This is a two-disc shoot that runs for Two Hours and Fifty Minutes
It was released on January 7th, 2014
Sean Oliver starts off by saying how Cornette’s wrestling character is almost identical to how he is in real life. He then jumps right into the beef these two had, dating back two years ago when Sean shot the live “YouShoot” with Vince Russo. Cornette was asked by Sean to contribute and Cornette was on the road with Ring of Honor at the time so he left Sean a message stating that he would talk to him later but that he wouldn’t help Russo earn a dime for the wrestling business. Cornette said that he never agreed to do anything for the shoot when he left the message. While on his laptop that he had to have in RoH and saw the trailer for the YouShoot, which Cornette saw hints that he had special guests. Sean said during the shoot, he never went over answers with him before hand because he wanted it to appear unscripted when they went live. Sean said that he asked Russo if he expected anyone to ask him something and Cornette, using a Russo impression, describes how Russo said there was a guy from the South with a tennis racket and when Cornette saw that, he was livid that Russo was promising people that Cornette was appearing on his shoot and he was then pissed at Sean after asking him to be on the shoot after all of this aired. Cornette said he was also irritable from being on the road too and called up “Kayfabe Commentaries” and was irate. He then was offended by Sean leading people to believe he was on the shoot, claiming he was practicing the business principles of Russo. Cornette says that he loves him and that they have made up a while ago, admitting that he went overboard during that whole situation.
It was released on January 7th, 2014
Sean Oliver starts off by saying how Cornette’s wrestling character is almost identical to how he is in real life. He then jumps right into the beef these two had, dating back two years ago when Sean shot the live “YouShoot” with Vince Russo. Cornette was asked by Sean to contribute and Cornette was on the road with Ring of Honor at the time so he left Sean a message stating that he would talk to him later but that he wouldn’t help Russo earn a dime for the wrestling business. Cornette said that he never agreed to do anything for the shoot when he left the message. While on his laptop that he had to have in RoH and saw the trailer for the YouShoot, which Cornette saw hints that he had special guests. Sean said during the shoot, he never went over answers with him before hand because he wanted it to appear unscripted when they went live. Sean said that he asked Russo if he expected anyone to ask him something and Cornette, using a Russo impression, describes how Russo said there was a guy from the South with a tennis racket and when Cornette saw that, he was livid that Russo was promising people that Cornette was appearing on his shoot and he was then pissed at Sean after asking him to be on the shoot after all of this aired. Cornette said he was also irritable from being on the road too and called up “Kayfabe Commentaries” and was irate. He then was offended by Sean leading people to believe he was on the shoot, claiming he was practicing the business principles of Russo. Cornette says that he loves him and that they have made up a while ago, admitting that he went overboard during that whole situation.
Cornette jokes that he is the “retarded uncle at the barbeque” then goes on about Vince Russo, comparing what he does to “child porn” because they are both just wrong. Sean rightfully challenges Cornette as to why he hates Russo, stating how it has to be more than what he has done in wrestling. Cornette confirms that it is all due to wrestling but that was because at that point, wrestling was his whole life. He said that whenever he had any days off while working in wrestling, he would watch tapes from other territories and companies. He also calls Russo a “backstabbing prick” and calls him out for ruining careers and taking credit for the WWF boom period when they had Steve Austin and the Rock. Cornette then says that WCW went out of business when Russo went unfiltered. He then said they first got along when they met but he did not want to learn about wrestling and at one point, Russo admitted that he and Ed Ferrara used to watch Jerry Springer all day and book the show like that. Sean asks how they got along in TNA and Cornette said he was not ranting and raving then and said Russo was hired six weeks after he came to TNA and Cornette his notice at first, stating that it would be bad for business. He said before TNA let him go, he was going to ask for a raise. He then describes his time in TNA, stating that he hated it but got paid for doing very little. He then claims that after Jarrett was sent home after not being truthful about his relaitonship with Karen Angle, Jarrett called him from home and told him to not let Russo go to far and to take care of things. He then said that Russo got Dutch fired and several others did until they got rid of him, the last person left that Jarrett hired.
