Lawyer Up. The Maryland State Athletic Commission Is Investigating AEW For Possible Rules Violations

They’re getting legal on us. AEW is a fascinating situation as they have gone from debuting to weekly television to pay per views in just over six months. That is a pace that no wrestling company has ever done and it is amazing to see how far they have come in such a short amount of time. They have been having some incredible success, but have they run afoul of a few rules?

The main event of AEW’s Full Gear event on November 9 was an unsanctioned match, meaning anything was legal between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. Therefore, the match included a large amount of barbed wire, including a barbed wire net and broom, a board covered in mousetraps, a bag of broken glass and various other weapons. This was a fairly controversial match, with fans split in their reactions. It turns out that one fan wanted to know more about parts of the match, and wanted another opinion.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, former WCW broadcaster Chris Cruise has contacted the Maryland State Athletic Commission over the match, which broke several published rules. Cruise was told that the Commission was investigating the match and could not comment further. On his Facebook page, Cruise stated that the Commission had been investigating before he contacted them. Here is a list of some of the rules Cruise wanted investigated:

F. Prohibited Activities.
(1) The following actions are prohibited:
(a) Striking an opponent with a fist or using the knuckles;
(b) Scratching or gouging the opponent;
(c) Butting the opponent;
(d) Slamming an opponent into a ring post;
(e) Striking an opponent with a foreign object;
(f) Kicking an opponent unless a recognized wrestling move;
(g) Stranglehold;
(h) Pulling hair;
(i) Inhibiting breathing by covering the nose and mouth at the same time;
(j) Jumping from the ring ropes onto an opponent;
(k) Deliberately leaving the ring enclosure during a contest;
(l) Unsportsmanlike or physically dangerous conduct; and
(m) Deliberately lacerating oneself or one’s opponent, or, by any other means, introducing human or animal blood into the ring.
(2) A wrestler continuing to engage in prohibited activities after sufficient warning may be disqualified by the referee.

Can you blame him for getting interested? Check out the build to the match:

Opinion: This is one of the stranger stories you’ll see for the time being, mainly because of who did it. Cruise has never been a big deal in wrestling and was a low level commentator in WCW over twenty years ago. Now he’s trying to launch an investigation into a hardcore match? I’m not sure how this is going to go for AEW but it does not seem to be something that should have become a big deal, either from Cruise or the Commission itself.

Did you like the match? Are you surprised someone did this? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

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