Jim Cornette Unloads on AEW’s In-Ring Style Following Ospreay-Swerve’s 5.5-Star Rating

Jim Cornette used the Forbidden Door 2026 main event as his latest launching pad to attack AEW’s in-ring philosophy, and he didn’t hold back.

The match in question — Will Ospreay vs. Swerve Strickland — earned a 5.5-star rating from veteran wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, putting it among the most acclaimed bouts of the year. For Cornette, that acclaim only made his criticism more pointed. On his podcast, he argued that the modern AEW main-event style prioritizes spectacle over the fundamentals that make professional wrestling credible.

“Good Lord. Every finish, every piece of excess, they bury the referee, ignore the rules, act like video game characters, and kick out of everything to the point where it’s not only unbelievable, it’s ridiculous,” Cornette said. “They fulfill their own self-aggrandizing, masturbatory fantasies because they think, ‘Well, nobody deserves to get out of here before 12:30 in the morning. We’re going to do what we want.'”

He went further, arguing that the obsession with elaborate sequences has eroded the basic building blocks of the craft — strikes, arm drags, Irish whips, positioning, and ring psychology.

“It’s a whole different scale because when you look at the overall level of the rottenness of the basics of how guys work today, because they’re all concentrating on trying to do these convoluted spots, set up cool sh*t, and work with the furniture, everybody’s punches, arm drags, Irish whips, basic holds, and basic positioning have fallen to hell,” he said.

To frame his broader point, Cornette reached for a filmmaking analogy: “I think it’s like having a movie with a really good story, but you hire a guy from the front of Home Depot to be the cinematographer and it ends up looking like a home movie. That takes away from it. You can do all your spots and all your furniture, but if you can’t actually make the sh*t in the middle look right, I’m deducting points. Screw you.”

None of this represents a shift in Cornette’s position — he has consistently been one of AEW’s loudest critics since the promotion launched, and his objections to its faster-paced, high-spot-driven style have been a recurring theme for years. But with Ospreay vs. Swerve drawing some of the strongest critical praise of 2026, he clearly felt the moment called for a full-throated response.