Cornette then recalls a story of how he went up to Russo and they put their differences aside and Cornette told Russo that he would help him so that the wrestlers would listen to him since Jarrett is at home and there could be anarchy. They shook hands then the following night, they had a TV taping that Cornette talks about. He got the format for the show, which had Sting against Hernandez, a babyface who Dixie wanted to push as a singles wrestler. Cornette said that he was acting like an agent of sorts for Hernandez at the time, even choreographing some of the spots that he used. During the match in question, Sting had broken ribs from an angle earlier in the show and there was going to be a multiple man run-in attack then called up Russo and told him how it wasn’t going to work and that Eric Young, who was doing a comedy act, should not be running in and taking out both guys. He then says that who can’t write someone else’s story and that he told Russo he was going to help him out and make a DQ, which he hated, and Russo agreed. The next day, Cornette goes into the production meeting, not only have they changed what he talked about but they added even more run-in attacks and they hashed it out again, with Terry Taylor and Taz in the room, with Cornette’s plan being used. He then said of he became not only an agent for his matches but had to go into the truck because the camera guys couldn’t understand the thick accent of Savio Vega and that he had to cover for Brian Armstrong (Road Dogg) due to his “personal issues” making him unable to be an effective agent.
Cornette goes on some more about Russo, saying that he didn’t know what the fuck he was doing because he would only act as an agent during the interviews and let the former wrestler agents take care of the physical stuff. Sean questions him about that being a token of respect, letting the ex-wrestlers handle the in-ring product, but Cornette says all they ended up doing was try to make sense of Russo’s shitty ideas. He then finally gets to when he got fired by TNA, after he was called an told that he was being let go due to not being 100% behind creative, which Cornette said that they knew the moment Russo was brought on board but said that “they” didn’t think he was a team player so when he asked who “they” was, he was told it was Dixie and Cornette wanted her to call him. He spoke with both Dixie and Terry Taylor, who he doesn’t trust, and told them that he drove from Louisville and worked his ass off and was being let go because of Vince Russo and they told him no, so he wished Dixie luck. The next day, Cornette saw in the “UK Dixie and told her that Cornette wouldn’t let him do his job and three days later, Ed Ferrara was brought on board. The next day, an online report that came from an “unnamed source” stated that the original report as to why Cornette was let go was untrue then was called by Dixie and told is this what he wanted and Cornette said no.
Sean then brings up Cornette’s anger issues. They bring up politics as Cornette goes on an anti-Republican rant about how they want to preserve your freedoms as long as you are a “rich, white Republican cocksucker.” Sean says that he feels like reaching over and strangling Ted Cruz due to his involvement in the government shutdown but that reason is why he is not a politician, because he probably could not do the job diplomatically. He then asks Cornette about being diplomatic to those in wrestling and if he can’t, why is he in the business? Cornette said that is part as to why he is no longer in wrestling and adds that another factor is that he tries to avoid confrontation and wants to be unnoticed, even going out of his way because sooner or later it will get ugly. He says he is polite and not the first to be rude and when that person makes it impossible for him to be nice to them any longer, he goes from 0-60 and blows up.
Cornette also points out how he is not able to admit defeat. He then said that he finally had an epiphany and that unless he left wrestling, he would end up suffering a heart attack. He said that no matter what, he can not save the wrestling business, stating that there is a sports entertainment business, but that wrestling is dead. He puts over how there are fewer guys making a living at pro wrestling today than at any point in the 150 years of the sport. Sean asks if it was because people have changed but Cornette said that we have somehow fucked up the business because for decades, they were able to figure out how to make money off of people with a mind and some athleticism. Sean points out how people are cynical and that internet took away the businesses control. Cornette then asks Sean that he knows how wrestling his booked and how angles are created but does he know how the guy uses the steamroller to run over Criss Angel? Cornette said that wrestling got too big in the 1980’s and how people figured out how to make money off of it with TV, you had people who didn’t know anything about the business hurting the business as a result. He goes on about Memphis
He then talks about Vince taking off in the 1980’s and crushing the territories, which has Sean question Cornette as to why he hates Russo for ruining the business but not McMahon. Cornette said he hates McMahon but not nearly as much because he is actually good at what he does. Cornette goes on about the history of wrestling and how the period between 1991-1995 was the worst in modern history in terms of ratings and attendance, which is when he opened up a territory. He then talks about Vince McMahon buying WCW and how it did not lead to 3 million people switching over to the other channel, it led to 3 million people no longer watching wrestling because they were either WCW fans and the new fans that caught on about the wrestling boom left when Austin hugged McMahon, because no one wanted to see that. He compares how in Dallas, when the fans all found out how the Von Erich boys were not at all like the All-American boy personas they portrayed on television, the territory never recovered. He compares the WWE to a “touring holiday on ice”, because it rolls into town every year and no one takes it seriously and says how everyone else is playing catch-up. He then says how wrestling is the only form of sport or entertainment currently today that more people used to like it than they do now. He even brings up how people approach him and say that they no longer watch wrestling because it is either too choreographed, soap-opera like, or silly. Cornette said the parody of wrestling will make sure that it will never come back where as Sean thinks that it will come back shortly due to the cyclical nature.
