[1993-08-02-WWF-Raw] Jim Cornette debuts

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Jim Cornette debuts in the WWF! Bobby Heenan is ecstatic and runs to the ring to hug him in an awesome moment!

 

They openly acknowledge SMW and use the words "wrestling" and "belts" a lot. Vince may or may not have gone into shock at ringside.

[Bix]

This is one of those things that you would think would be remembered as a classic segment but isn't for whatever reason. Heenan literally tripping over himself with glee and doing an amazing job putting Cornette over, the huge pop from the group of heel fans freaking out, the heel comradery hug, the great Cornette promo, and of course JAMES E. CORNETTE SHOWING UP IN THE WWF WITH NO WARNING.

[Kevin Ridge]

I know Heenan wasn't managing but to me it felt like the passing of the torch to Cornette as the next main heel manager in WWF. Heenan is really excited to see Cornette and they exchange a big hug in the ring. Cool segment and great way to introduce Cornette by having him buddy buddy with Heenan.

[FLIK]

They openly acknowledge SMW and use the words "wrestling" and "belts" a lot. Vince may or may not have gone into shock at ringside.

Just listened to Cornette tell the story of coming in earlier today on 1 of his MLW podcast. Said Bruce Pritchard was the 1 who brokered the deal, it was sold to him & the Bodies as they'd come in, only work tv & ppvs & SMW would get put over on WWF TV. 3 hours before his debut at TV Vince & JR told him about the plans for him to be Yoko's manager which is what they wanted Cornette for to begin with but neglected to tell him until he was allready there.

[Bix]

Plus naming SMW on the air was to make sure nobody thought Jim folded the company overnight.

[PeteF3]

My inside knowledge at this point consisted of an account on the old Prodigy system-the Wrestling portion of the Sports BB (before it had its own) was a real shithole at this point, with some strong posters and every other post being a fake WRESTLER X DEAD/IS GAY thread. So reading alleged Raw spoilers and seeing that Jim Cornette had showed up had no effect on me--"Yeah, RIGHT." *click*

 

Then Cornette showed up on WWF television.

 

Despite the #1 promotion in the U.S. taping its television in what appears to be a parking garage, this segment is every bit as glorious as the seemingly impossible dream made it out to be. Heenan absolutely kills himself putting Cornette over--one thing that's clear in his later shoot interviews is that this fawning was legit. Heenan was a true fan of Cornette's, which makes me feel all warm and happy. So often in wrestling and elsewhere, two such people would be jealous and spiteful towards one another. Then Cornette cuts another great promo, his past almost fully acknowledged and another wrestling promotion mentioned by name on WWF programming. Just mindblowing shit.

[ajtroma]

The HUG was fabulous.

 

Everyone in sight is just sweating profusely. This is the darkest, smallest building that I've ever seen a WWF TV show come from. I like the smaller buildings for TV myself.

[PeteF3]

It actually gets worse (or better, from your perspective) in '94. The "March to WrestleMania X" venue looks worse than this--it literally looks like a building basement. They were taping all TV in the Northeast for most of the year, some of it quite literally in high school gyms.

[ajtroma]

Yeah, I remember that place. I believe the joint you're referring to was the Central High School in Liberty, NY. I dig TV shot in high schools.

[soup23]

Really fun segment but the NorthEast crowd didn't seem to get the significance and therefore they didn't react as strongly as you might think to see Heenan and Cornette hugging. A great visual to see.

[garretta]

Knowing that Corny legitimately considers Bobby the greatest manager ever adds even more to this. Of course, it helps that Bobby isn't an active manager anymore; I doubt Vince would have bothered with Corny at all if Bobby or Jimmy Hart were still managing and able to take over Fuji's duties with Yoko. By the way, this is the only time I've ever heard Bobby pit over another heel manager in character, even though he's been retired for over two years by this point.

 

Interesting that even though Corny had found out about managing Yoko, there was no reference to it here. The idea of Corny taking over Yoko's contract would have popped the crowd more than mentioning the Bodies (whom I'm betting most people in that crowd had never heard of) would have.

 

Good on Vince for not playing completely dumb. He at least acknowledged Corny and SMW, which is more than he would have done a few years earlier. This brings to four, by my unofficial count, the number of new WWF arrivals whose non-WWF past was acknowledged in some way on an official WWF TV show: Dusty, Flair, Lawler, and Corny. (Cutesy lines by Gino about guys being "no stranger to the world of wrestling", especially on local house shows, don't count.)

[Superstar Sleeze]

Had to watch this after stumbling upon this Yearbook thread! Bobby Heenan makes this segment! He is grinning like a Cheshire Cat. You can’t wipe that huge smile off his face. He seems genuinely happy and I was marking out for this. The presentation was really weird. They went from a recap of Razor/Kid/DiBiase angle to Jim Cornette just wandering out to the ring like he was lost. Heenan makes this a mark out moment for long time fans but also at least lets the 1993 Northeast crowd know they should boo this man. Surprisingly Cornette is not introduced as Yokozuna’s manager yet. This is purely a Heavenly Bodies promo to get them ready for the Steiners at Summerslam which is a really fun match. When does Corny become Yoko’s manager? Terrific segment for a fan like me; I think they could have done more in real time to help Cornette succeed but he is so good he can get over on his own out of the blue.