Things have been pretty quiet on the backstage drama front at AEW of late. And this item from the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter doesn’t really change that. It’s certainly not at the scale of other flare-ups that have happened in the company over the past 18 months — it just made us realize how otherwise quiet it’s been in that locker room, at least according to the so-called dirt sheets.
Anyway… Dave Meltzer is reporting that AEW planned to have Metalik (fka Máscara Dorada, and Gran Metalik when he was with WWE from 2017-2021) wrestle Komander as one of four matches on the Oct. 20 episode Rampage headlined by Mistico. That show only ended up having three matches however, as Metalik vs. Komander had to be pulled because “Metalik refused to put Komander over.”
The report doesn’t tell us why Metalik didn’t want to lose to Komander. Checking with our man on the lucha libre beat Manolo H. Pizzazz, Metalik isn’t currently working for CMLL, so there shouldn’t be political issues with wrestling or losing to an AAA talent like Komander.
In fact, the two wrestled on the episode of ROH TV that was taped on Oct. 14. Komander won that match, and watching it back nothing unusual seemed to happen between the two luchadors. No weird spots, and neither man appeared upset. They even shook hands afterwards in accordance with the “Code of Honor”.
Perhaps it was a case of ego on the veteran Metalik’s part? He was willing to lose to the younger man on a streaming show but not on television? Could be, but there shouldn’t be any shame in dropping a match to someone who currently holds two AAA titles (Komander is AAA’s Cruiserweight champ, and holds their World Tag titles with Arez).
Whatever the reason, Meltzer writes the refusal by Metalik “can’t have helped his standing [in AEW/ROH].” Metalik has wrestled twice on ROH since Oct. 20, taking loses at tapings the next night and the following Saturday. He was back in Mexico with The Crash last Friday (Nov. 3), losing in a 3way won by Andrade.
We’ll see if he appears on an AEW show any time soon.
Let us know what you make of this drama in the comments below.