Sean then brings up the Ring of Honor promotion and asks Jim why he isn’t booking for them any longer. He said that he left because he was probably going to murder the office boy had he stayed any longer. He states that RoH was his last effort to save the business and after twenty years he realized that it had been too fucked up to save. Cornette said that it wasn’t his fault, even though he had accepted the blame, because the company never listened to what he had to say. He said that no one listened to him with how to structure the company. He said that he got brought in after Cary Silkin called him up after he left TNA. He met with Cary and Adam Pearce and saw the matches and felt that there had to be a way to take these talented young guys who have passion but never wrestled in the spotlight and thought if they could expose the product to fans that enjoyed wrestling in the past but not at present time, they could be a credible alternative to sports entertainment because most people now laugh at wrestling, no longer about emotions which is what wrestling was all about at one time.
Cornette then says how he wrote the proposal that led to Sinclair Broadcasting buying the company but that at the end, they never followed through with the proposal. Cornette thought it would never work anyway. He then said that he was never the booker, it was Adam Pearce then Delirious. He then brings up Kevin Steen as the champion, saying that he is perfect person to have as a champ if you want to work in front of 400 people in a recreation center then mentions how Steen knocked his booking without realizing that half of what he accused him of was stuff that Delirious came up with. He also says that Steen would rather cater to 10% of the audience and ignore the other 90% then mentions how he would be asked to cut a four-minute promo and end up doing eight. Cornette said he worked together with Delirious and they never had any disagreements but some people like Steen didn’t get what they were trying to do. Cornette said he really enjoyed working with Delirious, stating he was helping him at the time. He said that since Sinclair purchased the company and he had name recognition, they wanted him as “Head of Cretative” but in reality, they did not change anything and Delirious was the booker. The only thing that Cornette even used that title for was to overrule Delirious about using Grizzly Redwood on television because he didn’t fit the picture of serious wrestling.
Cornette then talks about the types of RoH fans. You had the ones who did not want infringement on their “private club.” He then says that there is a world somewhere in this universe where it is more valuable to have the Super Smash Brothers on television than Matt Hardy or Mike Bennett but if you want to make money, then it is not this planet. He said that to internet fans, it is fine but for regular fans flicking around the TV, they will wonder why two goofy guys are running around in pajamas playing pro wrestler and that is the difference between running in rec centers and a legitimate company.
He then talks about the problems with RoH. He said that they didn’t have the money as WWE or even TNA but had to make a way to look good for regional television. He proposed finding an empty warehouse or department store with plenty of parking that you could turn into a studio. You can make it always look full and by buying lights and running audio cables, you save the costs of doing that stuff on the road since you have your own supplies. You can also have the offices and merchandise supplies. You can also have your editing and run the wrestling school there, pointing out that was how OVW started and it is still around today and then adds how there was more promise with RoH in Baltimore than in Louisville with OVW. They can also have rotating instructors and have the students sell tickets to friends and families for the shows. For some reason, they were not able to come up with the money for this idea.
He then moves on to the RoH fanbase and how he wanted to capitalize on the internet, which is how most of the fans followed the product. He brings up how no one saw the HD Net programming and said how he wanted to broadcast the PPV shows on the RoH site instead of GoFightLive. He questions why split money with another money instead of just running it on your own site. He was really passionate about streaming on the company site and even offered to buy the equipment to make it work, noting how they were using outdated video cameras on the road, but he was denied.
