Elijah Burke Weighs in on Fan Reaction Towards Jim Cornette NWA Powerrr Comments

During a match between NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis and former WWE Tag Team Champion Trevor Murdoch on NWA Powerrr, Jim Cornette made a comment that was heavily criticized.

“Trevor Murdoch is mad, bad, and dangerous. He’s the only man I know that can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia.”

Pretty sure I just watched my final episode of @nwa powerrr. pic.twitter.com/kAoa3f5Ur1

— Uncle Nephew Cam (@CeeHawk) November 19, 2019

This is not the only time he has said this line, as it is repeated from a March 6, 1995 WWE show where he was commentating.

#NWAPowerrr wasn't the first time Jim Cornette made the fried-chicken-Ethiopia joke. Here's a clip from March 6th, 1995. pic.twitter.com/h3APMzGHl3

— Art O'Donnell (@Art0Donnell) November 20, 2019

On the latest episode of the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Elijah Burke shared his thoughts on social media heavily criticizing Cornette’s remarks.

“I think that you just, with the way the world is changing, there’s obviously things that need to be thought out before it is said. America is in such as sensitive state right now. A very sensitive, and somewhat frail at times, it appears, state of mind, of thinking, of how we react to this, that, and the other.”

He then shared a situation where he was at Denny’s, and he felt slighted by a server. He stated that the issue was with him and the server, not him in the company, tying this example into how fans should not look at NWA, but Cornette’s individual actions. “I’m not going to boycott Denny’s because I took issue with what this individual said, or how they acted towards me and my family,” said Burke.

He added, “I’m not the biggest fan of Denny’s, but when I’m on the road, when it’s time to eat, I’m not going to say I’m not going to Denny’s because of an issue I had with an employee.”

 

Burke feels that people have to “walk on eggshells” in today’s society, and shared more on why he does not feel that wrestling fans should boycott NWA as a whole for what Cornette did.

“We have a new crop of fans who have been raised in this sensitive era now, where anything and everything said can be, ‘oh, that offensive!'”

Regarding Cornette’s comment, Burke stated that he was trying to be “cleverly entertaining,” and “cleverly 80s,” “but it’s not the 80s anymore, and it should have been caught.” This, to Burke, both falls on Cornette and the NWA production team.

This afternoon, NWA broke the news that Cornette has made the decision to resign from NWA, following the backlash of his remarks.

Jim Cornette resigns from National Wrestling Alliance

Statment from the @NWA – https://t.co/BmtARaXQUe

— NWA (@nwa) November 20, 2019

“Effective immediately: Jim Cornette has resigned from the National Wrestling Alliance. As an announcer on the November 19th edition of NWA Power, Jim made remarks during a singles match between Nick Aldis and Trevor Murdoch that were both offensive and do not meet the high standards of decency and good faith of the National Wrestling Alliance.

To ensure that such an error can never happen again, we’ve established new procedures of review for all NWA programming going forward.

We sincerely regret our failure in this regard.”

Cornette promises to share his thoughts on his upcoming podcast. However, it will be with many of his fans who are minorities demanding an explanation, especially after a very racist-sounding audio has been leaked regarding a conversation about black fans and slavery.

Follow Chris Featherstone @chrisprolific and the Pancakes and Powerslams Show @cravewrestling. Subscribe to the Pancakes and Powerslams Show via the Crave Wrestling YouTube page.