Legendary manager and wrestling personality, Jim Cornette recently returned to WGD Weekly with Steve and the Scum, sitting down for a very entertaining, hour long interview, where he discussed his time alongside some of the most memorable personalities in wrestling history as a manager, as well as the years he spent working creatively in the WWF, WCW, SMW, and OVW.

Cornette told many entertaining tales from his years in the industry spanning from his time as a photographer in Memphis all the way up through the present day and his thoughts (or lack thereof) on the current WWE product. Highlights from Cornette’s return to WGD Weekly include him speaking on:

Triple H and his involvement in the current WWE product: “…Well, I would love to give you an opinion, but I am clean and sober from WWE programming for several years now, and I do read what is going on, but it seems like it’s more of the same. In my opinion, he was never the star, he was always the guy that worked with the guy that drew the money, and he continues to push his boring self down the people’s throats. You know, what more can I say, I haven’t seen it first hand, but at least he got a haircut…”

Vince Russo’s time writing TV for WWF, WCW, and TNA: “…I had to spend eleven months in the same room with Vince Russo and Vince McMahon, that’s where I really got to hate life in general…they put Bruce (Prichard) in the office and put Russo on the writing team. At first, it was sort of like the Donald Pleasence line in the original Halloween, ‘For the first six years, I tried to reach him, and then I spent the next eight trying to make sure that he would never escape being locked up. Because what I saw behind those eyes was pure and simple evil.’ For the first few months I thought, ‘ok, he is a nice, energetic guy, who doesn’t know anything about wrestling, we’re going to try to teach him. Then I figured out he didn’t want to learn, because he though he knew what the f@*k he was doing and that we were all crazy…and that he wasn’t ever going to learn anything about wrestling and didn’t want to. Then, I made it my life’s mission to somehow keep anything that he did from actually seeing the light of day to the detriment of the wrestling business. Finally it got to the point, where all we did was argue with each other…But, Russo’s problem, besides the fact that he is from New York and he’s the worst stereo type of just an obnoxious Yankee is also that he was not a wrestling fan. He watched wrestling and liked angles and liked gimmicks. He wasn’t enough of a wrestling fan to watch and understand that all those things he saw as a child, like Piper hitting Jimmy Snuka with a coconut or whatever, those things happened every few months and then you followed up on them, so they made sense when you did them because you told the story leading up to them, telling why these people would do these things. All Russo would remember, because he had the attention span of a f@*king junkie with a clicker on a morphine drip, was the actual incidents themselves, so he wanted to write two hour television shows full of people hitting people over the head with coconuts, and f@8cking he loved the Jerry Springer show and he thought that the wrestling fan’s IQ was that of a flea and there attention span was like his, and all they wanted to see was mayhem and carnage. He didn’t believe in baby faces and heels, because there is no such thing as good people and bad people, everybody knows that, f@*cking idiot. So, he put matches together where people didn’t know who to cheer, they didn’t know whose side, who was on. In TNA when he didn’t have Vince McMahon to edit him and calm him down, it was even worse. That was when you would see those Impact’s, where people would be screaming at each other and then it would go to people brawling in the arena, to people brawling backstage by the dressing room trailers, to women brawling in the f@*cking bathroom, to more people screaming at each other and by the end of the show, you didn’t know what the f@*ck had gone on and you didn’t care about anybody…That was the problem, Russo remembered all the highlights, in his little pea brain that he had seen growing up in wrestling, but he didn’t understand how they were done, why they were done, how they were led up to and how they were followed up on. So, as a result, all you got was the trailer for the movie. You can make a really good one minute trailer out of a really stinky two hour movie…that’s been proven. But he didn’t know how to write the movie, he only knew how to write the trailer and that was his biggest problem…So, Russo pretty much had a cup of coffee in the WWF, where he had a few good ideas and took credit for everything else. He then followed that up by bankrupting the most well-funded wrestling company in the history of the world and then he destroys Vince McMahon’s only competition to the point that a lot of people in TNA at points in time thought that Vince McMahon was still paying Vince Russo to not come back to the WWF…”

Working alongside and constantly being ribbed by Owen Hart and the British Bulldog: “…You know Owen and Davey together, Davey Boy Smith, they were like two children. They just had to top each other. We would be doing promos, we would be standing there in front of the camera and all of a sudden I’d look to the left of me and Owen all of a sudden was two inches taller than both me and Davey, and we were all sort of the same height. You would look down and he would be standing on a roll of duct tape. Then you look over and Bulldog would be about three inches taller and he’d be standing on a box. Then I’d look down because I’d feel something and while we were standing there staying concentrated on the camera, Owen had one of those spray bottles and he would spray the front of my pants, so it would look like I had pissed myself on camera…If Owen or Davey, either one if they came to you and gave you a million dollars, you’d be looking for the printing press. It had to be a rib. It got to the point where they ribbed so much, that nobody would believe anything…”

