Note on Video From Jacques Rougeau That Caused Issue at AEW Redemption

A new report has a bit of additional context on the video Jacques Rougeau made for his family at AEW Redemption and how it led to issues with the segment. As noted, the video was produced by Jacques for the Rougeau Dynasty Celebration segment for the Buy In portion of AEW Redemption. Rougeau was told that the video couldn’t be used, which led to his reportedly throwing a “tantrum” backstage and one official telling him to calm down or they would kick him out of the building. Rougeau eventually posted the video to his Facebook account.

There were said to be a number of issues cited with the video, including its use of generative AI, the notion that it was too long, and the fact that some of the footage and music were copyrighted and not owned by AEW. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the video was not, in fact, necessarily too long, as it only ran a minute and 17 seconds. However, as has been stated, Tony Khan has a strong stance against using AI. The video contained footage of Jacques pinning Hulk Hogan in a singles match from 1997 at Bell Centre, where AEW Redemption took place. The report notes that this was not the primary reason, but it was one of many problems with the video.

The video was not from WCW — where it would be owned by WWE — but instead an independent show. Jacques Rougeau, PCO, promoter Tony Mule and lawyer Cookie Lazarus put the show together, and Hogan was paid $25,000 for the event. The agreement to appear originally stipulated that Hogan not lose, but he ultimately agreed to because it was just a house show and was in Jacques’s home city. WCW was paid $20,000 for the rights to use other WCW talent on the show, but they didn’t own the footage. The issue with the rights was that no one could verify rights since it was shown to them last minute.

Jacques Rougeau has claimed there was no “incident” backstage, but security at the building was made aware of the issue at the time. The Bell Centre has a policy where if you are removed from backstage for a disciplinary reason, you must leave the building. However, no one wanted it to come to that, and he did calm down, so he was ultimately not removed.