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The Cancellation of Jim Cornette


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How the mighty have fallen.Jim Cornette worked himself into a shoot and became the Donald Trump of pro wrestling. His followers, the Cult of Cornette, can at times make Russo fans appear calm and rational. If Cornette says something, the cult is quick to say he didn't say it, and if he did, well...Cornette didn't mean it. And if its revealed Cornette did mean it, while its just verbal Death Stranding and we all just don't get it because it's too high concept for us normal folk. It doesn't get better from there, because if we do understand what Cornette means, its not a big deal! And if it is a big deal, then we are told that tons of others have done and said much worse. Despite the crazy accusations and evidence of sexism, homophobia, racism, Islamaphobia, transphobia, death threats, etc.; business is booming at Castle Cornette. This has been a long time coming. I think we should keep the dumpster fire that is Jim Cornette self contained in this thread. :)

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I love Cornette. He's incredibly knowledgable and he shoots straight giving his honest, unfiltered opinion on everything. Every other person with a wrestling podcasts is careful of what they say about other people in the business and rarely share their true opinions because they are fishing for a job somewhere or hoping to go back to WWE. With Cornette, its different, he burnt every bridge that there is to burn long ago and simply doesn't give a fuck. I mean I'm listening right now "Warrior was a piece of shit and shouldn't have been there in the first place", on Shawn Michaels "fucking egomaniac", on HHH "don't give a fuck about him as a person", on Vince Russo "fucking moron", on AEW "what moron is approving this fucking shit" "Cody Jericho is the only match I give a shit about right now". Seriously who is that unfiltered and open in the wrestling business where every other podcast is working the fans or angling for job? Cancel Culture isn't going to affect Jim Cornette. Anybody can sound bad when taken out of context and misquoted by some random website. I've personally never heard him say anything sexist, or homophobic or racist, or remotely biggotted. I've seen claims of bigotry by people in the "wrestling media." Now I'm not going to say calling people "fucking morons" or "stupid cunts" is socially acceptable in mixed company.  There's a big difference between failing to use socially acceptable language and actual bigotry. 

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1 hour ago, joeg said:

Anybody can sound bad when taken out of context and misquoted by some random website. I've personally never heard him say anything sexist, or homophobic or racist, or remotely biggotted. I've seen claims of bigotry by people in the "wrestling media." Now I'm not going to say calling people "fucking morons" or "stupid cunts" is socially acceptable in mixed company.  There's a big difference between failing to use socially acceptable language and actual bigotry. 

Cornette himself freely admits that he frequently used the "N Word" to describe African-Americans throughout the majority of his career, and only stopped doing it relatively recently because it's no longer acceptable and people can't do things like that anymore.(?!)  If that doesn't make him racist then it certainly indicates that at the very least he has some rather glaring racial sensitivity issues. New Jack has claimed for years that Cornette is racist based on their time working together in Smokey Mountain...but I guess you have to consider the source regarding that particular accusation.  I'd hate to see pretty much anybody judged based on what New Jack says about them. :lol:

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I made my point earlier in the NWA Powerr thread. Always been a huge Corny fan. Defended him for years before he had a cult following on social media. Right now, it's just sad. 2019 has been an amazing year for pro-wrestling in term of content, pro-wrestling is evolving and tons of old-schoolers sem to be perfectly fine with that and have tons of fun with it. Corny has turned into a bitter carny. Just sad.

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Love Corny when he is talking about old wrestling. He is a brilliant storyteller and can make basically any incident interesting.

His mind is made up on some modern wrestlers though and he keeps losing his shit and screaming about them and would love to cancel them. It is what it is. A pity cuz I I don't think there are many people in wrestling who would be good at teaching how to cut promos, and Corny is definitely one of the best at it.

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3 hours ago, El-P said:

I made my point earlier in the NWA Powerr thread. Always been a huge Corny fan. Defended him for years before he had a cult following on social media. Right now, it's just sad. 2019 has been an amazing year for pro-wrestling in term of content, pro-wrestling is evolving and tons of old-schoolers sem to be perfectly fine with that and have tons of fun with it. Corny has turned into a bitter carny. Just sad.

It's his gimmick, though it doesn't help that Last is a shitty and ill-informed host who brings out all his worst tendencies.