Jokes about the current state of TNA Wrestling: “…You know they are changing their website, you haven’t heard about this? You haven’t heard about TNA changing their website? Instead of TNAWrestling.com it is going to be TNAWrestling.org because it’s a non-profit organization. Actually they have come up with a new strategy for 2014, Dixie keeps teasing these big, major ideas. She finally hit on a genius idea that I think is going to turn TNA around in 2014. Starting on the first, they are going to let all of the fans in the shows for free and charge them to get out…”

A memorable WCW booking meeting run by Jim Herd: “…The best stupid idea that Jim Herd had, there is so many of them that we could go on and on, but the best one I ever heard was when he wanted to introduce the team of the Hunchbacks. I’m sitting there in a room, and Flair had already quit as booker and I was shortly after to follow, but I was still there. I was sitting there in a room, with Jim Barnett, Jim Ross, Jim Herd, Kevin Sullivan, myself, Jody Hamilton, Terry Funk may or may not have been there, and Ole Anderson. So, Jim Herd goes off on this ten minute soliloquy of how he has come up with the greatest idea for a tag team ever, the Hunchbacks. ‘They got the big hump on their back, you know, and ya’ get ‘em in there and ya’ can’t pin ‘em, because they got the hump on their back. So, they are an unbeatable tag team and that’s how we’ll sell ‘em, you can’t beat these guys, because they’ve got humps on their backs.’ He was deadly serious, because remember, the Ding Dongs made it to television and that was Herd, so he was deadly serious about this. Finally, Ole let him get it all out of his system, and Ole, bless him, wrestling’s cantankerous old man. He says, ‘All right, Jim, you book the Hunchbacks, build them up, they’re undefeated. Then you book them with me and Arn. As soon as I tag in, I’m going to take one of them down, I’m going to slap an arm bar on him and I’m going to make him submit. He is going to give up. I just beat your unbeatable team.’ ‘Well, god dammit, Ole, you know what I mean!’… Thankfully, the Hunchbacks did not make their appearance in WCW, but by the time Herd got finished with WCW it wouldn’t have really mattered anyway…”

– The Newsday website recently published a featured article with comments from the former Vice President of Sales at ESPN, Larry Mann, talking about the possibility of the WWE Network hurting the weekly television ratings of WWE’s “RAW” and “SmackDown” cable programs.

You can check that article out online at Newsday.com. (Thanks to Joshua Stewart from Newsday.com for sending along the link.)

– As previously noted, legendary pro wrestling manager Jim Cornette is starting a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new documentary project. Below is a video of the official announcement:

http://youtu.be/v_hFFb5Q_HU

The following are highlights from a recent Kayfabe Kickout interview with legendary wrestling manager Jim Cornette:

On why he left WCW in 1990: “We just decided we’d rather be home than work for this f#@*$ p%#@*. It just came to a head one day when we had come off of a several day tour on the road, landed in Charlotte where we lived, and instead of being able to go home, immediately drove to Andersen, South Carolina to do a TV taping where they hadn’t bothered to tell us that not only was Stan Lane only wrestling one single match, and I was only managing him in that, but that Bobby Eaton wasn’t even wrestling at all.”

On the tragic death of Owen Hart: “Believe it or not, I was not there. That was actually the first WWF pay per view that I had missed in about five years because I was preparing to move from Connecticut back here to Louisville to start the developmental program with Ohio Valley Wrestling and was not needed that night at the pay per view. I was like everybody else, I was sitting at home watching it live as it happened.

Obviously the incident was not aired on television because, it was, fortunately, in a videotaped replay segment that it happened. But when the camera came back in the arena and Jim Ross was trying to cover basically for why there was no action going on and that there was somewhat of a pall over the proceedings, and he didn’t know exactly what had happened so he was trying to choose his words carefully, I knew instantly that something was wrong, but we didn’t know exactly until sometime afterwards what exactly had happened.

That was, you know Owen, I just said guys can get hurt. They’re risking their lives, but that was completely unnecessary. It was something that Owen was doing, that he was not comfortable with, that he was asked to do.

