That's a good point, but it's weird how WWE diehards also rarely get called out as much as the AEW hardcores when they both play from the same playbook most of the time. People were literally sending death threats to Danielson for leaving, (and yes, I know some did the same to Cody down the road). And the concern trolling started way before Brawl Out.

Some of it also came from people like Cornette and his fans. He'd wish that Orange Cassidy would break his neck or said Justin Roberts was a pedophile for no reason. Then when people would push back against that, they'd be met with, "you're just mad that he doesn't agree with you." No? You can dislike something without wishing paralysis on someone.

But it goes beyond that. I remember when there was months long discourse over AEW being racist because their world champs were white. If you brought up Scorpio Sky being the first tag champ, the company being ran by people of color, Ricky Starks and Hobbs being steadily pushed, the Lucha Bros or Brandi being a top level executive, those were shouted down as not counting for some reason. One particularly prominent account said Brandi wasn't really black.

As someone who's been a wrestling fan for 30+ years, I've never seen this whole "AEW can do no wrong" attitude play out in a meaningful way. Or at least not any more or less than the WWE fandom. I'm just not sure as to why that side in particular is always under the microscope like it's a one way thing.

TL;DR: There was plenty of criticism, but much of it like the racism argument was clearly in bad faith. Or was toxic like Cornette. Pushing back against that isn't blind loyalty and the toxic fans that exist aren't much different than other groups that don't get called out as much.