Heartwarming / All Elite Wrestling

• At the first Double or Nothing, AEW provided bags of items for people with sensory-processing issues free of charge, along with a room for them to watch the show in away from the noise and bright lights.
• The aftermath of the match between Cody and Dustin has Cody saying that, for his future tag team match against The Young Bucks, he wants only one person at his side: his own brother. Cue the hug.
• Fight for the Fallen was a show created in honor of the victims of the Jacksonville Madden shooting. All the proceedings of the show went to victims of gun violence.
• After decades of toiling in the upper midcard, you have to admit that it's great to see Chris Jericho do what he has always done best: Put over the talent. Whether it's by hyping up the members of the Inner Circle like they're the biggest badasses in the company, or making younger wrestlers like Darby Allin look strong by taking insane bumps (instead of squashing them like some other people), you know there is a reason why AEW put him as their inaugural champion.
  • On that note, how he's willing to show commendation to Face wrestlers while on commentary, even towards his foes. Heel he might be, he knows good wrestlers when he sees them.
  • Also, while hyping up the Inner Circle the week after they were formed, the crowd was chanting "We the People!" while Jericho was trying to talk about Jake Hager. And you can see from Jake Hager's face that this was bringing some bad memories for him... Yet Chris Jericho was quick to turn it around, stopping his description of Jake half-way to absolutely bury the chant to the audience's roaring approval. Afterward, Jake's face returned back to his stoic expression, undoubtedly appreciating what Jericho did deep down.
• Cody letting a young fan at the front of the crowd who was doing a spot-on cosplay and impression of Orange Cassidy come into the ring and pin him (complete with MJF hysterically screaming and trying to stop it to preserve Cody's win/loss record). The crowd unsurprisingly loved it.
• Big Swole's backstory is this and mixed with Tear Jerker. As a teenager, she had been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease which would kill her if not for immediate surgery. They manage to save her life but at the expense of not being able to have kids. But despite it all, she continues on and becomes a wrestler and eventually marries and has a child despite everything she's been through. When she comes back from a match on AEW Dark, they offer her a contract impressed by her performance and she receives a standing ovation for her hard work.
• Chris Jericho's entrance for his match on the Rock n' Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise that he himself hosted had the crowd singing along to his "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune. You can see him almost break character into a genuine smile, especially after the music was cut and the crowd continued to sing the chorus acapella.
  • It's become a staple now that whenever Jericho or the Inner Circle make an entrance, people will sing along to that theme.
• At the end of a tag match after his partner Shawn Spears walked out on him and let him be pinned, Colin Delaney is met by his opponents The Best Friends as well as Orange Cassidy and they console him and AEW Dark ends with a group hug between all four.
• Nyla Rose winning the AEW Women's Championship is a significant one for the LGBTQ community, as she became the first transgender woman to win a major North American belt. Despite being portrayed as the Monster Heel versus the then-champion Riho, the quality of their match and the confidence of the organization giving Nyla the title shows just how strong their belief is in making stars out of wrestlers of social minorities. Even better is that it's not used as part of her gimmick.
• On the March 5th 2020 episode of Dynamite Jon Moxley opens the show as AEW champion after beating Chris Jericho at Revolution and the crowd welcomes him with a 'You Deserve It' chant.
• Lackadaisical Orange Cassidy might be, it's clear he cares for the Best Friends as he's always ready to lend Chuck and Trent a hand in their matches and they appreciate his assistance.
  • How did he join Best Friends? After he saved them from being kidnapped by the Dark Order.
  • Also worth noting is when Kenny and Nakazawa tried to do the Best Friends hug with him during their match against the Best Friends, Cassidy walks away rather than just simply stand there and let them do it with him as if to say he'd rather not do it with anyone else than Chuck and Trent.
  • On Chuck and Trent's end, after Orange gets brutalized by the Inner Circle, they actually put their No. 1 Contender shot at the Tag Team belts, an opportunity not everyone gets, on the line against Jericho and Sammy just to get revenge for their ally.