Cornette now talks about the RoH website and how it was run by college friends of the office boy that Sinclair hired. He then apologizes to “Joe” but says that he wants to set the record straight on what happened. The “office boy” was a 26 year old named Greg and sarcastically says how he was such a genius that after seeing his first wrestling match, told him and Cary on who they should push and how to run the show. He then said Greg was a “flaming asshole” who ran off two ring crews after treating them like shit and also Cornette had to talk Charlie Haas and Ernie Osiris out of kicking Greg’s ass. But, no one wanted to argue with him because of who got him the job. Back to the website, he says that the site was off more than it was run and that was because Sinclair wanted to save money any way possible, including Greg offering a contest for fans to design a new company logo. He then talks more about GoFightLive and how they were incompetent and on occasion would have to stop matches because they went off air or go to Radio Shack to get cables. He hoped that “Final Battle 2011” would be the first PPV to air on the company website but they were never ready for that.
Cornette then said that Sinclair would not allow RoH to open up a wrestling school due to being liable if any injuries occured but they agreed to let Delirious train guys in a warehouse in Bristol
He talks about creative and says he was still gung-ho for the first six months as creative was doing well. There plan was to climax at the Border Wars show in 2012. They had a great card and told the building two months before hand that GoFightLive was coming in and during the show, Dave Klarman, who ran GoFightLive, stepped on a surge protector and knocked out the power to the monitors and that it made the audio and video thirty seconds off and Cornette blew up because they didn’t calibrate the equipment correctly. He then says how the director told him that he wished he could get that fucking idiot Klarman in the room and Cornette wanted to know where that fucking idiot was and he looks over and sees Klarman in the corner. Cornette yelled at him for putting him out of PPV because no one would ever buy another one from them. The next day, it was corrected but the neighborhood had a “brownout” and because they used cheap equipment and they got knocked out again. Cornette then said that he learned from Sinclair and GoFightLive that corporate people are afraid of offending anyone. Gee, way to get with the times.
He said that the Border Wars show was a card that anyone would be proud of and it sold 1,500 tickets but no one else saw it because of the technical problems. Instead of talking about great shows, they talk about the fucked up technical problems. He said that “Best of the World” was seen by no one because of problems with the site. Then, a spot show in Providence
Cornette said he mentally checked out in June of 2012. A local station in West Virginia Charleston Civic Center
Cornette tells a story of how he flipped out in the Gorilla position. One day, he saw someone in the Gorilla position wearing headphones and wanted security to come over as he had no idea as to who this was. He was then told that this person was “Bill,” who turned out to be a wrestling student who got injured during training but still showed up to prove his dedication and they ended up having him in the Gorilla position. When asked, Cornette had no idea as to whose decision it was to stick Bill in Gorilla.
He goes back to talking about how after the Chicago PPV in September of 2012, the internet fans were blaming him for the shitty booking and he said the company was as popular as "crotch rot" for the PR nightmares and constant production failures. He said that he spoke with Delirious and decided that he would step down as a PR move, but not work the boys and take himself off of TV as the match-maker. He said that he told Joe, with Greg the Office Boy in attendance, that if he got out of the picture, they could install someone popular as the match-maker, like Nigel McGuiness. He then explains the angle between Jay Lethal and Kevin Steen, where Lethal's parents were in attendance and they were copying something that happened in Oklahoma where Danny Hodge's father stabbed Angelo Savoldi during a match so Cornette came up with the idea of Letha's parents being there, playing up Lethal as not geting his shot and being near is hometown, then have Steen go off on Lethal's parents after they throw a drink on him, leading to a wild brawl that spills into the locker room. During the melee, Cornette would try to talk down Lethal, who would respond by throwing him over a table, thus injuring Cornette and taking him off of TV. After that aired, they had a PPV in Toronto, with all of the fans praising the show and thinking it was better due to believing that Cornette was not involved, despite the fact that he helped booked everything.
He now talks about the November TV taping in Bell Vernon, PA. Cornette told Sinclair that he wanted to do something big for WrestleMania weekend in 2013 by bringing in the Japanese talent, which would get over huge with the fanbase. He said the cost is the main issue, namely getting the working papers together, which is apparently more than the plane ticket and their payoff combined. Greg the Office Boy said they could sell out on their own and didn't need outside talent. Cornette then said he leaned over the table and told Greg that he knew what he was fucking talking about, as Greg never heard of Japanese wrestling. At the end, they ended up not getting them.
