This past week's episode of AEW Dynamite, the show emanated from Long Island, New York, and it was a perfect example of the fun, strange, and hilarious relationship between the two parties, and how shows there have a certain special aura around them that perhaps not many other towns or cities have. In WWE, some cities like Montreal, Quebec, Canada are referred to as “Bizarro World”, and this is the closest thing AEW has to that, but it is its own different animal to the usual places in which fans boo who they should cheer and vice versa, as the situation with Long Island has been developed by AEW themselves.
AEW Allows Hometown Heroes To Have Special Moments
Whenever AEW goes to the hometown of a wrestler on their roster, this is usually played up and promoted, allowing talents to wrestle in front of their people, and to garner some huge reactions that they might not get anywhere else. It has been an unfortunate trope in places such as WWE, wherein hometown names end up on the losing side to draw heat, which can leave the audience deflated. AEW has a much better balance with this, allowing the likes of Ricky Starks to win the FTW Title in his hometown back at the 2021 Fyter Fest. On the other side of things, much of the Dark Order were made to lose in their hometowns to build Bryan Danielson as a heel, which worked brilliantly too, as it wasn’t just for “cheap heat”.
Even though AEW have defined heels and babyfaces, they don’t shy away from the fact that the hometown crowds are very likely to cheer and support the heels who emanate from those places. For example, Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. was treated like the biggest hero on the planet when she appeared in Pittsburgh, even though she was still acting as a heel. However, one clear difference was that she didn’t insult the audience like hometown heels normally do in other companies, playing into those reactions to create special moments. Long Island is perhaps the biggest example of this happening.
MJF Is The Biggest Babyface When AEW Goes To Long Island
MJF is one of the biggest heels in wrestling. He is a truly despicable character, cutting deep into his opponents with horrendous insults, forcing babyfaces into terrible situations, and nearly always trying to cheat his way to victory. He would be one of the most believable heels to turn his back on his hometown. However, when it comes to his birthplace of Long Island, he panders to the audience and compliments them, calling it the “most beautiful place in the world”, with him being treated with a massive ovation any time he is there.
It allows for the odd night here and there for the biggest heel to play the babyface, even though he isn’t really changing much about his character. During his segment with Wardlow, the fans tried to boo the babyface in the building, playing along in a brilliant way to make the segment fun. It brings about audience interaction, acknowledging the paying fans and making them a part of the show. This is yet another clear showcase of AEW doing their best at trying to cater to the fans and give them back the love they are shown.
The Rivalry Between CM Punk & Long Island is A Lot Of Fun
In some ways, AEW has made Long Island a heel location. When AEW are in other places, MJF will insult the town he is in before giving Long Island his love, whilst the likes of CM Punk rip into the place due to MJF’s association. Now, CM Punk is the number one villain in Long Island despite being one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. CM Punk recently emerged in Long Island, donning the New York Islanders hockey jersey, to which the fans were stumped by, before he turned around, revealing the name “Tavares”, who left the team. He cut his music, drinking in the boos.
The rivalry between Long Island and CM Punk is brilliant, with Punk being allowed to play the bad guy briefly for a night, which he evidently loves. The entire relationship is very tongue in cheek, but it works well to give the shows even more variety and a different and unique feeling. Any time AEW heads to Long Island, fans can expect a night of MJF being sleazy, over-the-top, and egotistical, but getting positive reactions, with the feud between the fans and Punk continuing. This is also a way of acknowledging the past, with Punk and MJF being sworn enemies. Even though their feud is over, for now, Punk’s history with Long Island is still something that occurred in the past, so of course the hatred would continue.