  • At All Out, Kris Statlander gets knocked out of the ring during a match with Dr. Britt Baker and is at risk of being counted out. After some heistation, the sunglasses come off and Cassidy yells at Kris Star to get up and get back in the ring, and she does.
• AEW pays homage and tribute to Shad Gaspard and Hana Kimura at Double or Nothing 2020, whose lives sadly ended way before their time. Private Party hits Cryme Tyme's old finisher the G9, and Hikaru Shida dedicates her win to Hana who was a rival and friend of hers.
• Night One of Fyter Fest 2020 has Best Friends being driven to the stage by Trent's real mother. As they start walking towards the ring she calls him back (and by his real name) and gives him a good luck kiss on the cheek. He isn't annoyed by it at all.
• During the bout between Jurassic Express and The Elite at Fight For The Fallen 2020, Kenny Omega has Marko Stunt trapped in the ropes and is ready to nail him with a knee to the face. Luchasaurus, however, places his arms around Marko and makes clear he's ready to take the hit for his smaller ally. While it ended up being futile in the end, that action alone shows how much Luchasaurus cares for his tag partners.
  • On the same night, when Rey Fenix's mask is ripped off in the Lucha Brothers' match against FTR, he immediately covers his face with Pentagon Jr. quick to join his brother's side, helping him get out of the ring. Heels they might be, Fenix and Pentagon Jr. clearly care for one another and take their culture very seriously.
• Despite all members being egotistical jerks, the Inner Circle is a group full of True Companions, having stuck together since the first episode of Dynamite with no signs of turning on one another or falling out, always have each other's backs and seem to actually like one another with their leader Jericho being a surprisingly Benevolent Boss that's genuinely proud of his guys whenever they win, doesn't punish or denigrate them if they lose and gets angry whenever they're harmed. While this may become subverted later down the line, it's oddly nice to see how solid the team is and it's easy to see why they're one of the top groups in AEW.
  • During Chris Jericho's Birthday celebration, all of the Inner Circle members get him some gifts, showing their genuine appreciation for their leader.
• Whenever on commentary, Jericho is notable for never hesitating to give everyone a fair share of respect, even to Face wrestlers, those he's feuding against or had fought in the past. A Heel he might be, Chris Jericho knows talent when he sees it and isn't afraid to put them over. It's no wonder dozens of fans hope he becomes a part of the commentary team when he retires.
  • One specific example shows that he's even willing to put people over himself on commentary. When Penelope Ford hit a reversal to Hikaru Shida's Falcon Arrow, Jericho noted that he'd faced Hayabusa several times and hadn't thought of that particular reversal to it.
• When Darby gets assaulted by Brian Cage and Ricky Starks after the latter attacked from behind, Jon's quick to make the save and later makes clear in a promo that he's not going to stand for them pretty much bullying.
• Before his battle with Darby Allin for the AEW Championship, Jon does a promo where he cites how people typically had to stop him. In this case, he's going to do so for Darby, whom undoubtedly reminds the champ of a younger version of himself.
  • After a hard-fought battle with Darby, Jon actually holds him in an embrace, showing genuine respect.
• On the September 2, 2020 Episode of Dynamite Kenny Omega came out in a Hana Kimura T-Shirt, paying tribute to the late wrestler on what would have been her 23rd birthday.
• Shortly after making his entrance in the Casino Battle Royale at All-Out 2020, Matt Sydal goes up to a turnbuckle, ready to do a Shooting Star Press on Will Hobbs but unfortunately messes up and falls down in a bad way. Will then crawls over to Matt and placing himself over him, ensuring he's alright and no one goes to harm him in case the high-flyer got badly injured.
  • After the Dark Order lose their battle to the Nightmare Family, Matt Cardona and Scorpio Sky, Brodie Lee angrily blames Colt Cabana for their loss after he got pinned by Dustin Rhodes before storming off. Knowing what it's like to feel the brunt of the Exalted One's anger, Evil Uno helps Colt up and leads him out of the ring, showing a more human side to him.
• In the Dynamite after All-Out where he suffered a terrible fall, Matt Hardy assures fans that he will recover and still be capable of wrestling once he's done doing so, apologising for scaring them while also appreciating their support, of which can be heard through the crowd loudly chanting for Matt all the while, undoubtedly grateful that he will be okay. On top of that, he points to his wife in the crowd who has their newborn with her.
