Kayfabe, Lies and Alibis: Bobby Heenan and Jim Cornette Joint Shoot Interview Part 2

 

Presented by Ring of Honor

This was taped a year after their first joint shoot.  It takes place in Jim Cornette’s home.

They open with several minutes of the guys playing with their mics and Heenan tossing out jokes. 

After riffing on Sherri Martel sleeping around the guys move upstairs to Cornette’s memorabilia collection.

A Verne Gagne BOARD GAME?!!?!?   

This portion doesn’t lend itself well to review as it is Heenan cracking jokes and Corny showing off old programs and such.

Killer Kowalski with muscles?!!?!

Edwardo Carpentier was a pain in the ass – per the Brain.

The Destroyer went to Mid-South for a week and put over a kid he trained the whole time.

Heenan knew, worked with or managed most of the old guys Cornette is showing off pictures of.

Heenan tells of wrestlers stuffing their trunks – in front of course…

Bobby speaks more praise for The Sheik.

Whitey Caldwell and Ron Wright feuded for 12 straight years and it ended only because Whitey died in a car accident.

Denver and Rockford, Illinois were the AWA’s wildest crowds.

NFL star Alex Karras didn’t want to do a bar room brawl “angle” to build to his infamous match with Dick the Bruiser – Heenan says the card bombed.

Corny has the actual newspaper clipping from the night where Heenan was shot at in Chicago to prove Heenan’s story from the last shoot to be true.

Heenan makes fun of Ox Baker’s IQ.

Paul Boesch is put over again.

Bobby praises Da Crusher and Larry Hennig.  He loves Baron Von Rasche too…

“Buddy Wolfe had a lot of talent and never got over.”

Seeing Chris Taylor naked traumatized Bobby.

BUFORD PUSSER was a wrestler?!?!

Heenan is making me cringe by manhandling Jim’s old magazines.

Bobby was the first pick to manage Muhammad Ali when he faced Antonio Inoki in the mid 70’s – Vince Sr. got him replaced by Freddie Blassie.

Heenan said the AWA’s portion of the Ali/Inoki closed circuit bombed at the gate.

Wrestlemania 3 was Heenan’s biggest payoff.

Baron Leone and Lou Thesz drew the first $100,000 house in wrestling.

Corny saved the dirt sheet announcing Jim Herd resigning.  J

The Swedish Angel – known for his horrid appearance secured a lot of women who wanted to bang him regardless.

Cornette secured a manuscript of Paul Boesch’s unpublished book.

Heenan gives Corny some photos and an old ring jacket of his to add to the collection.

Fred Kohler wanted to sell his promotion but refused to sell it to Verne Gagne – Gagne had Wilbur Snyder and Dick the Bruiser buy it for him and Verne signed the last check to rub it into Fred’s nose.  Kohler then used his commission spot to make life hell for Verne.

Cornette calls out Jim Crockett for not paying him for JCP selling T shirts and VHS tapes with Jim on them.

Heenan wanted Jake Roberts to join the Machines tag team gimmick as the “Coke Machine”.

Bobby shares some old heel heat tricks with hiding gimmicks from the ref.

Heenan and Cornette share Andy Kaufman stories.  He barely said a word to Heenan despite riding with him and serving as Heenan’s co-manager in Chicago.

In the late 70’s Memphis Studio Wrasslin’ was drawing the same ratings as the World Series in the local markets.

“Ray Stevens made five fortunes and had six wives.”

“Ray Stevens lost his virginity at age six – he was too drunk to remember the girl’s name.”

Heenan hated Jay Strongbow for abusing his power as an agent.

Strongbow was once asked by Honky Tonk Man if he could leave an event early as his wife and kids were in town – since Honky was not getting pushed at this point, he was usually in one of the prelim bouts – but since Strongbow wanted to be an ass, he put Honky on second to last, just to mess with him.

“The only reason Jay Strongbow has such a big nose was because it was free”

A lawsuit involving The Midnight Express is now part of West Virginia law studies.

We now switch to a standard sit down interview with Heenan.

Bobby says promos should be practiced in front of mirrors and people should avoid screaming.

Babyfaces should talk to the people and not necessarily their opponents in order to draw the fans in.

Heenan also suggests that you should never blast your opponent’s weaknesses.

Dr. Bill Miller once called Bruiser a midget during a promo, and Bruiser never let the promo air as it would be bad business to lessen Bruiser’s aura.

Leona Helmsley was the only woman that Heenan ever saw that could get real heat.

“You see a nice set of cans on a girl, then how can you boo her?”

Managers were used to distract the fans during lulls in the match.

Heenan enjoyed Jim Cornette’s sleazy look as a manager.

Rick Rude never liked Heenan as he thought Bobby would steal his heat, not enhance it.

Big John Studd refused to take bumps, so it was up to Heenan to bump for the babyfaces for him,

Bobby approves of a dress code as he feels guys should dress like stars to give off the aura of success.

Heenan’s first wrestling show in the 50’s made Bobby realize he could be a worker – he figured he could be as annoying as the heels he was witnessing.

Bobby loves doing shots for indy shows as wrestling has been part of his life for 50 years.

The Grand Wizard wore a turban on his head to avoid exposing his bald spot and wig.

Jimmy Hart was a walking billboard and ways great at putting over his talent inspite of being kind of small to take bumps.

Fred Blaisse was too old to take bumps and it took something away from his late managerial days.

Gary Hart did nothing for Heenan as he wouldn’t take bumps.

Heenan agrees with Vince McMahon’s philosophy of putting over angles instead of having a straight play by play guy since the fans can see what is happening on TV anyway.

McMahon is Heenan’s choice for best play by play guy as he was constantly excited.

Gordon Solie was a ultra-serious and it worked for him as a play by play guy.

Bobby feels the WWF announcing team of himself, Vince, Jesse Ventura, Gorilla Monsoon and Mean Gene was the best in history.

Wrestling locker rooms are a fraternity – but no one cares about the next guy deep down.  If you get in a bar fight, they will all help you – if you break your leg, they will all go for your spot.

Bobby says there were no good bookers in wrestling – they were just guys who had to be the middle man between the promoters and the wrestlers.

Heenan became a booker in the WWF in the mid 80’s to get away from working so many small towns,  He and booker George Scott had issues as Scott thought Heenan was after his job and minimalized Heenan’s contribution.

Big John Studd borrowed his name from a porno.

Heenan shares Andre stories about his traveling life and that’s a wrap.

Final Thoughts: Another fun three hours!  The first two hours will not be for everyone as it is mostly pre 1980 historical stuff being shown and talked about.  The last hour was also more along the line of Heenan “teaching” prospective wrestlers his views on how to get over and other related items.  Get the first volume for the stories and skip this one unless you really dig the idea of a wrestling version of “Antique Road Show”.

 

Written by Andrew Lutzke

The grumpy old man of culturecrossfire.com, lover of wrasslin' and true crimes.

Leave a Reply