DISC TWO
We start the disc off with Cornette talking about how at the meeting before the November TV, the had a plan for Nigel to replace Cornette as the match-maker and for Adam Pearce to be the new color commentator. Cornette then says that he is going to back-track here but it will be worth the time. He said his original vision of RoH was to have the announcing duo of Kevin Kelly and Adam Pearce to be the wresting version of UFC announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. The problem with Pearce was that he left on bad terms as a booker with some of the office guys after sending Cary Silkin an e-mail that bashed two office workers, which caused him to lose his job as booker. Cornette told Silkin that Pearce would apologize and shake hands and do whatever it takes. One guy was fine but the other guy, Ross from merchandise, said that Pearce was a cancer and would not agree to the apology. Apparently, Cornette said that he wanted to do the right thing by having everyone get on the same page but word got back to the office and they did not want to give the job to Pearce, because Ross was going to file a complaint with Sinclair's Human Resources about not feeling safe at work and that led to the decision. They called Nigel, who was still under contract with TNA, and tried to see if he could get out of the contract. He did but Joe did not like Nigel, stating he was not enthusiastic enough, despite the fact that the fans loved the duo. Cornette tried to go back and get Pearce, gives him a job and Ross gets wind that he is the surprise for the first TV taping of 2013 and complains to Human Resources about feeling unsafe. Cornette believes that Ross was doing this in part to get some money as he wanted out, because sales were down as Greg raised the prices and lowered the quality, which led to Sean mentioning that they were giving RoH a good deal on merchandising at the time but they ended up pulling the rug out from them anyway. Cornette then rants again on Ross, calling him a pussy among other things and laughs at the notion that the guy who sells T-shirts has the power to dictate who does color commentary for a company that broadcasts on 60-70 TV affiliates. He even said that there is still a hole in his garage after he punched the wall due to hearing what happened.
He finally goes back to the Bell Vernon taping. He said that Greg wanted to do the taping there after being in Pittsburgh, which was nearby, after drawing 500 people. Cornette said that it was because Bruno Sammartino was signing autographs. They booked an ice rink for the tapings in a shitty building with the equipment in Baltimore. Cornette said this was done to save about $20,000, which is peanuts for Sinclair. Cornette said that this started his therapy as he was "wrestling crazy." His wedding anniversary is on Halloween, which is his wife Stacy's favorite holiday. He told his friend Gary Jester that he was not going to argue with Greg on a conference call as he was going to spend time with his wife before going off on the road for a week, telling him how Greg was alienating everyone as no one could tolerate him at all. He then checked an email, because he was not on the conference call, that read they would have a PPV on Saturday night then tape TV Sunday afternoon in the same building in order to save money, not even bringing up the fact that they would need to do promos on Friday. Cornette called Jester and told him it was a shitty idea, citing the fact that after beating the shit out of each other on a PPV they have to get their the next morning and the production crew would stay in the building for 36 hours, nevermind killing the house of at least one, if not both shows. After asking Gary why they let Greg get away with this, he said it was because he was not on the call and Cornette yelled at Gary and asked why grown men couldnt have stood up to Greg. He says that this news ruined his anniversary as he was livid and got the call that Brad Armstrong passed away in his sleep then Lawler had his heart attack, which had in him a bad mood. They get into the ice rink which had concrete bleachers and a bar with flourescent lights. Cornette was then told that there was no drape to cover the pipes so the buidling was not going to sell out and the drape was to not make it look empty because Greg said it was not in the budget. He was about to snap as Joe from Sinclair was following him around and asked if he was okay. He told Joe that Greg was an asshole and the problem but he would talk to him later as he had a show to put together. They had about 325 people in a building that sat 1,000 and the building was so cold that you could see steam from the tops of people's heads who were not wearing ski caps. The director was bullshit because it came off as low rent and you saw empty seats no matter where the camera was showing, prompting Cornette to say that he had Smoky Mountain shows that looked better. He learned later that they could not turn the heat on because the ice set up was not like that of a professional rink and it would melt, as the ring was on top of the ice. Cornette then had to give money to the ring crew and some of the wrestlers as they had no gas to get home and he was dealing with Steve Corino who was potentially paralyzed after taking a suplex on the guardrail as everyone else left and after this all happened, he said he broke down in tears and called his wife, telling her he needs to leave as this company was a failure and would never become successful as fans blamed him for the booking and Greg was making it impossible to run a wrestling company and felt like the whole experience was like a giant rib on him. Joe gave him a call and said he couldnt threaten office employees and Cornette told him it wouldnt be a problem and he was going to quit and he could even fire him if he wanted but he was going to go home to Louisville.