• The Young Bucks coming out to support Brandon Cutler during his match against Peter Avalon on Dark. Despite their recent mean streak as of late, and not supporting Adam Page when he asked; they show up to support their friend and encourage him to win for the first time in AEW and after he does they congratulate him.
• After Cody's infamous chair shot via Shawn Spears at Fight for the Fallen 2019 Jon Moxley and Tony Khan ripped Spears to shreds backstage over his perceived carelessness towards Cody and publicly called him out over possibly injuring Rhodes. Goes to show how much Khan and especially Moxley, whom Cody points out while retelling the story on the AEW podcast months later is known to not talk to people much at all, care about him and his wellbeing.
• Cody and Brandi on the December 16th episode announce that they are expecting and are going to be parents.
• The December 30th, 2020 tribute show to the late Brodie Lee. Wall-to-wall Awesome, Tear Jerker and, of course, Heartwarming:
  • The entire episode was interspersed with multiple video promos from the likes of Jon Moxley, Darby Allin, Bryce Remsburg and Eddie Kingston, all talking about what a great man Brodie was both in and out of the ring. Moxley said that Brodie brought joy to wrestling, Darby described him as a man with no ego who was the #1 guy he wished he could have wrestled, Bryce said that if there was a Mount Rushmore of wrestling fathers then Brodie would have been on it, and Eddie wanted Brodie's children to know that their father wasn't gone because his teachings live on.
  • After the entire roster gathered for the 10-bell salute, the first match saw Colt Cabana team up with the Young Bucks to take on Matt Hardy and Private Party, in a typically great tag match. After Cabana won with a Superman pin on Marc Quen, The Acclaimed came out with the intention of mouthing off, only for them to be cut off by SCU, who teamed up with the Bucks and Cabana to shut them up.
  • The OG Dark Order (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) teamed up with Lance Archer to take on Eddie Kingston, the Butcher and the Blade. Rather than his usual ring gear, Archer came out in blue jeans and a dirty white tank top, Brodie's ring gear from his pre-WWE indie run as well as his time in WWE as Luke Harper. The Dark Order triumphed again with a Fatality on Blade.
  • The arguable in-ring highlight of the night came when Hangman Page teamed with Alex Reynolds and John Silver to take on the Inner Circle, represented by MJF and Proud & Powerful. The Beaver Boys came out in coats like Brodie's, with Silver wearing an exact replica of Brodie's ring gear that Brodie had bought for him to wear for a BTE sketch that they never got to record, and before the match they pulled out rolls of paper and threw them at Santana and Ortiz's heads. Then, after Page and MJF just barely held their teammates back from starting a brawl before the match proper, Page began the match by pulling out papers of his own and throwing them at MJF! During the match, Wardlow ran in while the ref was distracted to attack Reynolds, only for him to be assaulted by Erick Redbeard (formerly Erick Rowen, Brodie's old partner and one of his best friends from WWE), who hit Wardlow with an iron claw slam and drove him off. Later MJF would taunt -1 (Brodie's son Brodie Jr) who was watching from ringside with 5 (Alan Angels) by pulling off his mask and spitting on it, only for -1 to smack him with a kendo stick shot to the head, setting him up for a crossbody from Page. Finally Silver recreated Brodie's iconic pose before downing Ortiz with a Discus Lariat for the win. Eric Redbeard returned to embrace a tearful Silver and Reynolds, holding up a sign for the camera that read "Goodbye for now, my brother. See you down the road."
  • Anna Jay teamed with her friend Tay Conti to take on Britt Baker and Penelope Ford. After an emotional match, Anna submitted Ford with the Queenslayer. When an embittered Britt complained to Tony Schiavone that everything was rigged, almost like a "Big Rig" (one of Brodie's indie nicknames) Thunder Rosa ran out to violently shut her up.
