According to Fightful Select, AEW officials held a mandatory all hands on deck PR meeting for talent and staff backstage at the T-Mobile Arena is Las Vegas during Double Or Nothing weekend.
It was said the meeting was led by AEW’s new public relations manager Adam Hopkins, who held the same position in WWE for 25 years until his departure from the company this past January. Hopkins reportedly spoke on “some favored terms, some preferences of AEW as a company, and offered some of his experience to the meeting.”
Fightful Select said it was stressed to talent the importance of media literacy and that AEW talents were told officials know that plenty of them talk to the “dirt sheets.” Fightful Select further said staff were told to make sure to establish “off the record” statements in certain situations and to make sure they understand what the term means when speaking with the media. It was also noted in the report that this was not a scolding of some kind, but that it was more about educating and informing talent and staff how to better protect themselves and the company from misinformation.
Bryan Danielson also spoke at the meeting and said he might not be the best person to give advice on talking to the media based on how he made headlines when he had said apples were tree semen. ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli also spoke at the meeting, and stressed the importance of media interviews as a way to “promote yourself, your story, and the on-screen program.”
Fightful Select concluded the report by saying sources spoke very highly about the meeting, specifically Hopkins. His years of experience was put over by numerous talent and staff that were present at the meeting. One top talent at the meeting reportedly referred to Hopkins as a game changing hire for AEW and the PR department. Another talent also was said to have described the meeting as “very useful.”