Jim Cornette has made it clear he doesn’t believe Steven Borden, son of the legendary Sting, is quite ready to compete for a major promotion.
Following the scary spot at last weekend’s AEW All Out, Cornette appeared to be even more convinced of this position.
Borden teamed up with Darby Allin to take on Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight during the September 26th event. The match began with Allin doing much of the action, until Borden was tagged in. The upstart then had a face-off with Knight as the two
climbed up opposite sides of the ring. The moment seemed to be an obvious set-up for a moment like the mid-air collision between Logan Paul and Ricochet at the 2023 Royal Rumble.
However, the timing was off, and Borden jumped earlier than Knight, resulting in him hitting the back of his head when he landed on the mat. AEW’s medical staff quickly attended to Borden, and the match was called off.
Fortunately, Borden appears to be recovering well from the incident, and AEW announcer Tony Schiavone said on his What Happened When podcast that the young star wasn’t experiencing any lingering headaches.
Meanwhile, Cornette suggested on the latest episode of his Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru podcast that the spot at All Out should never have been attempted in the first place. The legendary manager turned podcast called “coast-to-coast” moves of a wrestler flying from one side of the ring to the other “stupid” since it ends with a “major flat-back bump.”
In further analyzing what went wrong at All Out, Cornette said the issue began when Borden climbed onto the top rope with both feet. He noted Knight did what he said was the better technique of having one foot on the top rope, while the other rested on the middle rope until it was time to spring off.
Corny said Knight likely thought that if he had put both feet on the top, it could cause Borden to lose his balance because the ropes would be shaking more.
“Stephen jumps from the top rope with both feet. He’s already in the air. Kevin Knight takes off, pushing one foot off the top rope now as best he can, but Steven got to the middle first, crossed the middle,” he explained. “They kind of, sort of touched each other…You couldn’t tell what they were trying to do to each other. It almost looked like Steve was trying to catch Kevin with a flying chokeslam. He had his hand out and kind of got him around a neck. I don’t f**king know.
“But when they landed, Steve hit the back of his head and knocked himself out. Not just goofy, but apparently slab dab out, because they didn’t show him much after that…But the point is the coast-to-coast dropkick is stupid, because you are taking a major flat-back bum that can also be a bump, if you don’t do it right, on the back of your head, as this was.”
As for why the spot went successfully in the 2023 Royal Rumble, Cornette said: “Logan Paul is younger and a better athlete than Steve Borden, and Ricochet was smaller, wirier, and more experienced than g*****n Kevin Knight. They also just happened to be lucky.”
While Corny did reiterate his stance that he wishes that Borden had started in-ring training at a younger age or spent time on the independent scene, he did that he was not “minimizing” the injury Borden sustained and was glad he wasn’t more badly hurt.
What do you think of Cornette’s take on the spot that injured Borden? Let us know your thoughts the comments below.
