Jim Ross Addresses Jim Cornette’s Criticism That AEW Wrestlers Are Too Small, Says Fans Should Want All Promotions To Succeed

On the latest edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed Jim Cornette’s criticism that AEW wrestlers are too small, and how he feels that everyone should root for all promotions to be successful. Highlights are below.

On Jim Cornette’s crticism that AEW wrestlers are too small: “We’re still friends. We never agreed on all kinds of things because, he’s the kind of guy that very rarely has a compromising moment. He’s very set in his ways, he knows what he likes, he knows how wrestling, in his view, should be positioned, and I’m not disagreeing with that. It’s just that sometimes the message gets a little bit, I think, course, very overly generalized. We know what we have, we know what we need. I think basically Corny is pointing out the obvious. He is not providing any information that I’ve seen that is new and revolutionary. It’s the same thing many of us say behind the scenes. There are things we need to do, but look, these kids are working their asses off, Conrad, and they’re not all giants, but you go back and look, your father in law, Ric Flair, is not a giant, he did pretty good in his career. He might be six feet, he might be. Buddy Rogers was 5’8″ or 5’9″, Jim Londos was 5’6″, go back all these years, every generation, some of the biggest, Verne Gagne was 6’0″.”

On wanting everyone to do well, not just AEW: “NWA Pro, I want those guys to do well. NWA, all of them, we all have friends. As long as I’ve been in the business, there’s not a wrestling company in the world that I don’t know somebody. Somebody at some level of influence. So for me to have such a narrow minded, ignorant point of view that I want their brands to suffer so my brand can grow is, I’m being a coward. It’s like I tell our guys now, I don’t care what NXT does, I don’t care who is on that show, it’s irrelevant to me, I want them to do well, I have friends that work there, that have been working there a long time. There are people there that I signed. Randy Orton’s hotter than hell right now, I signed Randy Orton, you think I want Randy Orton to fail? Of course not. So that’s how I look at it, is if you’re a wrestling fan, either support everybody and their families to make a living or just hold all your overt criticism to yourself. It’s a negative influence and the more negative you bring in to your life, you feel like you gotta carry it around and distribute your negative bullshit, distribute it some place else, I’m not interested. I want everybody to do well in our business.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Grilling Jr with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.