Sami Zayn and Johnny Knoxville had one of WrestleMania 38’s more beloved matches, but Jim Cornette wasn’t a fan.
Night two of WrestleMania 38 saw a wild Anything Goes match contested between Sami Zayn and Jackass star Johnny Knoxville, which has since received great adulation from fans and critics on social media. Zayn has been credited for making Knoxville look like a star in the wrestling world, while the Jackass daredevil has been hailed for delivering a brilliant performance.
Although many have heaped praise on the pair, Jim Cornette is, perhaps unsurprisingly, not a fan of the clash, saying “it stunk, it was rotten, and f*cking abominable”. Speaking on episode 238 of Jim Cornette’s Drive Thru, the legendary manager claims to have watched the match after fans online were dying to hear his opinion. His biggest issue with the match seems to be the fact it took place on WrestleMania:
“Let me remind everyone that this is the biggest wrestling event in the world, and Sami Zayn is bumping like a superball for a 50-something jackoff reality TV star in the biggest abomination of a parody of a wrestling match that has ever been held by anybody. AEW don’t have nothing on this bullsh*t, not only did they make the wrestling look like garbage, but they spent a lot of money in doing it.
We have come to find out that fat boy [Kevin] Steen and [El] Generico don’t mind making asses of themselves and doing the worst, offensive, unfunny bullsh*t and making fun of the wrestling business that they can as long as they are getting a big check, well f*ck you both! Especially Generico, at least Owens was in there with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, he got the better part of the deal. The f*cking red-headed, French Canadian here had to stooge for a goddamn brain-damaged moron.
So I am glad to see them doing well in their environment over there. [They said] My booking was cheesy? If somebody had suggested that they do this before they were making the big money, [they would say] ‘Oh how dare you?’ But they won’t put their money where their mouth is and say, ‘F*ck you. Keep your check, that’s embarrassing I won’t do it’.”
Continuing, Jim Cornette took issue with the match’s finish, where Johnny Knoxville trapped Sami Zayn in a massive mousetrap:
“And then all of the Jackasses bring in a giant mousetrap. I’m talking a 6-foot mousetrap built specifically for this. They bring it in, put Zayn on it, and Johnny Knoxville can’t figure out how to set the f*cking thing off. Instead of the metal trap that clamps down on the poor fella, it’s just a big wooden thing and it flies up and hits Knoxville in the back of the head.
Then it hits Zayn and he is pinned in the mousetrap 1,2,3. I said they are risking injury, but unfortunately, the only thing that was hurt was the wrestling business. I had to stop watching this thing because I didn’t want to watch anymore. At that point, I would have been happy if I never saw any wrestling again.”
Despite all of his controversial opinions and views, Jim Cornette is considered to have one of the greatest minds in wrestling. Now retired, he’s previously appeared for every major promotion, serving as a manager, commentator, producer, booker, and just about everything else in between.