Recap of Jim Cornette on Between the Ropes

by Richard Trionfo

This week on Between the Ropes, Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci had a chance to talk to wrestling legend Jim Cornette about his career in wrestling, his managerial work, his work in Ohio Valley Wrestling, other issues in the world of professional wrestling, and his upcoming appearance at the NWA Legends Fanfest, August 19^{th through August 21st in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Hilton University Place Hotel. You can find out more information about the NWA Legends Fanfest at http://www.nwalegends.com/.}

Dennis and Jim have gotten together over the last nine months after being out of the business for 15 years. He looks the same as he did 15 years ago and he defies time. The first time he saw him since 1990 in September, other than his hair loss, he looked better than the last time he saw Dennis in the ring. He will continue to do the shows with the Midnight Express. He talks about people like Big Bossman and Road Warrior Hawk, who have passed, and he wants to spend time with people like Dennis and Bobby on the road. He wants to sit back and take a rest.

At the first fan fest, he was involved in a situation during a Q&A session. He does not want to give them any publicity because they make a joke out of something that Jim has devoted 30 years of his life. The ICP are a bunch of wannabes in everything. He said that they released an album that went cardboard. The people there wanted to hear Jim instead of the ICP.

He considers himself the world’s youngest veteran. There will be people like Barry Windham, JJ Dillon, Tony Atlas, and Greg Valentine who people will remember. Jim has been a wrestling fan for thirty-five years and he remains a wrestling fan. He enjoys good wrestling, and he has made a living through wrestling. He has tried to put himself in the place of the people watching the shows to get an idea of what the fans want. He does not do it for his livelihood. He loves wrestling.

He was at Wrestle Reunion in Tampa, and will be at the show in Valley Forge. In Tampa, he got as many autographs as the other fans. Jim said that you need to be a wrestling fan to be in the business. He is no better than anyone who goes to the shows. He loves what they do and what they stand for. He will be reuniting with people he has not seen in twenty years like the rest of the wrestling fans who will be in Charlotte.

Vince McMahon helped to give him a good living, but it got to a point when there was a divide as to what Vince and Jim wanted. He has nothing bad to say about the WWE, except he wanted to have more say with the way that he could run OVW. He wanted decision making power because his name and face is on the company. He is passionate about what he would do. Jim was not going to quit on himself, but he could not work within those parameters. He is taking some time off from OVW since he has not had a break in about 15 years. He will remain a part of OVW after his time off.

Jim is passionate about what he does and what he puts his face on. He thinks they need to be patient with the talent. OVW trained people like Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Batista. They are sending people up too soon and they might not be ready when they are called up. He wonders why people think people can be trained to be successful wrestlers in the time that the WWE feels is necessary. Jim wants guys who will like him in ten years because they will look back and say that Jim told me what it would take to be successful. There are guys who are rushed and are not given the time to fully bloom.

Jim was asked why there were not more managers in the business if people are having trouble doing effective promos. He said that there is a difference in styles between ‘southern’ wrestling and ‘northern’ wrestling. In the North, managers were not utilized as much. It does not matter if you have a manager or not, you will not be comfortable being yourself without experience. The current crop of wrestlers does not have the same amount of experience that the previous generations of wrestlers did. A lot of the guys today are not as comfortable because they have not been the same amount of places and have the same amount of matches. It takes time and experience to be able to give a good promo.

Jim is so proud of John Cena. He knew that they had something special in OVW. He was still green in the ring and on the mic because he had not done a lot of television. He is proud that John is tearing up the place. He is the total package. He is not the worker of Chris Benoit, the promo guy like Ric Flair, but he has it all. He does not forget where he came from. He will be a star for a long time. He said that John is a good guy and he deserves it all.

Jim says that one of the managers in Ohio Valley said that he was shocked that Matt Morgan was released and wondered why it happened. The manager suggested that they get rid of the writers in the WWE if they could not find anything for Matt. By being released, Matt will get an opportunity some place else to show what he can do. Then he will be a hot commodity. Matt Morgan was fifth in his class in college and had a background in communications. You need two things to get over. You need talent and the support from the office. Without those two things, you will not succeed. The greatest talent in the world cannot overcome bad booking. Good booking cannot make a bad wrestler a superstar.

Jim was asked who he has seen and thinks will be someone big in the business. He talks about Matt Morgan as a future superstar. He talks about Samoa Joe who might not fit the WWE mold, but he will be a top guy. There are a number of guys who have not gotten the opportunity. He talks about Abyss. Four years ago he saw Abyss at a Burt Prentiss show and was impressed with Abyss. A star does not have to fit a mold. Would Abdullah the Butcher, Dusty Rhodes or Dick Murdoch get a chance today? They were able to break the mold so they became stars.

Jerry Jarrett told him that he could not get anyone over in his territory when Lawler was there because of Lawler being on top. But when Lawler left, he was able to make a star out of someone else. You cannot make a new superstar as long as the current superstar is on the scene. A person like Matt will get away from the glass ceiling, and we will have a new superstar. No Superstar is planned. It was not planned for Terry Gordy to slam the cage door on the Von Erichs. It gave Dallas a program for three years. Stone Cold was not planned, it happened. The fans dictate what they want to see. They will show who the new superstars will be.

He does not need to book any more wrestling since in 14 of the last 16 years, he has been booking wrestling. He has done 300 episodes of OVW. He did hundreds of Smoky Mountain shows as well as numerous WWE shows. He got burned out with the parameters. He is looking forward to performing again and watching the people wrestle. He has no problem stepping aside if the people in charge have talent. Wrestling is a talent driven business.

He does not mind working a few times a month. He is a fan at the Ring of Honor shows because he was given the opportunity to work with Bobby Heenan. He feels that Bobby Heenan is the greatest manager of all time. Jim does not want to get on the road as much, but he enjoys performing. It just takes longer to recover. He just did another shoot video with Bobby Heenan.

Jim says that he just heard from Tommy Young, who will also be at the show and he will referee the Rock & Roll Express/Midnight Express match. Jim joked that he offered Tommy $50 to help out the Midnight Express. Charlotte is his adopted home town because it was a magic town. Charlotte was like Camelot because there was a lot of great talent. Everything came together at the right time with Mid-Atlantic wrestling.

The NWA Legends Fanfest is being held in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 19th through August 21st at the Hilton University Place Hotel. You can find more information about the Fanfest and VIP tickets at http://www.nwalegends.com/.

Jim will be doing a Q&A session on Friday night at the Fan Fest at 11:00 p.m. He said that he would be able to curse in Charlotte. George Carlin is his personal idol. It will be ‘Midnight with Corny’ in Charlotte.

Between the Ropes airs every Wednesday from 10:00 p.m. until Midnight on 740 The Team in Orlando, Florida with hosts Brian Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci. Check out www.betweentheropes.com to listen to the live stream of the show every week. Archives of past interviews with Paul Heyman, Bret Hart, Mike Tenay, Terry Funk, A.J. Styles, Rob Van Dam, Tully Blanchard, Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy, Jerry Lawler, Bobby Heenan, Steve Corino, Shane Douglas, Scott D’Amore, Elix Skipper, Harley Race, Bubba Ray Dudley, and many more people in the world of professional wrestling can also be found on www.betweentheropes.com.