Still to this day I blame Vince Russo, like a lot of people do, because for those who don’t know, Owen, instead of being able to do a normal entrance into the ring and have a wrestling match, which is dangerous enough, they decided that he would make a superhero entrance and be lowered into the ring in this outlandish costume that Russo had booked him to be in and was being lowered by a rigging company that didn’t check the rigging or whatever and there were lawsuits, etc. etc. But he fell a hundred feet from the roof of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City into the ring and was killed.

Owen was a great wrestler and Owen didn’t need all that hoo ha around him, but Vince Russo didn’t feel that he was exciting enough as himself and wanted to make him a superhero, and came up with the idea of doing that. Owen wasn’t comfortable with it, but he had already turned down a few things that he wasn’t comfortable with, and he didn’t want to be Negative Nancy and be known as the guy who kept saying ‘no’, so he went along with it, and it didn’t turn out well.

That’s one of the many things that I blame Vince Russo for, for spoiling the wrestling business, not only for the people in it, but for the people who like to watch it.”

Check out the complete interview online at KayfabeKickout.com.

• Multiple *SPOILERS* For Tonight’s WWE RAW REVEALED! **CLICK HERE**

– Batista is once again being advertised on UNLVTickets.com for the WWE live event on February 16th from Las Vegas. He was pulled from advertising last week after the UNLV website spoiled the surprise, but now that WWE has officially announced his return, he’s back on the site.

– WWE NXT star Alexander Rusev turned 28 years old on Wednesday. Rusev is rumored to be one of the next developmental stars to be called up to the main roster.

– Part 2 of Steve Austin’s interview with Jim Cornette for the “Steve Austin Show: Unleashed” is now online at PodcastOne.com.

– The former Second City Saints (CM Punk, Colt Cabana and Ace Steel) reunited on this week’s Art of Wrestling podcast. Chicago native Cliff Compton was also on the show, along with former WWE tag team wrestler Antonio Thomas of the Heartthrobs. You can listen here.

• CHRIS JERICHO & SHEAMUS Returning At The ROYAL RUMBLE?

– Chris Hero (formerly Kassius Ohno in NXT) revealed in a shoot interview with RF video that Triple H and John Cena are high on NXT star Enzo Amore, who has been out of action since November with a broken leg.

– Jim Cornette revealed on Twitter that he’s working on a book about his old Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion.

– WWE has published the following time-lapse video of the WWE ring being set up:

“It is a gladiator’s stage, a legend’s spotlight and, quite literally, an artist’s canvas. But what goes into creating a wrestling ring?

The following is a blog from Jim Cornette from F4WOnline.com explaining the context of the recent Samoa Joe remarks:

I haven’t been on the internet much the past few days because, well, it’s Christmastime, but I just found out that Samoa Joe is of the belief I may have made disparaging comments about him in a recent interview, and I want to clarify those statements. Whether someone has misrepresented my meaning to Joe, whether he read a transcript of the audio podcast and did not know the context, or whether this is simply internet rumor from people challenged in the comprehension of the use of irony or sarcasm, I’m not sure. But my comments in effect were praising Joe, not disparaging him.

In response to a question about the TNA-AJ Styles situation, I expressed the opinion that AJ was right in standing up for himself and the money he wanted, but that it was a sad fact that at TNA’s level of business and the way they’ve booked their talent, he’s probably not worth to them what he wants, and should be making in wrestling.

I recalled that in a conversation with Delirious in 2012, when we were trying to come up with available names to book in ROH that would truly sell tickets, and where the ROH alumni were then and how they were faring, I bemoaned the fact that AJ, Jeff Hardy, Joe and a few other ROH alumni were bigger draws BEFORE they got on national TV than after, because of the way they’d been booked. I have always been a fan of Samoa Joe–I’ve seen him booked perfectly as a dominant badass with a literate promo style–Gabe Sapolsky did it and it really shouldn’t be that hard. Joe and Kurt Angle had TNA’s most successful PPV main event ever the one time they were allowed to be themselves. He should be in a franchise position there today.

But it’s also true that you can only take a top talent and put fake tattoos on their faces, take them from face to heel, suit to firedancers, have them lose the big one, have them lose a lot of small ones, kidnap them and throw them in trunks or whatever else has been perpetrated on that talent in the name of “entertainment” for so long and not devalue said talent. Nature Boy Buddy Rogers couldn’t have taken that treatment on national TV for 5 years and still sold tickets. And it’s not just Samoa Joe, TNA has managed to get a lot of guys “under” instead of “over.”

