Jimmy Korderas Criticizes AEW For Not Enforcing Ref Counts
On a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, veteran WWE referee Jimmy Korderas returned to the podcast to discuss the fallout from WWE WrestleMania 37 week. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Korderas his thoughts on the critiques of the Adam Cole – Kyle O'Reilly unsanctioned match where there were a significant amount of kick-outs after big spots.
"Maybe to a certain extent they overdid it a little bit because that's one of my biggest gripes about the other brand out there, AEW. They take traditional finishes, and they kick out of too many," Korderas said. "I could see that point, but at the same time, I think there are certain situations where it can work, and for the most part, it did work.
"Even though, at times I thought, 'wow, maybe a little too much.' What I did like was the storytelling with the chain because that was a running theme throughout the match, and that was what caused the finish of the match. That's what was responsible. On one hand, maybe a little bit too much, but on the other hand, it also allowed the chain to be the main focus of why the match ended."
AEW Dynamite ran their first unopposed show Wednesday night that resulted in a huge ratings boost. Korderas talked about his thoughts on Dynamite, and he critiqued the referees for this inconsistency.
"To me, it's fine. I mean, I didn't look at it any differently," Korderas admitted. "I enjoyed a lot of what I saw on AEW. The one problem I still have, a gripe, is following basic rules. I get it. You want to think outside the box. At first, they announced, we're changing up the counts for the referees a little bit. After a tag, they're going to have a 10-count to switch in and out, and they're gonna have a 20-count on the outside, make it more New Japan-ish. They are no longer doing that as far as I know, but they're barely even counting when the guys are outside the ring.
"They're fighting out there far too long, and it's such an easy fix where one guy just has to roll in and roll back out and that resets the count. That's all it is. Simple, easy and to me, it's just, I hate to use this term, but it feels lazy that they don't want to address that and just tell the referees, 'Hey, don't worry about it.' Just kind of fudge the numbers and just play along, jump outside the ring. Keep checking on us, just do anything but don't count, especially when you have a main event match where there is no count outs. You have almost every match before that have extended periods on the floor."
You can follow Jimmy on Twitter @JimmyKorderas. You can find the full audio from Jimmy's interview below: