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Backstage Update On Excalibur Missing AEW Dynamite
All Elite Wrestling announcer Excalibur did not appear on this past Wednesday’s edition of AEW Dynamite. The reason behind his absence was not provided on-air during the episode.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Excalibur was present at the show in Jacksonville, but did not appear on television following an old racist promo which was recently unearthed.
There has been chatter backstage that Excalibur himself asked to be off the show, with the thought that he didn’t want to be the focus of the show following the video gaining traction the same week.
“There was talk but not confirmed that he asked to be off the show because there had been a Twitter furor over him using the “N” word in a PWG angle 17 years ago. ” Meltzer stated. “The story, again, not confirmed, was that he didn’t want to be on the show thinking it would be the focus of the show. As it turns out, it became a much bigger issue because he wasn’t on the show.”
Excalibur and WWE star Kevin Owens both used racial slurs during a PWG show in the early 2000s. The video recently has caught the attention of many online, and was shared extensively on social media this past week.
The video, which can be seen below, has been available for quite some time, but recently caught traction once again.
The footage shows Excalibur and Kevin Steen (Owens) using the N-word towards black star Human Tornado.
According to Meltzer, one person close to the situation stated that Human Tornado often asked heels to use racial slurs. Steen was reportedly unhappy with the angle, and argued against it.
According to one person close to the situation, there was a promo involving Human Tornado, who is black and was at the time the top babyface, and heels Excalibur (when he was a wrestler), Disco Machine and Kevin Steen. One person was there and said that Human Tornado had often asked for heels to do racial stuff on him as a babyface and had asked people to use the N word on him. Steen argued against it but Tornado was persistent and talked him into it. We don’t know if Machine or Excalibur argued the point or just agreed to do it. I saw the video of it, and it sucked.
In 2019, Kevin Owens appeared on an episode of Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia, and spoke on feeling ashamed for using offensive language in the past.
Because even when I was coming up in wrestling, I would hear people use terms that if they used [them] today, what? They would be — you know? And dare I say, I’ve used those terms too, and I’m ashamed of it. But back then it wasn’t even a second thought that it mattered. But my god, it did!
Human Tornado recently took to Twitter stating he supports Excalibur and Kevin Owens following an uproar from many on social media.
I support @ShutUpExcalibur & @FightOwensFight. 💯
— #FREEEXCALIBUR 🌪 (@HughMannTornado) July 30, 2020
Special thanks to The Wrestling Observer and 411Mania for the quotes in this article.