So, the illustratation was not intended to be critical of Samoa Joe. It was intended to disparage the knuckleheads that had a potential money ballplayer and blew it, the guy who couldn’t book Lassie in a pet shop, and the company that devalues their talent and then offers them less money, but not Joe. I apologize to him, wish him Merry Christmas, and offer him the chance to come on my podcast–The Jim Cornette Experience, every week on MLW.com–and let me apologize to him publicly. As Bill O’Reilly would say, “We here at the Experience regret the error.”

– Film crews for Shawn Michaels’ reality show, “MacMillan River Adventures” will be filming at the WWE Hall Of Famer’s ranch this weekend.

– Speaking of WWE Hall Of Famers, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair will be filming a role for an unknown movie in Hollywood within the next two weeks.

– Part one of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s interview with legendary pro wrestling manager Jim Cornette is now online. Apparently Austin and Cornette recorded an interview originally, but only managed to record Cornette’s half of the conversation. Part one of Cornette on the “Steve Austin Show” is their second attempt at recording the interview. Fans interested can check it out online at PodcastOne.com.

Jim Cornette recently appeared on the 100th episode of the Inside The Ropes podcast. Here are some highlights of what he said about:

The AJ Styles Contract Situation:

“AJ is a great kid personally as well as professionally. Very talented. He’s been with the company for 11 or 12 years since the company started. I can understand exactly where he’s coming from. From what I’ve read, they wanna resign him for either the same or less money. Money being the root of most problems in the wrestling business. If I know AJ swell as I think I do, he doesn’t have any bad habits, he doesn’t spend his money frivolously, he’s saved his money wisely for the last decade. i think it’s a situation where he feels that if he’s not worth the money that he’s asked from TNA that he’d rather take a break or do something else or it might be a matter of principle. I can’t argue with that.

He’s been a main event guy, he’s been presented as a main event guy, one of the talents that you really identify with the TNA roster. I’ll go ahead an mention his name, Vince Russo, Russo was the booker for a lot of the 10-11 years of TNA. In that time,A lot of guys have been rendered meaningless in terms of draws. I was talking to Delirious one time during a Ring of Honor meeting and we were throwing out what if’s, you know what if we try to sign this guy or that guy, and we looked at Samoa Joe, one of the most recognized Ring of Honor champions of all time, a tremendous athlete and we both looked at each other and said with what TNA had done to him now, if we could get him, we’re not sure we’d even want him and that’s sad to say for a talent like Samoa Joe or an AJ styles. It’s not like I’m picking on those guys, Jeff hardy was one of the biggest start in wrestling and after 3 years with TNA he’s just another guy on the card.

I can also believe it or not, see TNA’s side of it, in that they don’t wanna pay him that much money since they don’t get the results at the box office but that’s their fault that they don’t get those results. That’s probably why AJ feels the way he does. There’s a lot of great talent in TNA. I almost think for most of them would have to go away not just from TNA but from the public eye for a while and get what down here in the south, we’d call, the TNA stank off of them.”

WWE Championship Unification at TLC

“I think it would be best to have one champion and make it feel more special but I also think the horse has left the barn, cowboy. I hate to be negative Nancy or Debbie Downer but you can see why when I watch the current product it gives me gas because for years in wrestling everyone knew who the World Champion was. Of course it depended what part of the country you were. For most of the country, the NWA champion was the champion people knew. Harley Race would hold the title for 3 years, Dory Funk Jr. would have it for 3 years, Ric Flair would hold it for an amount of time, Lou Thesz, you know, practically lived with the thing. Everybody knew he’s the champ. in the AWA it was generally Verne Gagne, home are hero.

In the northeast it was Bruno Sammartino, no matter who came and went, everyone knew, Bruno’s the champ. Well now the problem is, the title instead of being viewed as the prize in sports, the titles have been used as props. Oh lets switch the belt onto this guy or that guy, oh let the guy cash in a briefcase and cover the dead guy that’s just been beaten up, it’s just been turned into a prop, it’s been devalued, it’s been prostituted. Besides that, now that everyone pretty much knows pro wrestling is choreographed, pre-determined, whatever you wanna call it, everyone knows you’re not really the champion and someone just awards you it.

The only thing that ever annoyed me about the Bret Hart screwjob in Montreal is Bret called the newspapers in Montreal to tell them he’s been screwed and hadn’t really lost the title, well he didn’t call them when he won the thing and say oh I didn’t really win it, someone just gave it to me. Now, It’s a shiny belt that people can buy a replica of and it’s another tool in our toolkit that we’ve devalued to the point where it doesn’t make us any money anymore and it’s sad.”

– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin interviewed Jim Cornette on Sunday morning. The Cornette interview will air on his “Steve Austin Show” podcast on Thursday. Austin tweeted:

Helluva talk w @TheJimCornette on the #steveaustinshow. Coming this Thursday. Do not miss it.

— Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) December 8, 2013

– WWE Diva Natalya is dedicating tonight’s episode of Total Divas to her cat Gismo, who passed away a few weeks ago. Natalya tweeted:

Tonight's episode of #TotalDivas is one that's really close to my heart…dedicated to the memory of Gismo #family pic.twitter.com/F2BZd6b7Do

— Natalya (@NatbyNature) December 8, 2013

– Last night during SmackDown, Tom Phillips interviewed Vickie Guerrero on the set of the WWE App to get her assessment on the show (video available here).

“There is so much going on! There is tension in the tag team division. Curtis Axel and Ryback defeated our tag team champions…impressive!” Guerrero remarked.

Guerrero is subsequently joined by Brad Maddox, who offers his thoughts on this Monday’s Slammy Awards.

– Former WWE Superstar Tiger Ali Singh and his father, the legendary Tiger Jeet Singh, present their fifth annual “Miracle on Main Street” charity event this Monday in Milton, Ontario (details available here).

“The objective of Miracle on Main Street is to promote the spirit of giving among all faiths,” says Ali Singh, President of the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation. “No matter what religion, colour or race you are, sickness and poverty do not discriminate, and neither should the spirit of giving.”

Here is a video of the “Attitude Era” performer cutting a wrestling-style speech promoting the event:

– Jim Cornette spoke at length about his time in Ring of Honor in this interview with The Indy Corner podcast.

Following the tragic death of actor Paul Walker over the weekend, production has been shut down on The Rock’s new film “Fast & Furious 7.” After rushing to get the movie completed in time for a July 2014 release, producers are now considering scrapping the entire film and starting over. Fast & Furious 7, which has a $200 million budget, was more than halfway finished at the time of Walker’s death.

During an interview with Entertainment weekly, The Rock said:

“He was motivated by work that allowed him to take care of his family, number one, and that also allowed him the power and the leverage to help people in need and in crisis. The most important thing that we had in common was the importance of family time and being a great father to our daughters. We bonded over that. It was always the number one topic we would talk about. We would talk about silly guy things, his fast cars and my pickup trucks, or we would talk about the beautiful energy of Hawaii — but it always ultimately came back to family. And very specifically, the beautiful and important bond between a father and his daughter, and how we both realized that over the years.”

He praised Walker’s professionalism, calling the actor “a very calming presence on set.”

The Rock also tweeted on Wednesday morning:

Losing a loved one jolts our hearts to the core… It also has a way of helping us move forward to live & love as greatly as possible. #PW

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 4, 2013

– WWE has changed their scheduled lineup for their post-Christmas event in Madison Square Garden. The new main event will feature John Cena vs. Randy Orton in what is being billed as a “title unification match.” Also added to the show is a WWE Tag-Team Championship match featuring Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. The Usos vs. The Real Americans.

– Jim Cornette has announced a tour of the United Kingdom in February of 2014. The dates and venues are as follows:

2/18 in Manchester at the Comedy Store
2/19 in Birmingham at the Glee Club
2/22 in Nottingham for a fans dinner at Restaurant 88
2/23 in Dagenham for a booking and managing seminar
2/23 in London at the Leicester Square Theater
2/25 in Cardiff, Wales at the Glee Club

For more information, visit WrestleTalk.tv.

The following are highlights from a recent interview with legendary pro wrestling personality Jim Cornette:

On Mid-South being unique: “I had been a wrestling fan since I was nine years old. I had been around the wrestling business in Memphis for six years from the time I was fourteen as a photographer, part-time ring announcer and general all around gopher. I had been a manager for about fourteen months at the time that I got to go to Mid-South Wrestling and I was not prepared for the level of credibility that the company was run. I do a column for a magazine in the United Kingdom called “Fighting Spirit” and the level of credibility that pro wrestling had as a legitimate sport in the Mid-South Wrestling during the late 70’s and early 80’s was unmatched anywhere else. We didn’t just have the typical stereotypical “rasslin” fan, although we did in Oklahoma, Texas and in Louisiana but we had banker, attorney, and television executives. They wouldn’t say: “You put on a good show”, they would say: “You had a great match” or they would wish us luck and “hope you win the belts”. Bill Watts went to incredible lengths and down to minuet details to see that his matches, his matchmaking and his booking had logic, everything had reason and there were no loop holes left outside the ring. The guys were expected to hold up the credibility of wrestling to put their lives on the line and it was a military school for wrestling and if you were like some of the main event talent or that had been elsewhere that thought they knew everything, wanted to do their own thing and you can into Bill Watt’s rules, regulations, commandments and if you rebelled, you didn’t last long. But if you went in there with the thought that I’m going to learn from the guy who learned from the masters like Eddie Graham who was a genius in Florida and I’m going to see how booking is done, how television is produced, how bigger arenas are run every two weeks, twenty six times a year and sometimes more on a regular basis and all of these major markets in the area and if you went in like that, you got a degree in the college of wrestling knowledge and you got a degree that was unmatched. Here is the extent that Bill Watts went to keep the credibility to the wrestling business, his business and that he imparted to the guys. Junkyard Dog was blinded by the Freebirds and he came back to New Orleans with goggles on and he was sitting at ringside so the guys that he was in the corner of got revenge on the Freebirds for blinding him so he is allegedly blind at ringside and the big Superdome show was coming up that JYD and Michael Haynes drew thirty thousand people to see the Dog Collar Match and this was the big angle to set it up and the Freebirds dispatched the babyfaces in quick order and they were all down and it was the three Freebirds standing in the ring in New Orleans in the “Dogs House” downtown Municipal Auditorium where the people would chant “Who Dat” and that’s where the (New Orleans) Saints got it from. It wasn’t the other way around, they started it for JYD. “Who dat talking about beating that Dog. Who Dat!” The Freebirds are menacing the Junkyard Dog and they look at him sitting at ringside, vulnerable, blinded at ringside and they pointed at him and everyone in the crowd knew they were fixated to kill the blinded Junkyard Dog and a guy runs out of the crowd, over the guard rail and is right at Junkyard Dog’s shoulder and pulls out a handgun. He points it at the Freebirds and Junkyard Dog told me this story himself, and the fan says: “Don’t worry Dog, I got him!” and he levels the gun at the Freebirds and Dog is now faced with a quandary. He has to figure out if he blows the angle, shows he can see and saves the Freebirds from getting mowed down by this guy with a handgun or whether he sits there and sells the angle by being blinded and does nothing and to the extent that Watts stressed upon was to uphold the credibility of pro-wrestling as legitimate at all times was as such that he was conflicted as to what he should do and just then security tackled the guy and the Freebirds were not shot and they drew thirty thousand people at the Superdome but that was the atmosphere that the fans over all took the heroes and villains at face value and guys like JYD, the Rock N Roll Express, “Hacksaw” Duggan and there pictures were in wrestling fans homes next to Jesus and conversely heels like Ted DiBiase when he turned on JYD in New Orleans had to be taken out of the arena in the trunk of Grizzly Smith’s car to avoid a lynch mob. We used to be regularly walked out of the Lake Charles Civic Center by riot police with German Shepherd’s to disperse the hundreds of people that were waiting to lynch us and we were followed down the Interstate, Dennis Condrey was attacked at a convenience store. If I was traveling along, I never got out of my car. I went to fast food drive thru and made sure I had some gas. Mainstream wrestling and sports-entertainment has acquired a fan base. Since I’ve been off from wrestling for a year, I go to a lot of comic book conventions since I’ve been a lifelong comic book collector and a pop-culture nerd and nut and I just stayed away from wrestling but I took to a lot of people who are no longer active wrestling fans but they used to be and I found that the younger fans that like sports entertainment that if they go back and look at the older footage on YouTube or like the Mid-South wrestling DVD, they can get into that. But the old-time fans that like wrestling back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, they generally have disdain for what wrestling has become because if you parody something long enough sooner or later people can’t take it seriously and to me, I look at sports-entertainment as a parody of professional wrestling where obviously John Wayne didn’t shoot all of those Indians in the movies but at the same time he didn’t dusted them off and shake their hand for taking a great bump of the horse unless on-screen. There is something to be said for the fact that everything is done for winking at the fans that stay on the internet and live off of the websites that know the inner workings and there is not enough done for the guy in Des Moines, Iowa that works at the Jiffy Lube who just wants to see a good wrestling show or goes to see a good fight and ultimately the UFC is the most successful wrestling promotion in the world because wrestling is not using the old tricks to hype up a fight so they will. They build the champion and the challenger up as the two baddest assholes on the planet and they are going to fight for a belt and for some money and we are going to see who wins that used to be wrestling, now its UFC and now wresting has become sports-entertainment where: “What’s going to happen in the soap opera?” The passion has been rung out of it and the emotion has been rung out of it. My climb to the top started in Louisiana as a manager and we figured out that the Midnight Express about a hundred people willing went to jail by taking a swing at me and often connecting in the presence of a police officer and those people were so mad at me and believed what the Midnight Express were doing and believed in our opponents and worshipped them as heroes therefore they veiled us as villains to the point where they were willing to go to jail just to get a crack at me and it was a different time but that’s what kept the people coming back. The emotion and the emotional investment to where in 1986, we were in Crockett Promotions we figured out that just in Charlotte, North Carolina alone sold over a hundred thousand tickets to see live wrestling events and grossed well over one million dollars in that city alone. You don’t get that repeat business and that wasn’t an unusual story in those days and now it’s a traveling show. It’s a network television and when we come to that town once a year, let’s sees how it unfolds in a wrestling ring but it doesn’t have the same feel and this Mid-South DVD and believe me folks, when you watch it, if anything it’s understated.”

