AEW Spanish commentator Willie Urbina has been caught performing a racially incentive impression of Hikaru Shida while live on AEW Dynamite.
On the most recent episode of the show, a ceremony was held to celebrate AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida. During the celebration Tony Schiavone presented the champion with a new gold-plated, diamond encrusted championship belt.
However, before the segment began, unbeknown to those in the ring, Willie Urbina was caught doing an off-colour impression of the champion.
As the show cut to a commercial break, the mics at the Spanish announce desk were left on. In the audio, which was broadcast on Fite TV, Alex Abrahantes can be heard asking Willie Urbina to translate the upcoming promo from Hikaru Shida. Urbina then goes into an impression, making fun of Asian accents.
You can read a transcription and listen to the audio below.
Alex Abrahantes: “Do Shida.” (As in translate her promo)
Willie Urbina: Speaks incoherently using a stereotypical accent.
Thunder Rosa: “Shut up, holy crap!” (Laughs)
Willie Urbina: Continues on with accent.
Thunder Rosa: “I will throw the pen at you if you don’t stop.” (Said in a joking manner)
Dasha Kuret: “Stop it! You are mean.” (Seemingly addressing Urbina, sounding crossed about it)
Los comentaristas en español de @AEW se han burlado del acento japonés de @shidahikaru durante la pausa publicitaria previa a su segmento en #AEWDynamite.
Esto es inaceptable @TonyKhan.
Por favor, haced RT para que lo vea la gente. pic.twitter.com/K6TYCZJwLY
— Miguel Uceda (@MigUceda) May 29, 2021
In a since deleted tweet, Hugo Savinovich (through the Lucha Libre Online account) wrote:
El que los micrófonos hayan estado abiertos no es culpa de los comentaristas. Nuestra intención fue sólo avisarles y ya lograron cerrar los micrófonos para las pausas comerciales. Fue un error de producción. De hecho, lo noté cuando cambié el idioma a español en la segunda hora.
“A friendly reminder to our friends at the Spanish commentary table of #AEW dynamite that while they are on commercial breaks, all the private conversation they are having is heard on FITE TV.
That the microphones were open is not the fault of the commenters. Our intention was only to warn them and they have already managed to close the microphones for the commercial breaks. It was a production error. In fact, I noticed it when I switched the language to Spanish in the second hour.”
Shida captured the AEW Women’s Championship at the 2020 Double or Nothing PPV Event, defeating ‘The Native Beast’ Nyla Rose in a No Disqualification match.
The Japanese star is set to defend her title against Britt Baker at AEW Double or Nothing.
H/t to Fightful and Luis Pulido (@theluispulido) for the translation.