The August 8 edition of AEW Collision had a security scare that nobody watching at home knew about. A potential threat triggered a backstage lockdown, and for a moment, there were fears the situation could be considerably more serious.
Speaking on What Happened When, Conrad Thompson said he’d heard from sources that someone called in a threat following the previous Saturday’s Collision. What people feared at first was an armed person.
“I don’t know if I’m even supposed to say this or not, but it does feel like we’ve got some breaking news, maybe, for 411f*****heet.com. I’ve been on the hotline today, Tony, and my stooges—I mean, my sources—are telling me that this past Saturday night at AEW Collision, there was a bit of a security detail.
That’s right, fans. It turns out there was a lockdown. Allegedly, there was an armed man. There was a shooter—or so we thought. Now, the fans never found out about it, but all the talent was locked in backstage. They couldn’t move in, they couldn’t exit, they couldn’t take the shuttle, they couldn’t hit the road to make their red-eyes because someone had called in a threat.”
Thankfully, that wasn’t what security ultimately found. Thompson said the concern ended up centering around a man in a hoodie carrying a duffel bag.
And I asked myself, Tony, was this actually a call made directly from Tony Khan to make sure no one left before the Ring of Honor tapings were over? And they said, ‘No, no. That was not it.’ It was actually just a guy in a hoodie with a duffel bag, and it was a big f******* nothingburger.”
Tony Schiavone was actually at Collision, and his version made clear just how quickly everything was handled. He wasn’t trapped backstage for any significant amount of time.
Schiavone said he was with Nigel McGuinness and Paul when security approached them after the show. They were simply told not to take their normal route through the fans and to head directly toward the exit instead.
“I did not get stuck at all because what happened was when the show was over, one of our security guys came up to me and Nigel and Paul and says, ‘There’s a lockdown. Do not exit through the fans like we used to kind of go around. Go straight through the exit.’ We said, ‘Okay.’”
Then, almost immediately, it was over. Schiavone hadn’t even made it completely backstage before security got the all-clear.
“As soon as I got through the curtains, the security guy looked at his phone and said, ‘Lockdown’s over.’ So that’s how much it delayed me.”
There had been concern that wrestlers could miss red-eye flights because nobody was allowed to leave. Schiavone couldn’t confirm that happened, especially considering how quickly the lockdown ended.
“I don’t think anybody missed their—some may have missed their red-eye, I’m not so sure—but it was over before I knew it.”
And Schiavone certainly wasn’t upset that AEW security took the situation seriously. If anything, he appreciated that they weren’t willing to gamble when they didn’t yet know what they were dealing with.
“I do appreciate that the AEW security detail was immediately like, ‘You know what? In an abundance of caution, let’s just make sure it’s nothing.’ So the local people were called and everything was fine, and it was nothing.”
Eventually, Schiavone learned what had caused all the concern. Someone had spotted a duffel bag and feared there could be something dangerous inside.
“Talking to security, it was a duffel bag that someone thought could be something. But somebody’s been watching too many Jason Bourne movies or something. There’s nothing to it.”
So what briefly sounded like a potentially terrifying situation ended without anyone being hurt and barely delayed Schiavone at all. AEW security saw something concerning, locked things down and didn’t reopen the doors until they knew everyone was safe.
For a scare that fans inside the building apparently never even knew about, that’s about as uneventful an ending as AEW could have hoped for.
Do you think AEW security handled this exactly the way they should have, or were you surprised to hear a lockdown happened without fans ever knowing? Let us know in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
