Jim Cornette on AEW matches: “They fulfill their own self-aggrandizing, masturbatory fantasies”
While speaking on his podcast, veteran wrestling personality Jim Cornette reacted to the Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland match from AEW Forbidden Door 2026 receiving a 5.5-star rating from longtime analyst Dave Meltzer…
“Good Lord. Every finish, every piece of excess—they bury the referee, ignore the rules, act like video game characters, and kick out of everything to the point where it’s not only unbelievable, it’s ridiculous. They fulfill their own self-aggrandizing, masturbatory fantasies because they think, ‘Well, nobody deserves to get out of here before 12:30 in the morning. We’re going to do what we want.’
Well, besides that, it’s a whole different scale because when you look at the overall level of the rottenness of the basics of how guys work today—because they’re all concentrating on trying to do these convoluted spots, set up cool sh*t, and work with the furniture—everybody’s punches, arm drags, Irish whips, basic holds, and basic positioning have fallen to hell.
So to me, I’m sorry, but I think it’s like having a movie with a really good story, but you hire a guy from the front of Home Depot to be the cinematographer and it ends up looking like a home movie. That takes away from it.
It’s the same thing. You can do all your spots and all your furniture, but if you can’t actually make the sh*t in the middle look right, I’m deducting points. Screw you.”