Andrew Lutzke
Taped January 2004
Presented by RF Video
Recorded at the Mid-Atlantic Fanfest
Jim Cornette opens by apologizing for being late as he was “taking a shit”.
Corny asks if the late hour means he can swear? The crowd hollers it’s approval, and Cornette shouts “FUCK IT THEN!”
Jim points out the Panthers are in the Super Bowl, but screw it we’re here for WRASSLIN! Big pop from the crowd for that one.
He tells the crowd they are great, then tells the audience with fans as rowdy as them it’s hard to believe the business is so terrible.
Tommy Young is also there, and he mentions he was just a ref and the managers and wrestlers were the stars.
Bobby Eaton is also on stage. He remains quiet.
A “Fuck Russo” chant breaks out.
A mutual WWE friend gave Cornette Russo’s phone number, so Jim called Vince and tore him a new asshole. Russo called the WWE to complain that this employee had given Jim his number and now he was being harassed by Corny.
Les Thatcher, Sherri Martel, and JJ Dillon are in the crowd and Jim points them all out for applause.
Poor Tommy Young is jokingly blasted by Cornette with some homosexual accusations over the way he may use their handheld mic.
A fan blubbers over Jim’s greatness, and Cornette stops and reminds everyone that he knows he’s great so just get to the questions.
We cover how Big Bubba went from jobber to Cornette’s bodyguard in a matter of weeks. Dusty told Jim and the crew “Buh-bah don’t sell fur nobody!”
The angle where Baby Doll was struck in the belly by Cornette was not rehearsed. Baby Doll was heavier than Cornette and she once dislocated his jaw with a slap.
Corny’s loves that Ole Anderson is such a cranky old bastard.
Jim relates his often told story of falling off the scaffold and wrecking his knee. Corny decided to not have the Midnight Express help Bubba catch him. He smacked his head on Bubba’s knee and knocked himself loopy. He tore up his knee on the fall and thought his bone was popping out of his leg.
The tennis racquet came along after Corny realized he needed longer arms to fight off the fans in Mid-South. The racquet really was loaded with steel chains and other damaging items, so the Express occasionally injured the other workers by stiffing them with racquet shots.
The lack of places for guys to go and learn the business is a major reason why the talent today is not on the same level as past stars. The lack of competition also leads to the guys being over exposed. The big bumps and weapons are also far more frequent, which hurts the workers physically.
Lance Russell received a six-figure job in Memphis at the TV station thanks to following Jerry Jarrett when he and Jerry Lawler broke away from Nick Gulas.
Paul Heyman is a liar on a personal level, plus he booked a promotion where the guys all were asked to tear up their bodies, and yet Heyman never took a violent bump in solidarity with them.
The NWA promoters did not trust one another in order to put together a proper offensive to fend off the WWF attack in 1984.
The “double goozle” name came from Dennis Condrey using the term “goozle” to describe a person’s throat.
Paying for TV rights is the main reason no small groups have been able to get a piece of the wrestling market.
The Road Warriors made for good opponents because the matches drew very well. The Rock and Roll Express matches were better for ring work though.
Cornette gets a nosebleed from his sinus infection and Tommy Young takes over answering questions.
Hawk was a great guy, who had a mean streak if you crossed him. Young stayed up with Hawk all night to help him out mentally when his wife left him.
Ric Flair’s man bits fell out of his trunks during a match with Ricky Morton and Young had to tuck them back in.
In the 80’s the fans thought it MIGHT be fake but stuff like a sleeper could effectively put a person out, now the fans come to the shows to get themselves on TV and the matches have no real heat.
Condrey was a better worker than Stan Lane, but Lane had a better look.
Les Thatcher joins the panel. He talks about how he teamed with JJ Dillon in the early 70’s. Thatcher was the worker and Dillon was the pretty boy in the corner.
Dillon comes on stage and comments that the wrestling business has one chance to go back to how things were. That would be for men like Les Thatcher and Jim Cornette getting to teach and book the next generation of wrestlers.
Cornette returns. Thatcher reveals he has a tape of Corny winning a “best photography” award on a little southern territory’s TV show in 1978.
While working on OVW TV, Corny would get incredibly frustrated and had to leave the building to smash windows in a nearby abandoned building. He’d also chuck pencils at the ring and/or the interview subjects when he was freaking out. Kenny Bolin would troll Cornette by going long on promos to upset him.
Dusty had terrible handwriting, so Dillon was in charge of transcribing his plans to the rest of the guys.
Bill Apter is in the front row. He puts over Cornette and then does his Jerry Lewis impression.
Passion and ego are two great motivators in wrestling. Dillon explains how he would do anything to get a response from the crowd, even if it embarrassed him.
Eric Bischoff is one of the few men who JJ Dillon can’t say anything nice about. Eric did not create good angles himself, but was always willing to tear the booker’s ideas to shreds. Bischoff also wanted angle after angle on his TV which burnt out the fans, wrestlers and bookers.
Cornette was running SMW and so Ole Anderson’s son was offered the chance to work for them. This led to Cornette coming to Atlanta to cut some promos with the kid at WCW’s Power Plant. Bischoff heard he was going to be there, so he went to confront Ole and Jim. Ole blew him off and explained that Eric had just fired his kid, and now he’s working elsewhere. Eric then left, only to wait until the next day to fire Ole on the phone.
Dillon puts over his first and only chance to work at MSG. Cornette then shits on the place because New York was a cesspool.
Vince McMahon is willing to hire anyone who will make him money. Corny holds grudges and maybe that’s why he wasn’t as successful as a promoter as he could be.
The golden era of tag teams will never come again because there is only one big place for guys to team up, which means that they will get stale and have to split, There is also limited places for a team to learn their craft as a tandem.
Indy guys today need to learn how to work or just stay home. Too many goofs today have no skills other than a willingness to be hit with weapons.
“The Rock and Austin drew millions in one night and neither of them had to even jump off the top rope.”
Frank Morrell woke Thatcher up in the middle of the night by calling him and inviting himself over. He showed up with his wife, walked into the kitchen, saw there was no beer and chewed Les out for his horrible hospitality. He then put his coat back on and left.
An ICP fan pipes up and asks why Corny shits on them. Jim gets hot and starts screaming. Bobby Eaton steps in to try and calm him down.
“FUCK you and fuck everyone like you!!”
The ICP fans argue back and it turns into screaming match across the room. Corny has them kicked out.
Corny puts over the Mid-Atlantic weather, crowds and wrestling.
Les credits Gordon Solie with starting the trend of calling wrestling as if it were pure sport.
Thatcher reveals Dean Malenko wants to work a three-way match with Chris Benoit and Eddy Guerrero in his retirement match at the Pillman Memorial Show in 2004. I don’t think that came to pass.
The “Dairy Queen Incident” is retold.
Final thoughts: Cornette is never dull, even with some stories having been told and retold. The extra talent playing off Corny made this a raucous event.