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Jim's playing a character and it's getting him a lot of attention.  Good for him.  Do I find it annoying?  Yeah.  But I still think it'd be amazing to get to sit and talk wrestling with him sometime.  He's been everywhere and has interacted with pretty much anyone who's anyone in the business.  He's a wealth of knowledge on pro wrestling, and I'd love to get to pick his brain while he's being his actual self.

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I kept him on my radar for a long time because he does have some interesting thoughts and insights, but especially lately he seems overwhelmed by the need to scream at anyone who likes something he doesn't like. Had to mute him on twitter because the negative barrage just seemed to become nonstop.

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14 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

Cornette himself freely admits that he frequently used the "N Word" to describe African-Americans throughout the majority of his career, and only stopped doing it relatively recently because it's no longer acceptable and people can't do things like that anymore.(?!)  If that doesn't make him racist then it certainly indicates that at the very least he has some rather glaring racial sensitivity issues. New Jack has claimed for years that Cornette is racist based on their time working together in Smokey Mountain...but I guess you have to consider the source regarding that particular accusation.  I'd hate to see pretty much anybody judged based on what New Jack says about them. :lol:

No. It means he grew up in Kentucky during a time where that was considered acceptable language. It ceased to be acceptable language so hence he no longer uses the the term. If you look at anyone from that generation through a modern lense, they are going to look at best out of touch and at worst biggotted.  His views on wrestling reflect that. He grew up going to the Louisville Gardens in the 70s. Memphis was the first territory he worked. So of course the pinnacle of great wrestling to him is Memphis is the 70s and early 80s. And the further any wrestling strays from what wrestling was to him, the less enthused he will be. Its like the South Park episode where the kids are all listening to teen wave music, but to their parents it just sounds like somebody taking a shit. The exception was  Randy Marsh who insisted he loved the new teen music in a desperate attempt to seem cool and relevant to the kids. There are wrestlers of Cornette's era who will do anything to seem cool and relevant. He isn't one of them. He acts as he could give two shits if his opinions are cool or relevant. By having that attitude and sharing frequently unpopular opinions, Cornette has managed to keep himself relevant 30 years after the peak of his career. 

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The funny part is Memphis was seen as the "outlaw mudshow wrestling" of it's time and that's what he grew up on. You would think he would understand that even if something isn't his cup of tea that people tend to gravitate toward something different than what the mainstream is offering. 

22 minutes ago, joeg said:

No. It means he grew up in Kentucky during a time where that was considered acceptable language. It ceased to be acceptable language so hence he no longer uses the the term. If you look at anyone from that generation through a modern lense, they are going to look at best out of touch and at worst biggotted.

I've always had issue with this excuse. My grandpa calling black folks "colored" (when that was the proper term in his day) way past the point it was no longer acceptable is more in line of what you're trying to say here. There's never been a time the n-word was considered acceptable, and even if you're raised in an environment where it flows freely you come to understand that fairly quickly once you're out in the world. 

 

As far as Cornette is concerned, I think it is a gimmick in the sense that he knows it will keep his name in the mouths of modern fans. He doesn't seem to realize that it's  because he's seen as a bitter old crank (or at least someone trying to convince you that he is one) rather than the encyclopedic fountain of wrestling knowledge he should be known as. It's like he buys into the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" argument.

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49 minutes ago, joeg said:

By having that attitude and sharing frequently unpopular opinions, Cornette has managed to keep himself relevant 30 years after the peak of his career. 

Except Cornette is not relevant at all in 2019. He was barely relevant in the 90's honestly, when he was bashing ECW while not understanding what was happening and was still booking race baiting angles in the South (and for the record, I liked a whole lot of SMW). And no, doing some announcing gig on a cosplay Youtube show main-evented by old TNA guys (sorry, but it is what it is) doesn't make you relevant in today's pro-wrestling landscape.

21 minutes ago, sek69 said:

He doesn't seem to realize that it's  because he's seen as a bitter old crank (or at least someone trying to convince you that he is one) rather than the encyclopedic fountain of wrestling knowledge he should be known as. 

And that is why it's sad. Corny to me was actually a whole lot more relevant 10 years ago when he was doing shoot interviews with KC, because that's what he was great at, doing historical pieces and talking about a business he had studied, loved and had a passion for. Not work a gimmick to please a crowd of mindless social media fanboys while shitting on a business he doesn't get, or want to get, anymore.

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1 hour ago, joeg said:

No. It means he grew up in Kentucky during a time where that was considered acceptable language. 

This is the same excuse Hogan used about growing up in the South. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now with Cornette.

