Jim Cornette offered up an apology of sorts to AEW during the latest episode of one of his podcasts, saying he was sorry for calling Tony Khan’s company the worst wrestling show on television.
The major
caveat to his apology is that he still thinks AEW is awful, but he now believes TNA is the “one of the rottenest wrestling television programs” he has seen since he started reviewing shows for the Jim Cornette Experience and Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru podcasts.
The controversial manager turned podcaster has long been critical of AEW, and he routinely puts down stars like Jon Moxley, Mercedes Moné, and Kenny Omega. However, he doesn’t regularly tune in to TNA, but he made an exception for the company’s recent first episode of Impact on AMC.
During a segment where he shared his thoughts on the AMC debut, Cornette issued a litany of criticisms about everything from the show’s production values to the in-ring work of some of the wrestlers.
He said that due to TNA attempting to make a big impression on a new audience, “they tried to be everything and so fancy, and it was just it was a mess.”
Among his critiques was Daria Rae (known as Sonya Deville during her time in WWE) immediately turning on director of authority Santino Marella moments after her first introduction to TNA fans, and AJ Styles not being better utilized to put over current members of the roster.
One of his harshest comments came during his summary of the The Elegance Brand appearance, featuring gossip blogger Perez Hilton.
Cornette said, “Perez Hilton has not been on television in 15 years, has he? And he shouldn’t have been on this.”
The Kentucky native was so put off by the whole episode of Impact that he offered up this message: “I have to make a public apology to AEW as an entity and as a television show. I said that AEW was the worst television wrestling show with a budget on the air in the world, and I take that back.
“This [Impact] has a budget of some description, and it made me want to see some AEW. So, for the people who say I never apologize, never admit when I was wrong, I just did, and I apologize to AEW,” he said.
Cornette then added about AEW, “You’re still rotten, but you’re not anywhere near this rotten. So, I do apologize.”
