AEW WrestleDream 2025 is officially within the books, but fans will not be yet finished discussing and analyzing the show on social media. One big topic of debate was the fish tank spot within the “I Quit” match predominant event that saw Jon Moxley hold Darby Allin’s head under water in a fish tank repeatedly. The spot caught heat online with some who argued the spot was too extreme for youths who may very well be watching the pay-per-view. One defender of the spot was WWE Hall of Famer, and ECW legend, Bully Ray, on “Busted Open Radio.” He acknowledged that the match “wasn’t for everybody,” and all of it comes all the way down to parental discretion.
“In case your 12 12 months old, 14 12 months old, I do not care, whatever age, is watching something that you just don’t think is sweet for them and also you allow them to watch anyway, that is on the parent,” he said. “It’s all about parenting. Everybody’s looking in charge everybody from all the pieces else. I put an 80 12 months old woman through a table. I beat up a grandmother. Mark Henry had sex with a grandmother, an 80 12 months old woman. My point is, on this art type of skilled wrestling and sports entertainment, there’s anything and all the pieces and that is one the beauties of it. But, in case you don’t need your kids watching it, then shut the TV off.”
Bully Ray explained he thinks the concept behind Moxley and Allin’s fish tank spot got here from the piranha death match concept in Japan that wrestlers like Mitsuhiro Matsunaga were involved in. He said he’s so desensitized to things like that with AEW, and from all of skilled wrestling. He reiterated that if a child is up at midnight watching an AEW pay-per-view, that is on parents or whoever is allowing them to look at the show.
‘Everybody knows what they’re getting with AEW’
Bully Ray also told “Busted Open” co-host Dave LaGreca that he found all of the discourse a bit strange, as individuals who had never seen AEW weren’t likely staying up until midnight watching WrestleDream. He said that it doesn’t look like the type of company you only buy a pay-per-view for and stay awake watching without knowing what it entails. He believes everyone knows what they’re getting with AEW, especially because it is typically “outrageous.”
“If you use the word ‘outrageous’ with respect to AEW, I feel of flamethrowers, Molotov cocktails, and yes, the fish tank,” he said. “Is it outrageous? Absolutely. From a business viewpoint, do I imagine that any more individuals are watching AEW for this thing? I feel it will be outrageous to imagine so. But that is the product that they put on the market. They provide you with strong in-ring wrestling, like [Samoa] Joe versus ‘Hangman’ Page was just a powerful championship wrestling match. The tag match. Good tag team wrestling. After which they gave you the s*** show of the ‘I Quit’ match. It just is what it’s.”
The Hall of Famer said that a hypodermic needle within the side of a wrestler’s cheek, a la Page and Swerve Strickland at All Out 2024 of their lights out steel cage match, is loads more jarring to him than the fish tank spot.
If you happen to use any quotes from this text, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.