WWE News

Jim Cornette On Why AEW’s TV Viewership Is Declining

Jim Cornette AEW Article Pic 2 WrestleFeed App

Below are the top pro-wrestling (WWE & AEW) news stories of the day:

• Jim Cornette On Why AEW’s TV Viewership Is Declining

On a recent episode of his weekly ‘Jim Cornette Experience’ podcast, the legendary NWA/WWF Manager explained why the TV viewership of Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling shows are declining lately and continue to do so.

Here’s what Cornette said:

“People always ask me on Twitter, ‘Cornette, ratings have gone down even with your boys, [CM] Punk and [Bryan] Danielson on the show’. I mean, I already said earlier that they are making them less special now.

Over the last 4-5 weeks, they have gone down again from 1.2 million to 800,000. They put themselves in a position where once something works for them, whether it is somebody on TV or whatever, they hotshot a couple more weeks, and then they take away the freshness and go back to 800K.

I have been saying this for months, it is a pattern. New talent, big name, hotshot deal, 1.2 million, and then they drop back again because you cannot hotshot every week and have a surprise debut every week. And if they had held back, hold it back so CM Punk only wrestled once in 3 weeks.

You won’t be happy hearing a Punk promo? No! Instead, they use it up, and they are back where they started from. And then they bring in the next one, and ratings are back up because it is not the matches, it is the debuts that are usually brand new in the company.”

James E. Cornette, who used to be a manager on WWF TV from 1993 until 1998, is widely considered AEW’s biggest critic by far.

WATCH: Lana In A Hot Outfit (Part 6):

• Spoiler On The Plans For The Ongoing Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar Rivalry

As seen on last week’s episode of SmackDown, Brock Lesnar returned and made Sami Zayn get his Universal Title match against Roman Reigns on that night, instead of the WWE Day 1 PPV.

Lesnar then talked to Sonya Deville and made it official that the winner of this Title match will defend the Title against him at Day 1.

Before the main event, Lesnar assaulted Zayn. Roman then quickly defeated Sami to retain the Universal Title.

The main event of the WWE Day 1 PPV will now be Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.

According to the Wrestling Observer, this upcoming PPV match won’t be the end of their feud:

“Regarding Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar as the main event for Day 1, this is scheduled to be a multi-match series and this being one of the matches in the series.”

Roman Reigns & Brock Lesnar have wrestled each other in several big main event matches since 2015.

Below is a list of their past singles matches:

– WrestleMania 31 (Seth Rollins cashed-in his Money In The Bank contract during the match and won)

– WrestleMania 34 (Brock Lesnar won)

– WWE Greatest Royal Rumble 2018 (Brock Lesnar won)

– WWE SummerSlam 2018 (Roman Reigns won)

– WWE Crown Jewel 2021 (Roman Reigns won)

So they are basically even (2-2) when it comes to winning singles matches against each other, which makes their upcoming WWE Day 1 PPV match on January 1st even more interesting.

WATCH: Lana In A Hot Outfit (Part 2):

• Complete Results From Tonight’s RAW

– WWE Champion Big E def Kevin Owens in a Steel Cage Match to kick off tonight’s RAW (After the match, a brawl broke out between Big E, Owens & Seth Rollins, which ended with Big E standing tall. Bobby Lashley then attacked all 3 men during the commercial break)

– WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Queen Zelina Vega def. Nikki A.S.H.

– A fan asked for an autograph backstage. Nikki A.S.H. thought the fan wants her autograph, but the fan said she wasn’t talking to her, she meant Jerry “The King” Lawler, who then showed up.

– The Street Profits def. AJ Styles & Omos via count-out (After the match, Omos walked away from AJ. Riddle asked AJ what’s going on between him & Omos, AJ claimed it’s just a minor miscommunication)

– Damian Priest (c) def. Robert Roode to retain the United States Championship (Dolph Ziggler superkicked Priest after the match)

– Bianca Belair def. Doudrop via Count-Out

– Edge appeared on Miz TV and set up his match with The Miz at the WWE Day 1 PPV on January 1, 2022.

