Tony Khan's "stupid" decision to re-sign former AEW champion blasted by WWE veteran

WWE veteran Jim Cornette calls Tony Khan's decision to re-sign former AEW Champion Riho "stupid.''

After being absent for weeks due to injury, the inaugural AEW Women's Champion Riho returned to AEW TV in February and picked up a victory over Trish Adora on Rampage.

In a recent Reddit post, it was stated that in an interview, the Japanese star disclosed that she made ¥60 million, which is around $400,000, in AEW in 2023.

This amount is way more than what she made on her last STARDOM run. Plus, she hasn't been very active on TV since joining the promotion back in 2019, which has sparked confusion and interest among people regarding her pay slip.

Speaking on the topic of Riho's AEW salary on his Drive Thru podcast, Jim Cornette said that if Tony Khan is indeed paying her the said amount, then it is "stupid" to invest so much in her.

He said, "Riho couldn’t turn down 400 grand a year either. Is it something that Tony would have done based on whoever say so? Probably. Maybe. It’s not out of… It’s not ridiculous. But at the same time, it could also be her saying, 'Oh well'... Maybe that’s a little more than she made or considerable if it’s $200,000 and that’s an unofficial count."

He added:

"The guy said she wrestled like 10 times. Do you think she could’ve wrestled more than 20 or 25? Even doing dark matches on YouTube or whatever? (...) My God, if she’s making half of that and she had 20 matches then $200,000 for 20 matches, he paying her 10 grand a match. It’s getting a little bit more believable although stupid." [From 03:03 to 04:29]

Check out the video below:

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Jim Cornette praises WWE's Samantha Irvin

A few days ago, Jim Cornette reviewed the WWE Backlash France PLE on his Jim Cornette Experience podcast. During the conversation, he was full of praise for Samatha Irvin and lauded her performance as a ring announcer.

"I will say coming good out of this match [Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton]. Samantha Irvin has sold me or, won me, or bought me. She's got me in her camp... whatever the term is. I'm a Samantha Irvin fan now. The inflections, the facials, she's standing there. She's doing a good job. I wanted to praise her there," he said.

Samatha joined WWE in hopes of being a wrestler but couldn't qualify. Instead, she was later hired to be a ring announcer for WWE 205 Live in 2021. She was then shifted to NXT. In January 2022, she got promoted to SmackDown and then moved to RAW in February 2023.