AEW News: Masked Wrestler Behind Humiliating ‘Dynamite’ Segment That Went Viral Comes Forward

On the latest episode of All Elite Wrestling‘s Dynamite show on TNT, a mystery wrestler became a viral sensation after he was caught on camera botching punches during a segment with Dustin Rhodes. The video went viral and caused an uproar in the internet wrestling community, but indie veteran Arik Cannon recently came forward and owned up to the mistake.

Cannon took to Twitter and confessed to being the performer behind the embarrassing incident. According to Cannon, he was trying to protect Rhodes, who was bleeding at the time. He also revealed that Rhodes is one of his favorite wrestlers of all time.

Rhodes took to Twitter on Saturday and initially criticized Cannon for his botch, claiming that the incident had embarrassed him. However, when the independent wrestler owned up to his mistake, the veteran deleted his original post and offered him some career advice instead.

“I deleted that tweet because he has come forward. Thanks. Work on your frickin punches. There are always going to be those out there that try and bring others down. When you see people exposing our business, call em out.”

You guys… It was me.@dustinrhodes is a legend, one of my all-time favorites, he was already bleeding, and I was just trying to take care of him.#AEWDynamitepic.twitter.com/FFX1bd71db

— Arik Cannon (@arikcannon) December 21, 2019

Cannon responded to Rhodes by sharing a lighthearted gif, seemingly to poke fun at his gaffe and leave it in the past. However, not everyone in the wrestling industry saw the funny side of the botch, and several superstars have made their feelings known.

As documented by Sportskeeda, Mark Henry took to his own social media and shared the video while demanding that the wrestler in question be fired. Randy Orton also criticized the incident, taking to Twitter to tell the wrestler to either work on his punches or quit the business entirely.

Since the botch occurred, AEW’s executive vice presidents Matt and Nick Jackson have deleted their Twitter accounts. It is unknown if their decision to quit the social media platform was influenced by the negative reception to the botched segment, or if they just wanted to take a break for other reasons.

As a new company that’s still trying to establish itself, AEW will want to avoid this kind of attention going forward. However, most of their shows have received critical acclaim, and this incident will be an afterthought in the near future.

Rhodes will also be instructing the other AEW stars to make sure they don’t repeat Cannon’s mistakes. As The Inquisitr recently reported, the legendary performer has been working with AEW’s younger talent to help them improve their skills, as many of them are new to mainstream television exposure.