What’s the story?
Legendary professional wrestling manager, Jim Cornette was recently on his show, The Jim Cornette Experience, and was asked about Kenny Omega. Below are a few excerpts from the show (courtesy: Wrestling Inc)
Here's the thing about Kenny Omega, everybody that listens to the program regularly knows that I've had problems with him because of his activities in Japan, embarrassing the [professional] wrestling business, exposing it, and et cetera. But with Kenny Omega, I first saw Kenny Omega in Ring Of Honor, in 2006-ish, so, and, everybody was saying, 'oh, this kid is great,' and when I watched him live, he reminded me a lot of The Ultimate Warrior, the head-shaking, the goofy expressions, he had horrible basics.
However, Cornette could tell right way that Omega was a great athlete and added that he was aware that with experience anything could happen.
In case you didn’t know...
Kenny Omega made his Ring of Honor debut in 2008, having great bouts over the years against Austin Aries. It wasn’t until 2010 that Kenny Omega began to make more appearances in Japan. His final appearance for Ring of Honor came against Christopher Daniels at ‘Death Before Dishonor VIII.’
The heart of the matter
Jim Cornette continued on in his podcast discussing the numerous times Omega had pretended to be injured so he wouldn’t have to go to a Ring of Honor show. He also went on to discuss how he felt that Kenny Omega ruined the wrestling business by having a match with a blow-up doll and a nine-year-old girl.
On the ‘six-stars’ that Dave Meltzer gave Omega’s match against Okada, Cornette had the following to say:
I watched this match and I’m sorry folks, there’s just no way, shape or form, that this match was a six-star match, let alone a five star match. They took a lot of risks, but it had such obvious cooperation and moves that nobody really can get up from, etc. Omega is a great athlete. He still has the stupid facial expressions. Calm down on the Ultimate Warrior s*it and anything that reminds me of the Ultimate Warrior instantly makes me mad because he was the worst pushed wrestler in a major promotion ever.
What’s Next?
ESPN reported that WWE is interested in pursuing Kenny Omega, and this was made official by Triple H, after coming off his performance against Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11
Sportskeeda’s take
Unless your name is Bobby Eaton, Jim Cornette just doesn’t seem to like a lot of people. I can respect how he feels about Omega as a business guy who doesn’t show up to performances when he is supposed to, but comparing him to the Ultimate Warrior and saying that the match was overrated is ridiculous.
Cornette should be in the WWE Hall of Fame, but his mouth may keep him out of it.
