Jim Cornette on Seth Rollins Being Hurt By His Comments About Becky Lynch’s Pregnancy, Says It’s Just About the Timing

On a recent episode of Jim Cornette’s Drive Thru, Cornette discussed Seth Rollins’ reaction to his comments criticizing Becky Lynch for taklng a hiatus from WWE to have a baby while she’s at the top of the company. This is a bit of a story so bear with me. Cornette discussed Lynch’s pregnancy in a lengthy diatribe earlier this month where he expressed disbelief that Lynch was taking time off at the peak of her career to have a child, noting (per Essentially Sports):

“You can’t always be on top of the wrestling business in a $1 million a year spot or more, but you can — what is she? Can she be 30? Well, still she’s got many more years before the f**king Easy-Bake Oven gets shut off. She can have all those problems like a descended stomach; and stretch marks; and hemorrhoids; and hormone problems; and mood swings; and all those other joys of motherhood later on when she ain’t making a million dollars a year.”

Rollins addressed those comments on After the Bell, saying that Cornette’s comments “hurt my feelings on a personal level because Jim Cornette is someone who’s a legend in our industry … for him to come out and say some real negative things—some real misogynist things about women in general and pregnancy and the industry—it kind of caught me off guard.”

All caught up? Cool. Anyway, Cornette then in turn addressed Rollins’ comments about him, which you can check the highlights and full audio from below:

On Rollins saying he was hurt over Cornette’s comments: “Honestly, I feel bad that I hurt Seth Rollins’ feelings. I seriously, legitimately — this is not part of a bit — I felt bad that I hurt his feelings. I wouldn’t have felt bad if I made him mad. Because people in the wrestling business get mad all the time, right? And I figured it might get mad, because when I was criticizing the timing of the incident, he had a hand in the timing. So I thought he might get a little mad about that. And you know, people get mad all the time and blah blah blah. But when he said that it hurt his feelings, that made me feel bad. Because I did not believe that I said anything that should have hurt Seth Rollins’ feelings.”

On his comments about Lynch: “The bone of contention where I hurt his feelings was that I said bad things about his wife. And obviously that would hurt someone’s feelings, but … let’s go back and, did I say anything bad about Becky Lynch as a talent or as a person? I said she was the biggest female wrestling star and maybe the biggest wrestling star in the world because there ain’t a lot of big male stars these days. That’s not bad. I said she was a female Stone Cold that put her f**king — that she was a huge huge box office draw, and the most important member of the women’s division. I never said anything about her, her looks? I think she’s a very attractive young lady.

“I did paint less than rosy picture about the physical effects of pregnancy. But I have heard these things, never having been pregnant myself, from all the pregnant women I’ve ever heard talk about being pregnant, have said these things happen. Did I quote any side effects of pregnancy that do not exist? I don’t believe I did. But I didn’t say anything bad about Becky Lynch as a person, I put her over as a talent. And I was talking about the astonishing timing of the situation.

On the timing issue: “I didn’t say anything bad about Becky Lynch, besides the fact that she had gone and got pregnant at a time when she has attained a spot that few ever attain and that all aspire to in the business, and is making a s**t-ton of money. So that’s the worst thing I said about Becky Lynch.”

On Rollins accusing him of saying ‘misogynistic things about women in general and pregnancy in the industry’: “And the thing that Seth also went on to say though was the whole thing about ‘this mindset, it’s misogyn[istic], and women, and [gibberish]. The mindset must be eradicated,’ and it was like I said these horrible things about her and her mother, and her dog, and whatever the f**k. And that I hope the kid was sold in the service of Satan or whatever. This is because I said ‘What the f**k’ at the timing, and ‘You’re the biggest star in the world, and you’re making a lot of money.’ I even said on the program that aired after the fact, the next program when we followed up, this doesn’t apply to all women. I don’t — as a matter of fact, they can go and have a baby, I can’t stop them.

“But I don’t have an opinion on all women having a baby, I have an opinion on a woman having a baby when she’s in a specific instance where it throws the entire program and other co-workers and the whole f**king shooting match into disarray. Whether she be the star of the hottest television program on network television, someone who can’t be pregnant. Can you imagine, you know, when Lynda Carter was Wonder Woman, if she’d had showed up pregnant, Wonder Woman’s looking a little heavy these days. Or if the same thing would apply if it had been Ronda Rousey as UFC champion being promoted in a big PPV fight that was going to make her and other people literal tens of millions of dollars. And suddenly, ‘Nope!'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.