  • The main event saw a match booked by Brodie's son -1 himself, with his three favourite AEW wrestlers (other than his father), Cody, Orange Cassidy and Preston "10" Vance of the Dark Order taking on Team Taz. A great match with 10, one of Brodie's most-favoured acolytes, being the star of his team, and securing the pin (and the clean 5-match sweep for the Dark Order). Team Taz attacked after their loss, but Sting and Darby Allin entered together to even the odds and force the heels to retreat, as well as to pay their own respects. Darby had even incorporated Brodie's name into his usual facepaint, the words "BRODIE LEE" painted along his cheek and jaw.
  • In the final segment of the night, Brodie's wife Amanda and his son -1 came out from the back, accompanied by 10 and Tony Khan himself, where they were met in the ring by Cody. -1 brought his father's boots out and laid them in the centre of the ring, where Cody solemnly covered them with a purple cloth. Tony Khan told Brodie Jr. that his father was the greatest TNT Champion of all time and awarded him the TNT Title, naming him TNT champ for life. Meaning the belt design Lee held at the time of his passing will be retired in his honor. The episode closed with a tear-jerking tribute video covering Brodie's entire in-ring career, from the indies to WWE to AEW, as well as his life with his family, set to the tune of "Ol' 55" by Tom Waits. After the show, Tony Khan tweeted that he had personally purchased the rights to the song in perpetuity, meaning that tribute video would exist forever.
  • Additionally, even before the episode aired, news broke that AEW had signed Brodie Jr. to an AEW contract. Not "encouraged him to join when he came of age", signed him to an actual contract at the age of eight. While he doesn't have any obligations to the company, they have made it clear that he can immediately start to perform for the company as soon as he comes of age, if he wishes. Brodie Jr. was already a regular figure backstage who was familiar with all the wrestlers and would often come to look out from the gorilla position during tapings. It's basically the classiest imaginable way for AEW to guarantee that Brodie's family will be taken care of even after his death. And a few months later, AEW would also hire Amanda as its community outreach officer.
  • At the start of every episode of Dynamite, one of the announcers will open the show by saying "It's Wednesday. You know what that means." Indeed, in the comments sections of many of the YouTube uploads, and in the AEW main page of this very wiki itself, you will see the simple yet loving tribute to the great Brodie Lee.
• Jungle Boy in the Indies would come out to Tarzan Boy by Baltimora but had to stop using it after he was signed to AEW. So Tony Khan reveals that as his Christmas Present to him, he has bought the rights to use it so Jungle Boy can now come out to the song once more.
• Riho's return to AEW at the February 17th edition of Dynamite after not being able to in almost a year. The fans cheer for her by chanting her name and "Welcome Back!" as well.
• During the Cody & Red Velvet vs Shaquille O'Neal & Jade Cargill match, Shaq finally got his chance to pay tribute to the late Brodie Lee when he delivered Brodie's signature powerbomb (complete with the theatrics of kissing his fingers and spreading his arms) to Cody.
• Despite the backlash of the lackluster ending explosion for the Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega at Revolution there came a nice moment. Kenny and an interferring Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows begin beating Moxley down after the match had already ended handcuffing him in the ring leaving him for dead as the clock counted down. Who would come and try to save Mox? Eddie Kingston and when he couldn't get Jon out he shielded him with his own body.
  • Also of note as Kingston comes out with the rest of his "family" of The Butcher, the Blade, and the Bunny you can see the Blade try and stop Eddie pulling him backward and Kingston fights against him. He fought against his own "family" to save Jon Moxley.
• After Thunder Rosa and Dr. Britt Baker's groundbreaking and bone-breaking lights-out match on the March 17, 2021 episode of Dynamite (the first women's main event in AEW history), we got to see what happened behind the scenes. Tony Khan personally thanked both women individually for their awesome work and praised them effusively. Thunder Rosa went backstage to a standing ovation from the entire locker room and crew, including a big hug from Women's Champion Hikaru Shida, then gave a deeply impassioned interview to Tony Schiavone where she stated that she'd succeeded in her goal of putting women's wrestling on the map. Meanwhile Britt was taken backstage by medical personnel to have the thumbtacks she'd had jammed into her back removed from her and her punctures treated, and while they were tending to her she expressed her sincere belief that Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho would be proud of her.
