News

Jim Cornette Names WWE Star As Wrestler Of The Year

Jim Cornette

Jim Cornette is never shy of an opinion or two and now he has had his say on who he believes has been the top wrestler of 2023.

Jim Cornette has slammed the AEW Full Gear match between Hangman Adam Page and Swerve Strickland and neither of those two men or any other AEW stars were in contention to be named Cornette’s top wrestler of the year.

Speaking on his Drive Thru podcast, Jim Cornette overlooked Roman Reigns’ dominance in WWE to name LA Knight as his top wrestling star of the year:

Even if you don’t wanna go with the obvious that is Roman Reigns right? Would you then not have to go with – and let me say why Roman is obvious for the people who might not know because he’s on top of the biggest company in the world and all the shows he’s on top of draw better than the ones he’s not on.

But then also you have to be realistic, at this point would that not be the LA Knight f*cking award? If Cody was inspirational because he came back from his injury, he’s the most popular babyface in the business, is Knight not the wrestler of the year, the guy who’s now the second most popular babyface in the business and this time last year, or maybe even more recently was a goddamn joke manager of a modelling agency.

What kind of turnaround – how has that ever happened this quickly in the wrestling business that you go from you hate the gimmick you’re doing, everybody else hates the gimmick you’re doing and you’re not doing it very well and they’re about to fire you to you’re a goddamn superstar and you’re the main event of a $50 million sold show in Saudi Arabia in nine months.

LA Knight Has Always Been This Good Says Jim Cornette

When it was suggested to Jim Cornette that this would perhaps make Knight more likely to be “most improved” rather than “wrestler of the year,” Cornette countered by saying his skills haven’t improved, he’s just overcome bad booking in WWE to become a star:

He didn’t improve, he’s always been that good. He overcame bad booking and made them use him, I’d say that’s wrestler of the year. Yeah!

LA Knight was unsuccessful in his quest to become WWE Universal Champion at Crown Jewel but he is currently joint favourite to win the men’s Royal Rumble in 2024 alongside The Rock according to the bookmakers.

If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJR Wrestling for the transcription.