Cornette then talks about his "rehab" which consisted of him staying at home. Sean then talks about how he is gad that Jim is calm now because they will be talking about Jim Herd for three hours (Cornette filmed a timeline for 1989 WCW which will be released in early 2015).
Sean then asks Cornette how his marriage was able to work. He said his wife hates wrestling more than he does now and she got into it as a teen because her friends were fans (his wife was Synn in OVW).
He is then asked about being in the WWE Hall of Fame. He said that he would like to go as part of the Midnight Express, stating he would absolutely do it as he felt that it was his best work. He might consider it if he was getting inducted by himself, stating it would depend on who approached him and how it would be done.
Cornette talks about what he now watches on TV. He loves anything that Gordon Ramsey does and calls Family Guy the funniest show on the air. He calls Bill Maher the American he admires the most. He also loves Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire but states that True Blood jumped the shark a long time ago. He also talks about wanting to do a podcast on pop culture, stating he has an entire wall devoted to it at his house. He also loves politics, stating he got involved heavily in 2007-2008 and saw how George Bush fucked everything up and said that working for TNA gave him the free time to study what else is going on in the world and puts over Barack Obama for being level-headed and cannot stand the right-wing lunatics from the right.
He says that organized religion has caused more suffering to the world than any other ruler or natural occurence of any kind and goes off on Bush for starting the war in the Middle East for his religious beliefs. He thinks anyone who believes they will be going somewhere better after they die is scary, because they want to hurry things up so they get there. He says he is prolonging his time here because all he has waiting for him is a box in the ground filled with worms.
The interview closes with the "Final Five."
Dead or Alive, Person You Would Want to go to Dinner With: Alfred Hitchcock
Most Illegal Thing Attempted: Trying to run over Terry Landell in Knoxville, after he pissed him off
Most Irrational Fear: Flying
One Thing You Would Tell "Young Jim Cornette": Warn him of all the "stupid shit" that he did
If Went to Heaven, What Would Think Your Maker Would Say: Doesn't know, wouldnt lose sleep over it though.
Final Thoughts: First off, I do not get why this was a "Breaking Kayfabe" shoot. The stuff about Cornette's personal life, which is the basis of the series, was just tacked on for the last several minutes of the shoot. This was entertaining but a little too long and they were better off releasing this as a Cornette shoot about Ring of Honor because no one needs to hear more of his rants on Russo.
Speaking of Cornette in RoH, this truly was a failure from day one. Cornette has been in the wrestling bubble for far too long and does not have the slightest clue about how corporate America works. Add that to the fact that Sinclair hired someone who was trying to save a buck in charge that had no concept of how wrestling worked and you have the perfect recipe for failure. Greg the Office Boy also sounds like a huge asshole.
Also, Cornette's goals seemed flawed to me. Doing local promotion like he did in West Virginia is fine but besides only a few other markets, that isnt going to bring in new fans. This isnt the 1980's anymore. Wing eating contests at the local chain restaurant will probably only work in West Virginia. Also, it seems like he wanted to book a promotion for people who still believed that wrestling is real. It has changed and Cornette, who at the end of his run in RoH seemed to realized, has been passed by the business. Sports Entertainment is what people recognize now and the fans that left have moved on and will most likely never come back. I actually feel a bit sorry for him in that he nearly drove himself insane in the process.
I recommend this shoot but I do not give it a 10/10 rating like everyone else seems to be giving this. More like 8.5/10. It ran 45 minutes too long and like I said, was better off being a shoot about RoH. I give credit to Sean for challenging Cornette, especially about his hatred for Russo which comes off more childish everytime I hear about it and about his anger management issues in general.
He now talks about the November TV taping in Bell Vernon, PA. Cornette told Sinclair that he wanted to do something big for WrestleMania weekend in 2013 by bringing in the Japanese talent, which would get over huge with the fanbase. He said the cost is the main issue, namely getting the working papers together, which is apparently more than the plane ticket and their payoff combined. Greg the Office Boy said they could sell out on their own and didn't need outside talent. Cornette then said he leaned over the table and told Greg that he knew what he was fucking talking about, as Greg never heard of Japanese wrestling. At the end, they ended up not getting them.