• After Jungle Boy eliminated Christian Cage to win the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing 2021, thereby earning a shot at the AEW world title then held by Kenny Omega, Christian returned to the ring while Jungle Boy and his Jurassic Express teammates were celebrating. Christian got in his face... and told him he'd better win the title. And then embraced him.
• Speaking of hugs, Tony Schiavone gave Britt Baker one after she won the Women’s World Title in the same event, showcasing the genuine bond they’ve formed beyond the “friendship” they initially had.
• The first episode of AEW Rampage on August 13, 2021 featured Fuego Del Sol fighting Miro not only for the TNT Championship but also for a contract as an officially-signed AEW wrestler. He managed to land his signature Tornado DDT on Miro thrice. He still lost, but then Sammy Guevara appeared from the back alongside Tony Khan — and a clipboard. Sammy then happily announced that, given Fuego's dedication to the promotion and the sheer popularity with the audience and the rest of the locker room, he was finally ready to be All Elite.
• The August 18, 2021 Dynamite features in the main event the fifth Labor of Jericho, in which Chris Jericho finally gets to face MJF, but can't use his Judas Effect finisher... or his band's song "Judas", his usual entrance music. But the song's absence is made up for by an epic A Cappella rendition courtesy of the Houston crowd.
• After over seven and a half years, CM Punk returned to a wrestling ring on the August 20th episode of Rampage. The packed Chicago arena provided a passionate and loud hero's welcome, with emotions overwhelming both Punk and the audience. As Punk walked down the aisle, he took the time to embrace fans and loved ones at ringside, even leaping over the railing into the arms of the crowd.
  • During his in-ring promo and the press scrum afterwards, Punk said that one of his main motivations for coming back was to work with and elevate the new generation of up-and-coming stars, just like how the legends of the past supported him early on in his career.
  • What was the first thing he said? Noting that Chicago knows how to make someone feel like Britt Baker in Pittsburgh, putting over another wrestler with just his first sentence!
    • Punk starting promos by complimenting someone has become a running theme for him.
• In his first appearance on Dynamite following his return, CM Punk cut another promo where he put over AEW huge as a company that cares about and listens to its audience.
  Punk: So I'm gonna go ahead and retire the nickname 'Voice of the Voiceless', because I don't need to be that any more, this place has a voice... and there's people back there that listen!
• While fighting against the Wingmen in one episode, Sting, Moxley and Kingston were quick to gang up on anyone whom harmed Darby near the end of the match. Many joked it was like someone’s father and their uncles protecting them.
• After winning the tag team titles at All Out 2021, Penta celebrated his victory with his wife and two young daughters.
• After making her AEW debut as the Joker in the women's casino battle royale at All Out 2021, a crying Ruby Soho comes face to face with one of her oldest friends, current AEW referee/former CHIKARA referee Bryce Remsburg, and gets the biggest "congratulations" hug in the world.
• On September 20, 2021, AEW joined forces with Martha Hart in order to honor the legacy of her late husband with an annual tournament and other measures.
• It's well known that AEW owner Tony Khan was a massive fan of ECW when he was a boy, which is a big part of the reason he agreed to found AEW in the first place. When Dynamite and Rampage came to Philadelphia, the home of ECW, for their second anniversary show in October 2021, Tony came down to the ring and called for every former ECW star they had available to come down so he could pay tribute to them and the venerated promotion- Taz, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko and Jerry Lynn (CM Punk, who was a former champion in WWE's version of ECW, came out on his own initiative to join in and pay his own tribute). You could hear Tony and Taz choking up on the mic from the sheer emotion and the crowd started an "E-C-DUB!" chant just like in the old days.
• Another such moment happened in Indianapolis after the November 10, 2021 Dynamite went off the air. Cody Rhodes called for a fan who had tweeted that he had beaten cancer to join him in the ring. After a brief speech talking up the fan, Cody then laid down in the middle of the ring and had Tony Khan call a pinfall once the fan (lightly) put his foot on Cody's chest, to enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
• In the midst of the AEW Championship tournament in late 2021, Jon Moxley left to go focus on rehab, so as to get better about his alcohol addiction. Absolutely everyone, wrestlers and fans alike, went forth to give their support to Mox with Punk taking a moment in the following Dynamite to give him credit for choosing to better himself, knowing it was a tough decision.
