Friday Night SmackDown superstar “King” Baron Corbin did not mince any words on Tuesday, as he took to social media and called out Wrestling Observer Newsletter founder Dave Meltzer for how he has negatively influenced professional wrestling fandom in general.
As explained by PWMania , Corbin made the comments while responding to an Instagram user, who was airing their thoughts on the rumored John Cena vs. Elias match at WrestleMania 36 . The user shared a screenshot of a tweet from a fan who believes today’s wrestling audiences “don’t have a mind of their own,” given that they appear to be largely influenced by Meltzer’s opinions on his publication or on Wrestling Observer Radio . In this situation, Meltzer reportedly referred to the purported match as “underwhelming.”
In a lengthy reply to the user’s post, Corbin expressed his thoughts about the veteran wrestling journalist, calling him out for supposedly inspiring negativity among fans of the sport.
“People need to realize he is a cancer to the entire wrestling industry not just wwe. He inspires hatred to anything and everything he doesn’t like or agree with. For example I may not like a band and that’s fine. But what separates us is I don’t have to continually bash them online or work to get others to hate them as well. I don’t have the time or energy to be that negative of a person.”
The above comments were just the latest from Corbin that addressed certain trends in the wrestling industry. Late last month, the 35-year-old wrestler talked about the perception he has “go away heat” from fans, saying that he takes pride in legitimately annoying audiences with his character. As quoted by Wrestling Inc ., he suggested that the above term was made up by people to disguise the fact that they feel “anger” and “frustration” when they see him in the ring.
According to WhatCulture , Corbin is not the first WWE superstar to publicly blast Meltzer for one reason or another. In November, the journalist reported that Seth Rollins made a “rah-rah” speech to inspire his coworkers as he tried to lift their spirits following the controversial fallout from Crown Jewel . As reports began to circulate regarding how Rollins’ colleagues did not take too well to the pep talk, the Monday Night Raw star accused Meltzer of spreading inaccurate rumors. The writer, however, eventually apologized for the slip-up.
Comparing Rollins’ issues with Meltzer with the ones raised by Corbin on Instagram, WhatCulture also opined that the erstwhile “Monday Night Messiah” had a legitimate reason to be angry. As for the former NFL offensive lineman, the publication wrote that Corbin seemingly “doesn’t understand” that Meltzer was simply doing his job as a critic this time around.
As of this writing, Meltzer has yet to comment on Corbin’s remarks.