Adam Pearce saw all the outrage over admitting he doesn’t watch wrestling outside the WWE shows he works on, and apparently he has no plans to explain himself any further. Instead, the RAW General Manager waited a couple of weeks, fired up Instagram and Rickrolled the entire IWC.
Pearce took to Instagram on September 8, 2026, to address the backlash his comments received after an interview with Love Wrestling. He acknowledged that wrestling fans got considerably angrier than he expected over the admission and decided it was finally time for a little “community outreach.”
“I guess it’s been a couple of weeks since I playfully said in an interview that I only watch the wrestling I’m connected to, and holy s*** did that bring the IWC out of the basement. Man, you people got angry about that.”
Pearce then offered what sounded like it might actually be an explanation. For anyone who misunderstood what he meant or couldn’t figure out why he made the comments in the first place, he promised to provide some transparency into his thinking.
“So look, I’ll call this ‘community outreach’ for an effort toward transparency. But if you’re a member of the IWC who didn’t understand what I said or why I got mad about it, I’m gonna do my best to explain it.”
That explanation never came. Instead, Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up suddenly started playing, turning Pearce’s attempt at “community outreach” into a Rickroll aimed directly at the fans who had spent the last couple of weeks arguing about his comments. Once the song had done the explaining for him, Pearce came back with one final message.
“So I hope that kind of clears it up, gives you a little insight into my mindset, and if it doesn’t… sorry, I tried.”
The backlash started after Pearce revealed that if his “fingerprints” aren’t on a wrestling product, he simply doesn’t watch it. That means his wrestling viewing is essentially limited to RAW, SmackDown, Saturday Night’s Main Event and WWE premium live events he’s actually working.
“This will piss wrestling fans off, but I will tell you the truth. If my fingerprints are not on the product, I do not watch the product.”
Pearce also called himself a WWE “company man” and said he knows exactly who signs his checks, comments that naturally gave wrestling fans plenty to argue about once the interview started making the rounds.
Apparently Pearce has been watching that reaction even if he hasn’t been watching anybody else’s wrestling. His response wasn’t an apology or a clarification, but a Rick Astley song and one last troll for the IWC that got so angry in the first place.
What did you make of Adam Pearce Rickrolling fans over the backlash to his wrestling comments? Was it the perfect response, or do you think Pearce should have actually addressed the criticism? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
