The Jim Cornette Experience

[Jesse Ewiak]

The irony is I bet if you showed a lot of older wrestlers in 1980, a tape of your average Memphis show, they'd declare it all terrible bullshit that was killing the business.

 

The odd thing is, I think there are some good criticisms of modern wrestling to make, even throwing out what goes on inside the ring, but Cornette goes so over the top, it's impossible to even have a conversation about.

[Johnny Sorrow]

What's annoying is he sees an old clip of something from DDT and uses that as his jumping off point to bitch about these guys.

[sek69]

The irony is I bet if you showed a lot of older wrestlers in 1980, a tape of your average Memphis show, they'd declare it all terrible bullshit that was killing the business.

 

 

 

This has been the case for every generation of older wrestlers and their feelings about the new generation. The only difference is that there weren't a million outlets back then for everyone to air their opinion.

 

Although I have to admit a podcast of 1986 Ole Anderson grumping on like Dynamite Kid or whoever would probably have been tremendous.

[Johnny Sorrow]

If I could do an Ole impression, I'd do that show in a heartbeat.

[Victator]

I thought him ripping on the Enzo video was funny. I don't disagree with him on comedy shit, but I rather hear him talk about stuff he likes. But I figured this was gonna happen after Omega made that tweet about allowing Cornette to talk about him.

Nick Bockwinkel mentioned how he knew guys from his dad's generation who would criticize Nick's generation for doing too many tackles. That they were going to hurt themselves. But everyone has to learn for themselves about slowing down.

[SomethingSavage]

I think the Experience shows have a higher ceiling, like when he deep dives on Smoky Mountain or Crockett, but they also have a lower floor, like if he talks too much about modern wrestling or politics. His interviews are mostly good, until the topic of modern wrestling inevitably comes up on them as well.

This sums it up really well.

 

Although I often disagree with Corny when it comes to most modern wrestling stuff, I still don't mind listening to what he has to say about certain things. There are some gems of insight in his reviews and breakdowns, even if it comes with a heavy dose of ranting.

 

Like, I don't want to hear about a blowup doll or Joey Ryan's penis for the 900th time. But I do get enjoyment out of him calling bullshit on some of the goofier, ass-backwards nonsense.

 

I may be in the minority on this, but I'd actually love it if he eventually got to his OVW days. I know there's still plenty to cover with SMW and his WWF run, but there are a lot of guys and cards that could make for interesting topics someday.

[Johnny Sorrow]

What I hate is that all of his shitting on the Bucks and the rest, is that he's obviously trying to make it into an angle, if only they'd bring him on to do it. And the more they say "No thanks, the more angry he gets. It's like Jim fucking Cornette worked himself into a shoot.

[Victator]

Dude that is way off base. He barely mentions the Bucks. The Bucks have more of a problem with him than he does with the Bucks. You can tell by how they really want him to acknowledge they are draws and he just makes fun of them.

If he wanted to work angles, he could find work. He could be the biggest heel in indy wrestling. Not that its hard, you just need to imply Joey Ryan's gimmick is shit and they lose it.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Dude, a couple of years ago it came out that he was sending the Bucks messages saying "We're working them, boys!" and they wanted nothing to do with it.

[Victator]

From who, the Bucks?

[Johnny Sorrow]

Yeah, but at the time, they weren't the huge stars they are now. It was just as they were getting really noticed and right after a lot of guys had bad experiences with Jim in ROH. And looking at the facts that Cornette is a worker through and through, and based on every interview I've heard with Bucks has shown them to be totally decent guys... I'm gonna go with the Bucks on this one.

[Victator]

The Bucks are vanity searching asses. it would benefit them a lot more to do something with Cornette than it would Cornette.

Do you think he could not get work as a performer if he really wanted it.

ROH sounded like a bunch of kids upset they got a real teacher after pushing around the substitute.

If I thought he was wrong, I would say it. I thought his fantasy booking for Ronda Rousey was dog shit. I think he obsesses too much with trying to compete with UFC.

[PeteF3]

Yeah, but at the time, they weren't the huge stars they are now.

 

I have no dog in this fight but that seems like a *greater* indication that they were trying to latch onto Cornette, not less.

[Mad Dog]

When a lot of that stuff came out they were already bigger stars than Cornette. The initial beef they had with him was that he convinced them to sign with RoH and then didn't us them consistently which cost them money.

[sek69]

The Bucks are vanity searching asses. it would benefit them a lot more to do something with Cornette than it would Cornette.

 

 

 

 

I get the Bucks not being everyone's cup of tea, but lol at this. There's nowhere in the world in the year of our lord 2018 that Cornette wouldn't gain more working with them than they would.

 

I mean, maybe if the Bucks did an angle at the next Mid Atlantic Reunion show they'd be the one getting a rub, but that's about it.

[Victator]

I don't see it, sorry.

[Mad Dog]

They have shirts in Hot Topic and just sold out a 10,000 seat arena for a show and probably underestimated the draw. They are way bigger than Jim Cornette is.

