Observer on Cornette's paid leave

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

Cornette is on a paid leave of absence until 6/15. WWE sent out a memo on 5/6 stating he is on a "leave of absence to avoid a case of burnout. Laurinaitis suggested it after he had gotten mad at Kevin Fertig for wearing a baseball cap in a match and then grabbing a sombrero from a fan in the front row during the same match, putting it on and doing a spot with it, then putting it on his opponent, El Diablo Negro (Ken Doane under a mask doing a Luchadore gimmick) and punching him. This followed what had been from all accounts a horrible night overall of TV on 5/4. From the Laurinaitis perspective, it was apparently Comette's getting mad at the Dudley?s and Fertig in successive weeks, and the belief since he was like a mentor to Chris Candido, that his death probably had him down, so they figured he needed time off. With the value of 20/20 hindsight and reading last week's issue, you probably could have seen this one coming. Laurinatis positioned it to Cornette as the company offering him a paid vacation, and Cornette was actually thrilled by the offer.

 

It was positioned to the OVW wrestlers in vague terms as more like punishment. While the Fertig incident was the one everyone is talking about, what may have been more of a reason is Bubba Ray Dudley went to management after Cornette got mad at them for power bombing Jillian Hall through a table, which in Cornette's OVW version of wrestling, means she has to be injured, and as noted, he had her booked for a future angle. Bubba said that Cornette disrespected him and that he and D-Von wouldn't go back to OVW. I'm presuming Bubba went to management before he and Cornette talked things out, but it was still said to be the major reason. It was really learning two different systems of wrestling. Bubba never worked or probably ever really even followed a Bill Watts type of circuit. Plus, in 2005, the idea that something in a dark match "counts" because the live audience knows about it and not disrespecting your live audience is something WWE hasn?t been concerned about in the entire modern era. The Dudley?s power bombed women in ECW and WWE, and they would come back the next week wearing a neck brace, and there is a prevailing WWE mentality that if you do it in a dark match or on a house show, you just work for a pop because it "doesn't count." The company wanted the Dudley?s to go back and train the tag teams since both have good sized downsides, the company still hasn't come up with an angle to bring diem back, and the company hates paying people to sit at home. The reason given officially is that after producing around 300 television shows and booking six years straight they felt Comette needed to get his batteries recharged and to get away for a while. Fertig also complained to Lance Storm about being yelled at. The rep on Fertig right now is that he doesn't like to put his opponents over in the match, and that was noticeable in a match with Brent Albright a few weeks ago on TV, designed for Albright to get over in his climb to the top with a nice win, and well, it was a win, but it wasn't nice.

 

During his absence, Snow will be working with Dean Hill doing the announcing, and Snow, Danny Davis and Dreamer will be booking, with some possible help from Storm. From all accounts, Cornette's Bill Watts-like coaching tactics of doing emphatic promos on people when they mess up, has resulted in some big names, most notably Batista and Lesnar, complaining about him when they got power. Because of that, Comette has been a subject of debate in the Talent Relations office.

 

Politically, Cornette is a strong ally of Jim Ross. When Tom Prichard was let go, he thought part of the reason was because he was always defending how OVW operated to Laurinaitis, who heard from wrestlers who went through OVW negative feedback about it (the only names we know were Lesnar and Batista, not to say those were the only names). It was also brought up that Cornette went off on The Shane Twins after a match (which never aired, as The Shane Twins never been made OVW TV) that was said to be beyond horrible, some time back, and they ended up being transferred to Atlanta.

Way to be a baby Bubba.

[Loss]

John Laurinitis is once manipulative guy, is he not? I think he knows how to work the system in WWE every bit as well as HHH. I liked him better in WCW, when he was jobbing out Kevin Nash and fining him, and making Luger and Bagwell lay down for complaining too much.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

John Laurinitis is going to manipulate himself out of a job if he's not careful. For all the complaining wrestlers did about JR, he was nowhere as universally disliked as Laurinitis is. Laurinitis better find a way to take some heat off of himself, because if the locker room gets disgruntled enough over his actions, then it's possible he might find himself out on his ass.

[Loss]

I've read at times that Jim Ross is a total grouch when he's not on camera and that he's extremely surly and short with nearly everyone. I wonder how accurate that is.

[Loss]

And yeah, Bubba complaining about that shows just how much some of the WWE guys could stand be well-versed in other styles and philosophies.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

I've heard that Ross can be a bit surly at times too, but he was also never as manipulative as Laurinitis is. The position they held/hold does require a certain level of manipulation, in that both men would have to, at times, lie to wrestlers to sooth things over, but the wrestlers were never as outspoken, albeit off the record, about their dislike of Ross as they were with Laurinitis. I don't think he can last much longer without doing something to regain the respect of the wrestlers.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

And yeah, Bubba complaining about that shows just how much some of the WWE guys could stand be well-versed in other styles and philosophies.

And it shows how much of a moaning bastard he is. Pay me a downside of $250,000 a year and I'll happily let Cornette yell at me all damn day.

[Guest teke184]

Bubba's attitude about it shows why Cornette doesn't get along with people at the main office...

 

Cornette treats everything that happens, on OVW TV or off of it, as OVW canon because he believes in the Bill Watts philosophy of "Are they smart to THE business or are they smart to MY business?"

 

Bubba, OTOH, treats everything in the loosely-booked WWE and Paul Heyman method, which pisses Cornette off to no end.

 

 

This has lead to some blowups in the past, including Cornette yelling at OVW wrestlers for violating heel-babyface kayfabe in public and for doing stuff like standing in line for a hot dog at the OVW concession stands. (Cornette believes that the "star image" they portray should have them send a "runner" to get them food instead of hobnobbing with the crowd.)

 

 

This has lead to bad press for Cornette, as most people see him as out of touch with current-day wrestling. Cornette's position is along the lines that a small-time territory can work as long as you don't outright insult the intelligence of your fans.

 

Considering that a lot of the people who bitch about Cornette are ones that don't have a long-term appreciation for the business, or not for the business before the heyday of ECW, it's effectively a generational conflict.

 

 

 

As for Johnny Ace, he better watch his ass if he keeps trying to play both sides against the middle. A lot of the locker room is already pissed at him for Matt Hardy getting canned, fairly or unfairly, because it appeared that Ace was following through on his anti-Matt stance that got him in trouble in the first place.

 

By fucking with Cornette, who is a legend in the industry, helped develop about half the wrestlers currently in the WWE, and holds a grudge like no one else, things could get interesting.

[Coffey]

I wish Cornette could get the book for Raw and Heyman for Smackdown.