Of course, some of you here on PWO will very disappointingly bend over backward to give Cornette a free pass because you liked him and/or the NWA growing up and hated Hogan and/or the WWF.

They're both racist assholes, period.

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I mean, there is the reality that someone the age of Cornette and Hogan growing up where they did would absolutely be exposed to the mindset that it was okay to use the language they did. The problem is that doesn't give them an unlimited pass to be a shithead long past the point anyone could reasonably believe they still felt it was okay. 

Unfortunately as we see in all walks of entertainment/politics/athletics, people will often engage in all sort of mental gymnastics to ignore or somehow handwave way shithead behavior in people they really like and don't want to see tarnished in any way. 

It sucks, but sometimes people you liked end up being shitheads, and it's okay to acknowledge that. It won't make your memories any less valid to do so. Hell, I grew up in an age where Bill Cosby was considered America's Dad and that certainly didn't age well. Doesn't change one bit I loved the hell out of his shows as a kid. 

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Yeah, using the n-word is bullshit and unacceptable and the fact that racism was entrenched in wrestling is not an excuse. I don't think Cornette himself makes excuses for using the term now - although he wrote a whiny post in the early 90s about how it was unfair he couldn't call a black man the n-word during a fight without getting criticised - so the fact that some of his fans would try and explain it is unfortunate. 

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52 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Unfortunately as we see in all walks of entertainment/politics/athletics, people will often engage in all sort of mental gymnastics to ignore or somehow handwave way shithead behavior in people they really like and don't want to see tarnished in any way. 

It sucks, but sometimes people you liked end up being shitheads, and it's okay to acknowledge that. It won't make your memories any less valid to do so. Hell, I grew up in an age where Bill Cosby was considered America's Dad and that certainly didn't age well. Doesn't change one bit I loved the hell out of his shows as a kid. 

I worked with a lady who was in her 80's and when they sentenced Bill Cosby she told me it was a shame, and when I acted horrified at her response, she asked me why those women were going to his room in the first place. When I told her "not to get raped" she looked at me like I was just some kind of naive idiot.

Anyway back to the subject at hand. The problem has now become that even if all of this is a gimmick, Cornette is in too far. He has all of these Cult followers so riled up, that if he doesn't continue the ruse, they are going to turn on him. That's his fanbase, and more importantly his profit base. He pretty much has to continue spewing the nonsense at this point.

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It's a shame because at the start of the year, he released two reviews on Raw and SmackDown that were genuinely quite interesting to hear. Cornette is at his best when he's offering constructive criticism from his own perspective. He's at his worse when he transforms into his 1998 NWA Invasion character and starts doing these silly over the top YouTube personality rants. It just seems like a bit because he's playing to an audience who react strongly to it. I understand why he does it, but it's a shame because he's one of the best historians in the industry and he gets too hopped up on social media drama to share those stories.

I don't think Cornette should be silenced or cancelled or anything silly. I think he needs to be caught up to speed on certain issues. So many of his criticisms feel like lines out of Austin Powers, where Jim is just so far behind on modern trends. His amazement at women opening an NXT show or having more than one segment was a huge red flag. When he was a lapsed fan, it was forgiveable but now that he's changed format, he really doesn't have any excuse.

I think fans have a right to dismiss his opinion as a troll until proven otherwise. Instead of reacting to him, the best thing to do is ignore him.

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10 minutes ago, tallmike said:

Can we change the title where we're not mocking people with PTSD? I know in the current political climate some have tried to weaponize the term, but can't we be better than that? 

Honestly I was thinking the same thing. It's kind of gross how certain circles have misused a real symptom of emotional trauma because they heard a feminist use it once. 

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  • paul sosnowski changed the title to The Self Destruction of Jim Cornette
15 hours ago, tallmike said:

Can we change the title where we're not mocking people with PTSD? I know in the current political climate some have tried to weaponize the term, but can't we be better than that? 

How does "The Self Destruction of Jim Cornette" mock PTSD in any way? 

Or did the title of the Warrior DVD mock PTSD too?

What am I missing here? 

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1 hour ago, C.S. said:

How does "The Self Destruction of Jim Cornette" mock PTSD in any way? 

Or did the title of the Warrior DVD mock PTSD too?

What am I missing here? 

Believe they are referring to the original title which included "Triggered", before I guess the thread starter changed it to acquiesce the holy knights here.

 

Edit: or a mod.

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