"F**k you, I'm not gonna be there for four hours" - Jim Cornette on WWE legend possibly backing out of recent AEW show
Jim Cornette recently opened up on WWE legend Jim Ross possibly backing out of AEW X NJPW: Forbidden owing to its monstrous running time.
The recent pay-per-view was a smashing success, but many were critical of its run time, with the main show itself running close to four hours. It was also interesting to see Jim Ross not commentate during the whole event, but only during the final few matches, including the main event.
Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast, Jim Cornette Drive Thru, the former WWE manager shared his thoughts about the commentary during Forbidden Door. He pointed out that Jim Ross possibly chose to commentate only for a few select matches instead of working the entire pay-per-view.
Furthermore, Cornette pointed out that although AEW's broadcasters do a decent job, they are pulled back by the promotion's tendency to have too many of them at the same time in the box. He also took a sly dig at Excalibur, saying the veteran's presence often "drags down" the whole show.
"I think JR said, "f** you, I'm not gonna be there for four hours." But he was there by the end of it. They have good announcers; it's just that they usually either have too many of them at a time, or Excalibur is in the mix and drags the whole show down. (From 1:23 - 1:42)," said Jim Cornette.
Check out the full video below:
Jim Ross took a backseat even during AEW Dynamite
Not just the Forbidden Door event, but Jim Ross didn't appear for the entire duration of this week's episode of AEW Dynamite as well. Instead, the veteran broadcaster only provided commentary during the Blood and Guts Match, which took up almost the entire second hour of the event.
Following this, a report emerged revealing that the changes were part of an "experiment" by Tony Khan and AEW. Moreover, it was also noted that JR would also be working on Rampage, starting from this week's episode, a show he has only sporadically appeared on so far.
If you take any quotes from this article, please credit Jim Cornette Drive-Thru and provide a transcription credit to Sportskeeda Wrestling.