administration “can use a little bit of a softer touch” amid the migrant crackdown.
