The legendary Jim Cornette provided his opinions on Kevin Owens vs. Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble, as well as the post-match angle with Sami Zayn, on the latest episode of The Jim Cornette Experience.
“Cornette said, The only criticism I have on the match itself is, again, did it have to be that long to get to everything they did after? They keep Brock short and sweet, but everybody else has to prove they can go 30 minutes, bell to bell. And I’m not sure it was called for here, because everybody knew that Kevin Owens was not going to win this match and win the belt, they wanted to see what was going to happen with Sami and the continuation of that issue. So, I’m not even knocking Steen here, he works his off, he does good shit for a tubby fellow. I don’t know he does the Frog Splash off the apron to the floor and not break his kneecaps.
“This went on so long that, at some point and I’m sure they told them to do this, but the announcers laid out. So it was like everybody associated with this company had completely disappeared from the face of the earth except what was going on in the ring. And, I’m sorry, but that’s all I can think about because the job one when I got into the business, the first commandment is make it look like it’s really happening. And, no, they couldn’t just do this for minutes on end to somebody on television in front of God and everybody in front of witnesses without somebody trying to make a token effort to try to do something, being turned away, that’s part of the fucking picture you’re painting and the atmosphere you’re supposed to be creating. But this is Sports Entertainment, and, yes, I know, we all wanted to see this and it was very well done from the talent perspective, but god, damn, it’s still phony sports entertainment when it goes on forever like this and the announcers aren’t even bothered to say, oh, god, they’ve just left too. So they’re killing this guy and I’m just thinking it would be better if it was a wrestling angle which would be some bell ringing and some people trying to get in and The Bloodline are bad enough to kick them out.
“I liked what they did and I’m not trying to knock it and everybody wanted to see this and it’s the perfect time now to kick it up for WrestleMania Season and what’s gonna happen? The only thing, it was the longest angle in the history of wrestling. Couldn’t these things happen with urgency and people in jeopardy and there’s chaos going on rather than the sports entertainment angle which is milk everything incessantly and nobody will try to stop this until whenever you’re finished, that’s the problem I had with it. Otherwise, everybody was a box of fluffy ducks. I know that’s what they do, I can’t not mention it because it drives me out of my mind because I was taught the exact opposite. Get the fucking heat. Make it look good. Make it look real and make it look like chaos and get the fuck out before you wear out your welcome and they do the opposite thing. So I have to bring it up, but at the same time, we’ve probably I guess accepted that this is the way a lot of this is going to be these days.”
You can check out a clip from the podcast below:
(H/T to Joshie Lopez and WrestlingHeadlines.com for the transcription)
