Jim Cornette Names NXT Wrestler That Should Headline WrestleMania

Jim Cornette has lavished praise on one WWE Superstar that impressed not only him, but wrestling fans at large with his superlative performance over SummerSlam weekend. The wrestler in question is a regular in the NXT UK brand while also appearing in NXT occasionally.

On the night after SummerSlam, NXT TakeOver: 36 took place inside the Capitol Wrestling Center. On the night that Samoa Joe recaptured the NXT Championship and Adam Cole may well have competed for the last time for the developmental brand, another two competitors stole the show.

WALTER and Ilja Dragunov fought in a hard-hitting bout for the NXT United Kingdom Championship with the Russian star ending the 870-day reign of WALTER. The match gained acclaim from fans and critics alike with it being ranked as the highest-rated WWE match of all time on Cagematch.net with a rating of 9.68 while Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer gave the match 5.25 stars. The match was also rated five stars (out of five) by TJRWrestling’s John Canton, who called it WWE’s Match of the Year so far.

Now Jim Cornette has given his thoughts on the match on his Jim Cornette’s Drive Thru podcast and sees big things in the future of WALTER:

“WALTER and Ilja Dragunov the rematch for the NXT UK Title that should be the NXT Title actually WALTER should be in the mix for well one of the world championships on the main programmes.”

“These guys just get it and I’ve said a million times WALTER projects himself and works his the way he should work better than anybody else. […] I’ve never seen him do anything but serious wrestling and I’ve never seen him do anything but get over in that room, whatever room he’s in he’s fantastic and he doesn’t try to go up to the top rope and stand there and and wait for somebody to climb because he shouldn’t be doing that and so he doesn’t. I’m sure he probably could but he won’t.”

Cornette then gave his thoughts on the end of the match that saw WALTER tap out to Dragunov. Jim Cornette says he felt the two men had done enough to make the tap out work but he wishes it was on a bigger stage for WALTER:

“If you’d said before this match oh they’re gonna have WALTER tap out and ‘oh f*ck that’s gonna kill him, he shouldn’t’ but in this case, they worked hard enough for it I didn’t mind him tapping. I wish he was tapping in the main event at WrestleMania because that’s where he ought to be.”

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You can hear Cornette’s extended thoughts on the Dragunov vs. WALTER in a clip from his podcast below.