• After years of using Hangman Adam Page's entrance graphics to poke fun at him, the graphics team had a simple message for him at Full Gear 2021 "We're proud of you".
• On that note, Page finally winning the AEW World Championship in a stellar match with Kenny Omega, culminating with him celebrating his title win with the Dark Order in the middle of the ring as the crowd chants “You deserve it!”.
  • Near the end of the match, the Young Bucks, despite being bruised and battered from their match on the card, make their way over to the ring. But rather than try to interrupt or do anything silly as they have as Heels, they take a level of seriousness and make up for not being there in Hangman’s corner in his match with Jericho long ago by being there for him now, simply watching on and goading their old friend to win. A wonderful, if bittersweet Call-Back to a story that has been years in the making.
  • When the Dark Order came to congratulate Hangman, Alex Reynolds offered him a can of beer as Hangman would typically drink to celebrate a great victory. The new Champ immediately threw the can to the side to instead embrace the friends that were always there for them, truly showing Hangman has fought his demons to get where he is now and made all the more poignant by the aforementioned Jon Moxley going to rehab.
  • As Full Gear ended up happening on the anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s death, the fans made their voices heard as they chanted his name, whether from seeing his wife, Vickie on the side or any of the wrestlers themselves making a tribute to the late great Latino Heat.
• The Revolution 2022 Fan Fest event saw a new wrestling record being set- the release of the youngest ever wrestling action figure as Ringside Collectibles released an exclusive 2-pack of the late Brodie Lee and his son -1, with young Brodie Jr. being given one of his own in the ring. Seeing himself memorialised in miniature alongside his late father (with his figure designed to be poseable in a way that you can seat him on his dad's shoulders) was so overwhelming for the young man that he seemed lost for words.
• During the June 8, 2022 episode of Dynamite, a hot mic during multiple ad breaks meant that people watching the Fite.tv stream were able to hear Justin Roberts interacting with the crowd. During one of the breaks, Justin noticed a young kid with a sign saying he was at his first AEW show and got the kid to give his name^note Luke, leading to the crowd chanting it. Justin mentioned during a later break that, since Fite had picked up the audio, Luke was now known worldwide.
• Three months later at All Out, FTR and Wardlow defeated Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns. Lethal, along with Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh, tried to attack the winners, but Samoa Joe came out to clean house, and the faces then surrounded a cowering Dutt. That set the stage for a Dax Harwood promo about how he was inspired by his 8-year-old daughter Finley's successful battle with a serious heart condition. Dutt then mocked the promo, calling her a brat... which led to Finley herself coming out and entering the ring, wearing a T-shirt reading "Fight Like an 8 Year Old Girl". She faced Dutt, took his pencil, and snapped it in two. Then Dutt rose to eat a lariat from Dax, with Finley covering Dutt with her foot while the referee delivered a (symbolic) 3-count.
• At All-In 2023, AEW paid tribute to the recently deceased Windham Rotunda aka, WWE's Bray Wyatt despite the man never wrestling for them.
  • At Zero-Hour, Renee Paquette quoted "Wrestling is not a love story, it's a fairy tale for masochists. A comedy for people who criticize punchlines. A fantasy most can't understand, a spectacle no one can deny", a line that Bray himself once quoted during his second run in the WWE.
  • As soon as the sun set in London, Bray's fireflies came out for every entrance for the rest of the evening, especially for House of Black's entrance, where Buddy Matthews also came out with a lantern similar to the one Bray would carry to the ring.
• At AEW Dynasty, during Swerve Strickland's entrance with Prince Nana, the head of the Embassy draped a robe over Strickland. Said robe originally belonged to Jimmy Rave, who had died years earlier. Swerve would go on to win the AEW World title, making it even more appropriate that the Embassy's Crown Jewel would be there in some form on the stable's biggest night.

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