AEW News: Why Cody's chairshot went wrong, Fyter Fest attendance figures revealed

What's the story?

All Elite Wrestling's sophomore event, Fyter Fest, took place last Saturday night in Daytona Beach, FL, and nipped at the heels of the company's widely acclaimed, debut event, Double Or Nothing.

While Fyter Fest was not as well received by fans as the Double Or Nothing PPV, the show garnered generally positive reviews, with praise going to standout performances from the likes of The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Private Party, AEW's newest tag team to sign full-time deals.

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Fyter Fest event drew solid attendance at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, and AEW continues to build momentum heading into the highly anticipated All Out event at the end of the summer.

In case you didn't know..

While Fyter Fest was generally liked by pro wrestling fans, it was not without controversy, as Cody Rhodes took a nasty looking, unprotected chairshot to the head from Shawn Spears. The spot drew heavy criticism from pro wrestling fans and pundits alike, with people questioning whether or not unprotected chairshots to the head belong in today's pro wrestling product.

The heart of the matter

According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the chair used by Shawn Spears in the spot was indeed gimmicked, having been sawed down at the top to the thinness of a cookie sheet. The idea was that the chairshot would make a lot of noise, and sound very painful, but would not, in fact, hurt Cody Rhodes.

The report notes, however, that due to Spears swinging the chair like a baseball bat, the tip of the chair unusually struck Cody in a way which busted him open, requiring 12 staples to close the wound in Rhodes' head.

Following the incident, Cody Rhodes is said to be okay, and he did not suffer a concussion.

As for Fyter Fest attendance, The Observer reports the event was attended by 4,200 paid fans and a total of around 5,000 fans. The event was also streamed live, and for free, via B/R Live, and The Observer reports around 350,000 people viewed the show at some point during its live stream.

Fyter Fest was said to be a success considering it was a free event, and helped B/R Live acquire new subscribers and draw new eyes to the All Elite Wrestling product.

What's next?

AEW returns to PPV on July 13th with its Fight For The Fallen event, which is set to be headlined by The Young Bucks vs Cody and Dustin Rhodes in a dream tag team match.

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Should unprotected chairshots be universally banned in pro wrestling? Let us know in the comment section!