[Victator]

Really they sold it out?

I have not seen a Hot Topic in six years and I bet most people on this forum don't have one in their town. Even then its more accurate New Japan has shirts in Hot Topic and the Bucks are along for the ride.

I don't buy them as draws, which doesn't matter to them. They make a decent living wrestling, which is more than a lot of guys in wrestling can say.

[The Thread Killer]

I'm with Vic on this issue.

I don't think Jim Cornette wants to be a big name with today's fan, nor does he want to be "relevant" in today's wrestling scene. He's pretty much retired. He does fanfests and appearances which are driving distance from his home, but he won't fly and he hates being away from his house for more than 24 hours. He won't go on the road full time and he claims he can't physically handle being at ringside as a manager on a regular basis due to the problems with his knees. And I don't think his hatred of modern wrestling is a total gimmick, I think he legit hates a lot of it. He has carved out his own niche appealing to old school fans and ranting about modern wrestling.

Cornette was invited to Starrcast and turned it down, because he says appearing there after everything he has said about Omega and The Young Bucks (etc.) would make him a hypocrite. He could get some limited notoriety and make a bit of money by working with somebody like The Young Bucks in the short term, but he'd be slitting his own throat in the long term. His hardcore fans would view him as a sellout and stop supporting him...and if you don't think that support is real or important to him, you need look no further than his recent kickstarter campaign. He wanted to raise $25,000 to fund a graphic novel. He raised $70,000 in almost no time - certainly much less than he thought it would take.

If Cornette needs the Young Bucks for anything work related, it's as targets.

[SomethingSavage]

I'm with Vic on this issue.

I don't think Jim Cornette wants to be a big name with today's fan, nor does he want to be "relevant" in today's wrestling scene. He's pretty much retired. He does fanfests and appearances which are driving distance from his home, but he won't fly and he hates being away from his house for more than 24 hours. He won't go on the road full time and he claims he can't physically handle being at ringside as a manager on a regular basis due to the problems with his knees. And I don't think his hatred of modern wrestling is a total gimmick, I think he legit hates a lot of it. He has carved out his own niche appealing to old school fans and ranting about modern wrestling.

Cornette was invited to Starrcast and turned it down, because he says appearing there after everything he has said about Omega and The Young Bucks (etc.) would make him a hypocrite. He could get some limited notoriety and make a bit of money by working with somebody like The Young Bucks in the short term, but he'd be slitting his own throat in the long term. His hardcore fans would view him as a sellout and stop supporting him...and if you don't think that support is real or important to him, you need look no further than his recent kickstarter campaign. He wanted to raise $25,000 to fund a graphic novel. He raised $70,000 in almost no time - certainly much less than he thought it would take.

If Cornette needs the Young Bucks for anything work related, it's as targets.

This.

 

Cornette came right out and told everyone how he was invited to Starrcast, and he turned down the offer. Said he doesn't need the money and wouldn't want to look like a hypocrite. Say what you will about Cornette's personality, but I'm inclined to believe him on this one. Nobody has stated anything to the contrary, and Conrad's dropping shows three to four times a week if he wanted to clarify or correct anything.

 

The guy just genuinely hates what these guys are doing. He's passionate about what he did for a living, and so he's almost unreasonable about his disdain for these things. Not everything has to be a lie or a long con. Sometimes, people just mean what they say & that's it.

[Victator]

He seemed very uncomfortable on the show when he was working for Jarrett last year. When the Canada business happened, he seemed relived he would not be working anymore.

[DeanColes1987]

The OVW deep dive might be the best one yet, love hearing about the deals with the TV companies, sponsors and venues.

[Cox]

I just wish there were time stamps available for his shows so I could skip past the politics. I consider myself to be fairly left of center so Cornette and I share similar opinions of the current administration, but I hear enough about that stuff in my daily life, I'd prefer to avoid it on my wrestling podcasts.

[Bix]

5 hours ago, Cox said:

I just wish there were time stamps available for his shows so I could skip past the politics. I consider myself to be fairly left of center so Cornette and I share similar opinions of the current administration, but I hear enough about that stuff in my daily life, I'd prefer to avoid it on my wrestling podcasts.

There's very little on this week's show if that helps.

And yeah, this is one of the better deep dives so far. So much of this stuff is barely even talked about...was it even known that Jim booked MPPW for a while?

[GSR]

Just now, Bix said:

And yeah, this is one of the better deep dives so far. So much of this stuff is barely even talked about...was it even known that Jim booked MPPW for a while?

I've not listened to this episode yet, but this was bought up during the PWO2K re-watch last year.  Cornette's finger prints are all over some of the stuff that we watched from January 2000, and when I made the observation "anyone have any idea how much involvement Cornette had in the booking of Memphis Power Pro..." Tim Evans posted that he got it after the Doug Gilbert shoot in '99 and thinks that he had it up until the WWF pulled out of Power Pro for MCW.