What Wrestling Legends Really Think Of Modern WWE

8. Jim Cornette

Steve Austin
VICE

Jim Cornette hated WWE-style wrestling even when he worked there; as it has since become a parody of itself, his stance hasn't softened.

What's revealing and quite hilarious is that Cornette, who hate-watches AEW because there's a specific audience for his rants, would rather endure everything he claims to hate most than watch RAW. He'd rather torture himself with Kenny Omega and Orange Cassidy because, on some level, it makes him feel alive. WWE's presentation is so deadening, and just is what it is, that he can't even bother himself to put on his James E. rant mask and feign outrage.

When Cornette last attempted to get through an episode, he, much like everybody else, could not fathom WWE's strict insistence on scripting everything to death - which is doubly insane, because it's counterintuitive to how wrestling works and never once worked. It's not as if WWE is relying on something that used to work, and they're set in their ways.

Cornette has a more traditional - i.e. it used to work, it works elsewhere, why can't you f*cking morons see that what you do instead doesn't f*cking work and never did - idea of improving WWE's TV and its ability to promote its stars.

"Go out and get yourself the f*ck over," he said on his podcast back in March.

"Go out and get over. Make 'em remember you. If you can't do that, after a couple of weeks, we're gonna find somebody else and put 'em in your spot."

This doesn't read as too dissimilar to Vince's harebrained approach, but the key difference is that they do what Vince wants them to do for those weeks.

Which should put the blame on Vince, surely.

 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!