Jim Cornette isn’t a fan of the way the Hardy Boyz have been used since reuniting in AEW.
After Jeff Hardy’s release from WWE back in December, it was expected that he would be joining his brother Matt in AEW as soon as his non-compete clause expired. Sure enough, he made his AEW debut on March 9th, reuniting the Hardy Boyz and even using the signature theme song that the brothers had used for years in WWE.
On the March 23rd episode of AEW Dynamite, the Hardys teamed with Sting and Darby Allin to take on Andrade Family Office members Private Party and Butcher & the Blade in an eight man Tornado Tag Team Match. During the match, Jeff Hardy did a wild Swanton Bomb from the top of a concourse onto a table below.
JEFF. HARDY. 😱
(via @AEW) pic.twitter.com/Oa4RLfdu7m
— B/R Wrestling (@BRWrestling) March 24, 2022
Speaking on The Jim Cornette Experience, legendary wrestling manager Jim Cornette criticized the use of the Hardys since reuniting in AEW, calling the March 23rd match a “garbage match with a bunch of nobodies.”
“They have reunited The Hardy Boyz, Matt and Jeff Hardy, and 2 weeks after their reunion they are in a multi man garbage match with a bunch of mid card nobodies! Is nobody going to point out that this is completely insane? Not only that, but they put them in a garbage match where there is a high probability that one or both of them is going to get injured before they can capitalise on Jeff Hardy being there at all.”
Jim Cornette went on to question why the match was booked in the first place, saying that it didn’t help with either television ratings or ticket sales.
“It didn’t help the ratings, they still did a million people, same million people they do every time they hot shot something. It isn’t on pay-per-view, so it hasn’t sold any tickets, and now he has wrestled for 2 weeks in a row against job guys. I was in too good a mood from the opening match [Punk/Harwood] to watch this, because we all knew that it was going to be the same sh*t as always and there is nothing new to say about it.
“I was fast forwarding and they were doing some ridiculous stunts and tricks, whatever they call them. They got their garbage cans and they fought in the breezeway. Then Jeff Hardy did a Swanton from 20 feet up on the side of the wall of the merchandise table onto 2 of these morons that were obviously laying there motionless, scared to death, and able to move any time that they wanted to. Then somehow the babyfaces won in a huge upset!
“2 weeks of The Hardy Boyz and it is over already? How can they do this on purpose? If you said ‘I’m going to reunite one of the most popular tag teams in the history of wrestling. Within 2 weeks they will be having sh*tty matches with underneath guys and nobody will care. I will not utilise Jeff Hardy to sell one single ticket.’ Could you believe this?!”
Jim Cornette was similarly critical of the Sami Zayn vs. Johnny Knoxville bout at WrestleMania 38, calling it an “abomination.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please link back with a h/t to Inside the Ropes for the transcription.