Welp, it's official: Ace Steel has been fired from AEW.

That's right, after taking part in a massive backstage brawl after All Out that saw Nick Jackson get hit in the face with a steel chair, Kenny Omega suffer a brutal bitemark on his arm that was still visible weeks later when he made appearances at Tokyo Game Show and resulted in four of the promotion's biggest stars having to surrender their belts and go on indefinite hiatus, Steel has been relieved of his duties moving forward. He isn't taking part in any arbitration, isn't being held out of action, and isn't even having his status held up by an as-of-yet-unidentified lawsuit by one of the parties.

Does this mean CM Punk, Omega, or the Young Bucks will be back in AEW in the not-too-distant future? Well, they were mentioned, even just in passing, by the commentary team, which has been avoided in the past but other than that, fans don't really know what's going on.

This story, however, isn't about Punk, Omega, or the Jacksons, for that matter, either. No, this is about Steel, who, weirdly enough, has a pretty big supporter in none other than Jim Ross, the OG AEW commentator who has transitioned to Rampage over the past few weeks.

JR thinks Ace Steel could find a job in wrestling post-AEW.

When asked about his thoughts on Ace Steel being fired from AEW, good ole JR gave a surprising endorsement of the former producer on his Grilling JR podcast, as transcribed by Fightful.

“He's a smart guy,” Ross Said. “He has a lot of product knowledge. Solid hand. I thought he did a nice job. I didn't work with him directly a lot. I have seen him at TV and he was always friendly and approachable. I'm sorry to hear that because I thought he was a good hand and did a nice job there. Things have a way of working out, you never say never, but I always thought he did a nice job for us. He was very loyal to CM Punk, nothing wrong with that, they were buddies. I'm assuming CM Punk is the guy that got Ace Steel his job. I don't know where all of that is going. I hate to see anybody lose a job, lose a paycheck. While he was there, he seemed to be a viable asset, but again, I didn't work with him directly. I didn't have any issues, pro or con, with him. The bottom line is, another guy lost his job. That's what's regrettable.”

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Kenny Omega wit a text bubble reading "My relationship with CM PUNK?" next to CM Punk with the AEW All Out logo as the background.

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Adam Copeland with a text bubble reading "I always subscribed to the Bret Hart school" with CM Punk on his left and Bret Hart on his right with the AEW Dynamite logo as the background.

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Kenny Omega with a text bubble reading "Where's Larry?" next to CM Punk with the AEW All Out logo as the background.

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Now granted, Ross' assessment is sort of missing the most crucial part of the conversation, as he sort of glossed over the whole fist-fight-bite-Kenny-Omega part of why Steel was fired but hey, that's neither here nor there – if Steel did a solid enough job for AEW as a producer, who is anyone to argue with JR, who has forgotten more about wrestling than most folks have remembered. Still, even if Steel is smart and a good wrestling mind, it's hard to imagine he'll be working for any reputable company any time soon, as few promoters are looking to hire a backstage producer with a track record of fighting former champions.

“He's got skills,” Ross concluded. “I would think, if given a fair shake within the landscape of wrestling in general, he'll find some work. Smart guy. I hope it works out well. I regret that anybody, anywhere in wrestling, loses their job.”