On whether or not Mid-South Wrestling was the best territory: “Well, was the Rolling Stone or Led Zeppelin the greatest rock and roll band ever? That’s always subjective. For me and the Midnight Express at the time, it was because Bill Watts took young guys but inexperienced guys that had potential and he put them through this rigorous test both inside and outside the ring and made starts of them if they had what it took and you see can see all of the hall of famers from Junkyard Dog to Ted DiBiase, the Midnight Express, Rock N Roll Express, Hacksaw Duggan and on and on that was there first territory where they drew money and there I was at twenty two years old kid, main evening the Superdome in front of twenty five thousand people, I was shitting my pants but he can do that with guys. A bigger territory was the Carolina’s and obviously the New York territory known as the W.W.W.F was still a much bigger territory, you can make bigger money but if you were a young guy and had confidence in yourself and you can take a death march literally through that backwoods territory, those horrible roads and those angry fans, it was the place to go to get your degree in wrestling. Based off the year we spent there, we could write our own ticket and go anywhere we wanted and that’s how we ended up in Charlotte, the NWA and Jim Crockett promotions, national television and even more money but I made a hundred thousand dollars main eventing as the top heel team for Bill Watts for one year in 1984 at twenty two years old and that beats a poke in the eye with a shark stick as my mother used to say and that wasn’t a contract. That was based off of pay offs from the gate and the wrestlers, especially the ones who had been around had a saying: “You’ll make twice as much money working for Bill Watts as you will mostly anywhere else and half of much as you are to.” ”

On WWE’s attempt at continuing kayfabe: “Also, as my mother used to say, the horse has already left the barn cowboy. Unfortunately, so much is out about the wrestling business being exposed as predetermined or manipulated or a work or choreographed or I hate to even use the word, fake because there is nothing fake about what the guys do but actually boxing the same thing can be applied, they just taken care of their business better but we all know and anyone that’s smart and had any background that a number of major boxing matches have been manipulated. Wrestling business was first exposed by in the 1930’s but it was exposed by outsiders, sports writers, newspaper people because they were talk about how ignorant the fans were to believe this obvious work and in doing so they insulted the people in great numbers and when television came along it became greater numbers but wrestling in the 20th century drew major crowds so people would take those exposes from people outside the business that were also question their own intelligence and they would discard them. The wrestling business was never exposed by insiders, wrestlers, promoters and people who were actually been there and done that until the 80’s when Vince McMahon basically said: “We are going to open this thing up because its entertainment” then everyone fell in line to get exposure for themselves and then the internet came along and I know Chris Angel didn’t get run over by the steam roller, picked up by a spatula and turned back into a living, breathing human but I’m not sure how the fuck he did it. Now, I want to keep watching this shit because how are they doing this? But once it’s been told then it becomes: “Well, yep. I heard about it once and they did it.” ”