– The Mysterios (Dominik & Rey Mysterio) def. Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable) [The Mysterios will face The Street Profits next week, with the winners facing RK-BRO for the RAW Tag Team Titles at the WWE Day 1 PPV]

– Finn Balor def. T-BAR (Austin Theory attacked Balor after the match)

– In a backtage segment, Reggie saved 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke from getting pinned by Tamina.

– Becky Lynch (c) def. Liv Morgan to retain the RAW Women’s Championship (Becky pinned Liv by holding the bottom rope, the same way she pinned Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series 2021)

WATCH: Charly Caruso’s Buns Exposed:

• Shawn Michaels Reveals What He Told Triple H After Heart Procedure

WWE Hall Of Famer Triple H underwent a heart procedure a few months ago, and hasn’t returned full-time to his backstage WWE job yet.

Triple H runs NXT (now NXT 2.0) along with Shawn Michaels & other team members.

During a recent interview with Jim Varsallone, HBK revealed what he told his fellow DX member after the heart procedure:

“I’ve told him, ‘I don’t care how good you are, you stay away, get healthy, concentrate on you’.

The thing is, he put in a fabulous team here, and that’s why it’s able to continue on without him because he put phenomenal people in place.

The team he put in place was prepared for these kind of days, and we want him to get healthy.”

Also Read: Triple H’s 1st Interview Since Heart Procedure

WATCH: Fan Slaps Alexa Bliss’ Buns:

• “WWE has become a victim in many respects of its own massive, global success” – Eric Bischoff

During a recent interview on former WWE announcer Renee Young’s Oral Sessions podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff talked about WWE and the reason why their product isn’t what it used to be.

Bischoff basically blamed WWE’s past success for what they eventually ended up becoming, but he wouldn’t be Easy E if he wouldn’t have the solution for their issues.

Here’s what the 2021 WWE Hall of Famer said:

“I think TV needs to change, especially episodic TV that’s on 52 weeks a year, particularly when you’ve got the sheer volume 5 hours in prime time, two of those on a major network. It’s a lot of content, and that’s part of the challenge, I think.

WWE has become a victim in many respects of its own success, massive, global success. But because they’re servicing that massive, global appetite, they’ve got to keep moving fast. They’ve got to move fast. I think there’s always an urgency when you’re trying to keep up with how TV audiences are changing, how the competitive landscape is changing.

And when you’re faced with the sheer volume of content that WWE produces and the natural evolution of the audience and the entertainment that it searches for, it’s tough to actually get anything done. Because in order to effect a change and determine whether it’s a good or bad change, you have to give it time.

It’s not like flipping a switch. You can’t walk into a dark room, flip on a switch and go, ‘Oh, I can see everything now.’ Sometimes you got to let the audience adapt to the change in order to register whether it’s a good change or not.”

WATCH: Hot Footage Of Renee Young In A Bikini:

• “What kind of delusional nonsense is that?” – Eric Bischoff Reacts To Recent Incident With Madusa

On a recent episode of his weekly ’83 Weeks’ podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff revealed that former WCW Women’s Wrestler Madusa (aka Alundra Blayze in the WWF) seemed to have some memory issues on a recent Q&A panel, which they attended together.

Here’s what the 2021 WWE Hall of Famer had to say:

“Here’s a funny thing about Madusa. I did a show with Madusa a couple of weeks ago in Milwaukee, and Madusa was absolutely convinced that I was the one that dropped the belt in the trash. We were doing a Q&A in a panel in front of a bunch of people, and Madusa is going, ‘I didn’t do it, you did it’.

I said, ‘Madusa, it was your idea, number one, not mine. And number two, you’re the one that dropped it in the trash’, and she denied it. Like she is in some kind of delusional alternate universe because she didn’t want the heat from being actually the person that dropped it in the trash. So, she tried to fade that heat to me.

