Jimmy Korderas Says Plane Ride From Hell Was Not His Scariest Flight

The fallout from the Dark Side of the Ring episode about the infamous “plane ride from hell” has been severe. Even wrestling legend Ric Flair has been forced to face stiff consequences for his role in the horrible events that took place aboard that charter jet. Tommy Dreamer was fired from multiple jobs because of his insensitive comments.

Long-time WWE referee Jimmy Korderas was on that flight. Recently, he spoke with The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Korderas was asked about how accurate he thought the Dark Side episode’s account of the events was.

“For the most part, from what I heard, yeah, [it was accurate]. Let me put it to you this way, we were seated at this table. There was a table there, and we were playing cards and we were right beside the incident with Curt Hennig and Brock [Lesnar] when they slammed into the emergency exit door right opposite us. And that’s when I cranked up that seatbelt. I didn’t know, I just didn’t want to get sucked out at 30,000 feet, but we didn’t know that you can’t unlock that door unless it’s unlocked from the from the flight deck, the cockpit.

Like many others aboard the jet, Korderas feared for his life. He also revealed that the flight wasn’t even the craziest he’s ever seen. Jimmy shared a story about a near-death experience he had on another WWE charter flight.

The charter flight was on its way to Australia. During a refueling stop, Korderas thought the plane might legitimately crash. He refers to that flight as the “real” plane ride from hell.

“It was on the third attempt that we finally landed after we thought that we’re going down. I hate to put it this way. Everybody’s looking at Ric Flair because he’s the only guy on the plane that’s been in a plane accident. So they’re looking to see him react. Big Show’s seat broke and landed in Brian Hebner’s lap. It was insane, and then we finally landed on the ground. We hit the ground. There’s these cross winds and snow, and it’s a blizzard. We make to the ground. Everybody’s like, ‘Yes, thank you.’ We’re not getting off, but apparently, where we landed was a Russian military airport.”

Korderas is famous for his 22-year stint as a WWE referee. He has been unlucky enough to have been involved in other terrible situations. Jimmy was the referee in the ring during Owen Hart’s deadly fall in 1999.

Which flight do you think was scarier? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks to WrestlingInc. for the quotes and interview!