Here's the deal: I am still a few weeks behind on AEW programming. I see spoilers, of course. I generally know what's happening (and I know that I really like some of the ongoing stories). But as far as my own watching goes, I'm still back at the beginning of February.
That, plus some real life stuff, has continued to hold up my weekly AEW notebook here on the site.
For today, I just have one topic anyway. Besides being a product of my own need to catch up to speak to the most recent happenings, it's because I can still really only muster the energy to think about one thing.
For the purposes of a wrestling blog, that thing recently overlapped with AEW.
There was something reassuring about Brody King's nod.
As the Las Vegas crowd loudly chanted, Brody's face gave off the confidence that this was exactly right. "Fuck ICE!" Here was a crowd yelling about the masked goons who have been terrorizing innocent people with lawless abandon, all under the guise of law enforcement operations.
"Fuck ICE!" That was the chant at the outset of Brody King's main event match with MJF. It was the chant in that moment because of Brody's willingness to speak out about this thing that is happening, this unfathomable violence and cruelty. It would seem that, in the moment, people recognized a connection with another human who had the same feelings. And they admired his willingness to speak out against it all.
"Fuck ICE!" The pretend business of pro wrestling could start back up in a moment, but first, people seized the space for themselves to say something about real life.
"Fuck ICE!"
It seems like the obvious thing to say. To yell. To chant. But if you're taking your cue from people or companies in positions of power, it might not always feel obvious.
So much about this moment is surreal. The silence and half-baked statements about "the safety of all people" make up just one small piece of this horror. And that small piece leads to a deeply uncomfortable question.
How can the abductions and executions of innocent people by anonymous officers be a political issue?
So many follow-up questions come to mind. I feel my mind race if I even start to list them off. It's a weird feeling of panic, trying to make sense of all of this while the elected officials in charge lie their asses off.
I force myself to pause, and then I just try to reckon with that one question. How did any of this become a political issue, treated with the same both-sides cowardice as any other cable news topic?
There is only one side here. And maybe that's what I was hoping I saw in the confident nod from Brody King in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago.
Here in Minnesota, it feels like the attention on the state is starting to slowly wane. But there's no reason to believe any of these losers when they say they are ending the operation, anymore than there's any reason to believe them that it was successful or that our state is safer now.
Our state has been made decidedly and objectively less safe. There are still so many people afraid to leave their homes. And the pain and trauma will last for years.
One thing that has been remarkable here in Minnesota is the way that people have stared down fear and helpless feelings and acted anyway. They have done everything they can to take care of each other.
I'm going to keep trying to do my part. For the purposes of this website, I will try to provide space for connection about silly things like wrestling and sports. For the purposes of my life, I will keep trying to help the people around me.
By way of those purposes coming together, I'll donate the money from any memberships or purchases of my collections to a rotating list of Minnesota organizations. I will do that for the rest of 2026.
Then we'll see where things stand, I guess. Ten months from now feels like a lifetime.
I'll start with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. I'll share updates as we go.
There's really only one way to end this entry, I suppose.
Fuck ICE.