I didn’t understand it at all, and low and behold, I went back and looked at the clip, and indeed, it was Madusa. It was Madusa who dropped the WWE Women’s Championship in the garbage. Disgusting thing to do! Disgusting! And then, even more disgusting, she tries to blame it on me. What kind of delusional nonsense is that?

Oh yeah, she is not opposed at all of making money off of it, but she wants to put the heat on me because she doesn’t remember anything the way it actually happened. She is delusional. Go ahead and sign little miniature trash cans. I don’t care. But damn, at least be honest about this stuff.”

Madusa wrestled for Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling from 1991 until 1993 and again from 1995 till she retired in 2001.

Also Read: “I was good to Wrestling, Wrestling wasn’t good to me” – Madusa

WATCH: Stacy Keibler’s Skirt Pulled Down:

• “He had money dripping off of him” – Hall Of Famer On Seeing Hulk Hogan & The Rock For The 1st Time Ever

On a recent episode of the ‘Stories With Brisco And Bradshaw’ video podcast, Old School WWF Legend The Honky Tonk Man revealed his reaction of seeing Hulk Hogan for the first time, as well as him having the exact same reaction when he – several years later of course – saw Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson for the first time.

Here’s what the longest Intercontinental Champion in history had to say:

“[Hogan] drew one hell of a house down there in Dothan, Alabama with Harley Race, they were at the football stadium there turning people away.

16-18,000 People they packed in there for that thing. I knew the minute I saw him though, I knew the minute I saw this boy walk in, he had this thing about him. I mean he had money dripping off of him.

It was like looking at that boy The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, that kid he had money dripping off of him at 12 years old. He was just that kind of kid. They just have it, some guys just have it.”

The Honky Tonk Man wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation from 1986 until early 1991 and returned as a manager from 1997 till 1998.

He later appeared sporadically on WWE TV & PPVs between 2008 and 2013, before finally taking his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.

WATCH: Brooke Hogan’s (Hulk Hogan’s Daughter) Private Photos Leaked:

• “I don’t think it’s right” – Ric Flair On Steve Austin Not Owning The ‘Stone Cold’ Nickname Trademark

On a recent episode of his new ‘Wooooo Nation Uncensored’ podcast, 2-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair revealed that Steve Austin does not own the trademark of his ‘Stone Cold’ nickname.

According to Flair, Austin doesn’t seem to own his intellectual property, but WWE does.

Here’s what The Nature Boy said:

“Steve doesn’t own Stone Cold, believe it or not, I don’t think it’s right and he should have it but when they get a hold of it, they’re going to keep it. They have their reasons and I’m not the one making those calls. I own my stuff.”

WATCH: Ronda Rousey In A Bikini:

• Former WWE Superstar Blames Evolution For Team Angle’s Split-Up

During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Ruthless Aggression Era Veteran Charlie Haas talked about his WWE career and how he started out as a member of Team Angle, alongside Shelton Benjamin and WWF Legend Kurt Angle.

Here’s what Haas had to say about the former stable:

“It should have been longer. What people do not get is, at the time, we were getting hot on Team Angle on Friday Night SmackDown. Who was getting hot on Monday Night RAW? That was Evolution.

But when they have 4 guys and you have 3, when they do the mixed pay-per-views, we were getting better reactions than them. I really do not care what they say, you can ask Kurt Angle that, Shelton may not say because he is with WWE now, but we were getting a better reaction than they were.

I think that had a lot to do with, ‘okay, now it is time to split them’ because they kept Evolution going. That is just the way it is.”

Team Angle formed on SmackDown in December of 2002 and was managed by none other than Paul Heyman.

In June 2003, Haas & Benjamin were fired from the group and went on to be known as ‘The World’s Greatest Tag Team’ from that point onwards.

WATCH: Natalya Brutally Spanks Her Sister:


        
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