The “cartoonish” pro wrestling of the 1990s and early 2000s, according to former AEW star Joey Janela, is to blame for the current decline in viewership.
In response to the most recent exchange between AEW’s Kenny Omega and the legendary Jim Cornette, on which Mark Madden, a former WCW personality, also commented, Janela created the viral series of tweets today.
During a recent Twitch stream, Omega stated to Cornette, “When he realized he could make money by delivering hateful speech, he backed himself into a corner, and now, if he wants to make rent, if he wants to buy his fancy McDonald’s double cheeseburger meal, he has to talk about the things that are going to get attention and a lot of the time, that’s going to be yours truly.”
As PWMania.com previously reported, on his podcast, Cornette responded, claiming that Omega had destroyed the pro wrestling industry by making it into a joke.
Cornette said, “…You ruined a pastime, a hobby, an interest and entertainment that a lot of us had and some of us [had] professionally, for years and years and decades and decades, because it’s just so silly and phony and stupid and illogical. And you’ve made wrestling something to be laughed at and you admit that it should be fun, we should all laugh and have fun at the silliness. Well, guess who’s laughing now Twinkle Toes? Because I’ve got 75 to 80% of the wrestling fans that loved wrestling and don’t watch it anymore because people like you on my side. And you’ve got the remaining people that will eat that Elmer’s glue and thank you for the ice cream – the kind of people who like that kind of thing. So I think the roles are reversed here. Because when you talk about me I trend you don’t trend.”
Cornette continued, “…So Kenny, you’ve been on TV in this country for three years. Pfftt! So if we want to compare relevance and star power and mainstream recognition, I’ve been on TV in this country most of the time for the past 40 years, you’ve been on TV in this country for three years, I’ve spent more time in a fucking wrestling locker room than you’ve been alive. I think if we actually did the math, we can probably verify that I’ve been in more locker rooms than at least time that he spent either awake or asleep. So I hate to break it to you Harpo, but I ain’t trying to be a star off of you. You’re trying to do some damage control with me and discredit me, because I just have the platform to bring up what everybody can already see about you. You’re an insufferable twat, a douchebag and a shitty wrestler is what you are. So embrace it, embrace it! And because that’s what your friends are, too, they should embrace that as well. The problem is, they act like insufferable douchebags on television as heels, but they act like phony insufferable douchebags on TV. If they just act naturally and be the real insufferable douchebags they might get some fucking heat.”
In his response, Madden echoed Cornette’s sentiments and stated that the majority of the responsibility for the declining audience must fall on today’s top performers.
“Cornette’s right about one thing: Less people watch wrestling than at any time previous in America. &those performing at the top have to absorb much of that blame,” Madden wrote.
In response, Janela said that MMA had reduced pro wrestling viewership.
Janela wrote, “People don’t watch it anymore because they know what the deal is and MMA exists, the guys on the top now have shouldn’t take any blame. Blame the cartoonish 90s & early 2000s if anything guys like Kenny have made strikes & moves look more dangerous & more real than ever before.”
Janela also shared his thoughts on who makes up the pro wrestling industry in 2022.
“Wrestling has always been aimed at children, a casual fan in 2022 is a father who watches wrestling because their child likes it & eventually 75% of those children will grow up to be teens and stop watching it because its weird and they want to have an actual social life..,” he wrote. Janela added in a follow-up tweet, “Then there’s us morons who like it so much, we decide to get in the business inducing brain damage on ourselves so weird old men can go on Twitter and talk shit about us because they wanna reminiscence their youth because they are old and miserable as fuck and near almost dead..”
Here are the full tweets, along with audio from Cornette’s podcast:
People don’t watch it anymore because they know what the deal is and MMA exists, the guys on the top now have shouldn’t take any blame.
Blame the cartoonish 90s & early 2000s if anything guys like Kenny have made strikes & moves look more dangerous & more real than ever before. https://t.co/Z44SwfBUr9
— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) July 13, 2022
Then there’s us morons who like it so much, we decide to get in the business inducing brain damage on ourselves so weird old men can go on Twitter and talk shit about us because they wanna reminiscence their youth because they are old and miserable as fuck and near almost dead..
— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) July 13, 2022