DISC TWO
We start the disc off with Cornette talking about how at the meeting before the November TV, the had a plan for Nigel to replace Cornette as the match-maker and for Adam Pearce to be the new color commentator. Cornette then says that he is going to back-track here but it will be worth the time. He said his original vision of RoH was to have the announcing duo of Kevin Kelly and Adam Pearce to be the wresting version of UFC announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. The problem with Pearce was that he left on bad terms as a booker with some of the office guys after sending Cary Silkin an e-mail that bashed two office workers, which caused him to lose his job as booker. Cornette told Silkin that Pearce would apologize and shake hands and do whatever it takes. One guy was fine but the other guy, Ross from merchandise, said that Pearce was a cancer and would not agree to the apology. Apparently, Cornette said that he wanted to do the right thing by having everyone get on the same page but word got back to the office and they did not want to give the job to Pearce, because Ross was going to file a complaint with Sinclair's Human Resources about not feeling safe at work and that led to the decision. They called Nigel, who was still under contract with TNA, and tried to see if he could get out of the contract. He did but Joe did not like Nigel, stating he was not enthusiastic enough, despite the fact that the fans loved the duo. Cornette tried to go back and get Pearce, gives him a job and Ross gets wind that he is the surprise for the first TV taping of 2013 and complains to Human Resources about feeling unsafe. Cornette believes that Ross was doing this in part to get some money as he wanted out, because sales were down as Greg raised the prices and lowered the quality, which led to Sean mentioning that they were giving RoH a good deal on merchandising at the time but they ended up pulling the rug out from them anyway. Cornette then rants again on Ross, calling him a pussy among other things and laughs at the notion that the guy who sells T-shirts has the power to dictate who does color commentary for a company that broadcasts on 60-70 TV affiliates. He even said that there is still a hole in his garage after he punched the wall due to hearing what happened.
He finally goes back to the Bell Vernon taping. He said that Greg wanted to do the taping there after being in Pittsburgh, which was nearby, after drawing 500 people. Cornette said that it was because Bruno Sammartino was signing autographs. They booked an ice rink for the tapings in a shitty building with the equipment in Baltimore. Cornette said this was done to save about $20,000, which is peanuts for Sinclair. Cornette said that this started his therapy as he was "wrestling crazy." His wedding anniversary is on Halloween, which is his wife Stacy's favorite holiday. He told his friend Gary Jester that he was not going to argue with Greg on a conference call as he was going to spend time with his wife before going off on the road for a week, telling him how Greg was alienating everyone as no one could tolerate him at all. He then checked an email, because he was not on the conference call, that read they would have a PPV on Saturday night then tape TV Sunday afternoon in the same building in order to save money, not even bringing up the fact that they would need to do promos on Friday. Cornette called Jester and told him it was a shitty idea, citing the fact that after beating the shit out of each other on a PPV they have to get their the next morning and the production crew would stay in the building for 36 hours, nevermind killing the house of at least one, if not both shows. After asking Gary why they let Greg get away with this, he said it was because he was not on the call and Cornette yelled at Gary and asked why grown men couldnt have stood up to Greg. He says that this news ruined his anniversary as he was livid and got the call that Brad Armstrong passed away in his sleep then Lawler had his heart attack, which had in him a bad mood. They get into the ice rink which had concrete bleachers and a bar with flourescent lights. Cornette was then told that there was no drape to cover the pipes so the buidling was not going to sell out and the drape was to not make it look empty because Greg said it was not in the budget. He was about to snap as Joe from Sinclair was following him around and asked if he was okay. He told Joe that Greg was an asshole and the problem but he would talk to him later as he had a show to put together. They had about 325 people in a building that sat 1,000 and the building was so cold that you could see steam from the tops of people's heads who were not wearing ski caps. The director was bullshit because it came off as low rent and you saw empty seats no matter where the camera was showing, prompting Cornette to say that he had Smoky Mountain shows that looked better. He learned later that they could not turn the heat on because the ice set up was not like that of a professional rink and it would melt, as the ring was on top of the ice. Cornette then had to give money to the ring crew and some of the wrestlers as they had no gas to get home and he was dealing with Steve Corino who was potentially paralyzed after taking a suplex on the guardrail as everyone else left and after this all happened, he said he broke down in tears and called his wife, telling her he needs to leave as this company was a failure and would never become successful as fans blamed him for the booking and Greg was making it impossible to run a wrestling company and felt like the whole experience was like a giant rib on him. Joe gave him a call and said he couldnt threaten office employees and Cornette told him it wouldnt be a problem and he was going to quit and he could even fire him if he wanted but he was going to go home to Louisville.
