Jim Cornette isn't the biggest fans of AEW as a whole. Sure, he has his guys, his MJFs, his FTRs, but his hatred for The Elite runs deep, with roots that extend even deeper than AEW's inception on New Year's Day 2019. And yet, sometimes Cornette makes comments on the promotion that aren't so much meant to disparage “Twinkle Toes,” or “The Cucamonga Kids” but instead to provide insight into the business and how certain situations could shake out objectively. One of those situations is the meteoric rise of Action Andretti, who debuted on Dynamite in a tune-up match for Chris Jericho and ended up securing the win over “The Ocho” in arguably the most surprising loss of his career in a very long time.

How will Andretti's run be handled now that he's under contract with AEW? Will he continue to work Dynamite and Rampage matches and magically become an AEW mainstay? Cornette certainly doesn't think so, as he explained on his Jim Cornette Experience podcast.

“He may be a good kid, I don’t know how old he is, like I said, he’s probably not going to get a lot bigger,” Cornette said h/t Sportskeeda. “But right now you can tell that he’s doing the same sh*t that everybody else does in the independent matches, running up and down the ropes and flipping and things. But he’s not ready to be even be Daniel Garcia in this environment, he’s in way over his head. We will probably never see him again on Dynamite, he’ll be on Dark or Elevation now that he’s signed, but you’ve got to do something with him.”

Is Cornette correct? Will Khan put the breaks on Andretti's push in favor of building him up slowly, as his *spoiler alert* two wins at the AEW Dark tapings clearly prove? Or will he instead become the rare AEW star who has a rocket strapped to his back and goes for gold at the tender age of 24? That's the beauty of wrestling, folks; we will soon find out.

Action Andretti is grateful for his new role in AEW.

Stopping by Busted Open Radio to discuss securing the biggest win of his career in only his 87th professional match, period – at least according to Cagematch – Andretti couldn't be more excited about the road ahead of him – talking with the jubilant excitement of a kid who just found a golden ticket in his Wonka Bar.

“I just felt grateful,” Andretti said h/t Fightful. “I couldn't believe that was the situation I was going to be in and to have that many eyes on me. Chris, right now, is doing excellent things in AEW, and has been for the past couple of years. The fact that I had the opportunity to go up against the former World Champion, just lost the Ring of Honor Championship, coming off the great run he had with that title. It was a lot, but I was super ready for it and I knew I had to show up and show out, and I feel like that's what I did. It was a really cool opportunity, I'm super grateful I got that opportunity and made the most of it, even for the victory over Chris Jericho.”

Now, according to The Wrestling Observer, Jericho has been a fan of Andretti for some time now, as he was sold on his star power based on a Dark match with QT Marshall back in October. Still, after the match was done, the match was won, and Andretti went to the back, the excitement was somehow even bigger, which, considering he literally Lambeau leap-ed into the crowd, is really saying something.
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“I just wanted to thank everybody who helped get me there because I felt there was a lot of people who believed in me and knew that I could do what I did. I wanted to show them my appreciation,” Andretti said. “When I walked to the back, I literally had all the boys and girls that were watching backstage just stand up and clap for me, give me a standing ovation. To be the new guy coming in to the locker room and have a little bit of respect like that and show me, ‘Wow, we're really impressed with your work,' is so cool because a lot of those people I look up to as well and are big fans of. To have them come up to me and say such good and positive things, it's an incredible feeling and let's me know I'm doing something right. It's such a cool thing. I love all the boys and girls backstage, they've been so nice to me. It seems like they genuinely want what is best for me and to help me out moving forward. It's a really cool feeling.”

While Cornette doesn't believe that Andretti is ready to make an immediate impact on AEW television, few expected Konosuke Takeshita to become a star when he began his excursion earlier this year, and he's now regularly wrestling the likes of Jon Moxley on television. If Andretti continues to learn from his mistakes and grow with each passing match, maybe he will experience a similar glow-up too.

“Usually, anytime I have a match, I'm just dying to watch it back right away. I just want to see what was good, what was bad, what I could have done better, how the crowd reacts. I didn't watch this one right away because of my phone blowing up and talking to people backstage. I watched it last night a couple of times.”