Cornette then talks about his "rehab" which consisted of him staying at home. Sean then talks about how he is gad that Jim is calm now because they will be talking about Jim Herd for three hours (Cornette filmed a timeline for 1989 WCW which will be released in early 2015).
Sean then asks Cornette how his marriage was able to work. He said his wife hates wrestling more than he does now and she got into it as a teen because her friends were fans (his wife was Synn in OVW).
He is then asked about being in the WWE Hall of Fame. He said that he would like to go as part of the Midnight Express, stating he would absolutely do it as he felt that it was his best work. He might consider it if he was getting inducted by himself, stating it would depend on who approached him and how it would be done.
Cornette talks about what he now watches on TV. He loves anything that Gordon Ramsey does and calls Family Guy the funniest show on the air. He calls Bill Maher the American he admires the most. He also loves Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire but states that True Blood jumped the shark a long time ago. He also talks about wanting to do a podcast on pop culture, stating he has an entire wall devoted to it at his house. He also loves politics, stating he got involved heavily in 2007-2008 and saw how George Bush fucked everything up and said that working for TNA gave him the free time to study what else is going on in the world and puts over Barack Obama for being level-headed and cannot stand the right-wing lunatics from the right.
He says that organized religion has caused more suffering to the world than any other ruler or natural occurence of any kind and goes off on Bush for starting the war in the Middle East for his religious beliefs. He thinks anyone who believes they will be going somewhere better after they die is scary, because they want to hurry things up so they get there. He says he is prolonging his time here because all he has waiting for him is a box in the ground filled with worms.
The interview closes with the "Final Five."
Dead or Alive, Person You Would Want to go to Dinner With: Alfred Hitchcock
Most Illegal Thing Attempted: Trying to run over Terry Landell in Knoxville, after he pissed him off
Most Irrational Fear: Flying
One Thing You Would Tell "Young Jim Cornette": Warn him of all the "stupid shit" that he did
If Went to Heaven, What Would Think Your Maker Would Say: Doesn't know, wouldnt lose sleep over it though.
Final Thoughts: First off, I do not get why this was a "Breaking Kayfabe" shoot. The stuff about Cornette's personal life, which is the basis of the series, was just tacked on for the last several minutes of the shoot. This was entertaining but a little too long and they were better off releasing this as a Cornette shoot about Ring of Honor because no one needs to hear more of his rants on Russo.
Speaking of Cornette in RoH, this truly was a failure from day one. Cornette has been in the wrestling bubble for far too long and does not have the slightest clue about how corporate America works. Add that to the fact that Sinclair hired someone who was trying to save a buck in charge that had no concept of how wrestling worked and you have the perfect recipe for failure. Greg the Office Boy also sounds like a huge asshole.
Also, Cornette's goals seemed flawed to me. Doing local promotion like he did in West Virginia is fine but besides only a few other markets, that isnt going to bring in new fans. This isnt the 1980's anymore. Wing eating contests at the local chain restaurant will probably only work in West Virginia. Also, it seems like he wanted to book a promotion for people who still believed that wrestling is real. It has changed and Cornette, who at the end of his run in RoH seemed to realized, has been passed by the business. Sports Entertainment is what people recognize now and the fans that left have moved on and will most likely never come back. I actually feel a bit sorry for him in that he nearly drove himself insane in the process.
I recommend this shoot but I do not give it a 10/10 rating like everyone else seems to be giving this. More like 8.5/10. It ran 45 minutes too long and like I said, was better off being a shoot about RoH. I give credit to Sean for challenging Cornette, especially about his hatred for Russo which comes off more childish everytime I hear about it and about his anger management issues in general.
Comments
Post a Comment