On his thoughts of any past Mid-South wrestlers going into the WWE Hall of Fame: “That’s a shock that the Firebirds aren’t in! I figured with Michael Hayes politicking for the last few years it would had happened by now. Nod body has called me. I have not been to complimentary to the WWE’s product and business practices over the last couple years mainly because we got sideways of their treatment towards Ohio Valley Wrestling back a number years ago but if you want to discuss of who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams definitely deserving, unfortunately it has to be posthumously but still deserving. The Freebirds are deserving, the Midnight Express and Jim Cornett and if you’re in New Orleans, Louisiana had one of the two most famous matches in the history of New Orleans wrestling. The Midnight Express and the Rock N Roll Express were the greatest tag team rivalry of all time and drew more money than any other tag team rivalry probably in history and I did manage the WWF champion and WWF Tag Team champion at different points in time but my phone hasn’t rung and I haven’t lost sleep over it. I’ve mellowed over the last year that I’ve been out of wrestling because once again, Jerry Jarrett said once he quit the wrestling business a few years later: “I discovered I didn’t hate the wrestling business, I just hated the people that were involved in the wrestling business.” But I’ve mellowed a little bit, I lost weight, I’ve got in better shape and got in better mental health just from being away from all the stress and aggravation. I would never go back on the road full time and I really do not want to subject myself to that again but at the same time especially since none of us are getting younger and one of the reasons why I got into this health kick over the last year and got off the road because no one of us were getting younger and people were getting heart attacks. If the Midnight Express were getting honored, I would be right there with it. I don’t care if Satan or Saddaam Hussein is going to honor the Midnight Express they deserve it and I’ll be up there with them.”

On going back to Ring of Honor or TNA Wrestling: “Oh my God! If she called and asked me to take this place over, I would hang up quickly and take three Xanax. As one top star that shall remain nameless who worked for the WWE for many years and is now semi-retired, I’m not going to say you’re never going to see him in public again but he is not out there every week said: “If I go to TNA, it’s a cry to be euthanized”. To answer your question, with Ring of Honor, I’m with in spirit. I believe in the style of wrestling, I believe in those guys, I believe in the young guys who are getting a chance. I was the executive producer of television for three years. I oversaw the sale to Sinclair Broadcasting in the first year and a half on the air. I’m not going to knock people but let’s put it this way, they bought my concept but they didn’t execute my concept. I’m not talking creatively; I’m talking how the business can be structured and where the tapings can be and the entire concept of how it can work. Some were good reasons that it didn’t work, some were no reason at all and some were really stupid reasons but I got to the point where I said: “I’m working way to hard, I’m on the road a hundred plus nights a year for being over fifty years old, I’m in bad shape, I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s time for me to bow out. I hope they succeed. I think those young guys and I like to see a promotion that treats wrestling credibility, as a sport and as an athletic endeavor which it definitely is. I would like to see them succeed but the last year of my life has been the most stress free and happiest of the last thirty. If Dixie (Carter) called, the first words out of her mouth better: “I apologize to you for lying to you and to your face and over the phone and about you when I departed the company.” Then I might listen to what she had to say but not to go on the road anywhere near close to full time and I don’t know why I’m saying that right now cause it might make her call me. Probably not. I told Dutch Mantel one time: “The people that have the money don’t know how and the people that know how don’t have the money.” That’s why wrestling is in the state that it’s in and unfortunately Dixie has listened to the wrong people and continues to and has been led to the prim roads path and I would feel sorry for her except that she lied to me in the last conversation that we had and I don’t like that very much. People that lie to me generally get banished or vanished to the planet Pluto in my mind.”

Check out the complete interview online at Facebook.com/bustedopenradio.

MASSIVE *SPOILERS* For The Upcoming WWE Battleground PPV — CLICK HERE!

-According to local advertisements, WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio will be appearing at the WWE live event this weekend in Hidalgo, Texas.

-WWE.com has added legendary pro wrestling manager and personality Jim Cornette to their official Alumni section.

-The latest edition of the “Heyman Hustle” has been added to the official Heyman Hustle YouTube channel, which features more coverage of the already infamous WWE 2K14 symposium. Fans interested in checking that out can do so directly below:

Ric Flair/WWE Update, More On Mysterio’s WWE TV Return + SD! Spoilers

-The official website of WWE recently ran a featured-piece on Cody Rhodes. The article touches upon Rhodes’ life growing up in the business as the son of “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, and later as the brother of WWE Superstar Goldust. You can check that out online at WWE.com.

-WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler appeared on “The Bower Show” on ESPN Radio on Thursday. Ziggler talked about his life as a WWE wrestler, his improv comedy skills, how he got started in stand-up comedy and more. You can listen to the interview online at 979ESPN.com.

-WWE Hall Of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat will be making an appearance at the Legends Of The Ring convention on October 5th. Steamboat will be signing autographs at a meet-and-greet. For more information, visit LegendsOfTheRing.com.

-Wrestling fans can officially order the new book, “Rags, Paper and Pins: The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling” online at Amazon.com. The official synopsis for the book, written by Jim Cornette and Mark James, is as follows:

“Jim Cornette and Mark James take a look back at the origins of Professional Wrestling’s gimmick tables and merchandising in the Memphis and Tennessee territories of the 1960’s and 1970’s. These were the days before merchandising was a million dollar a year business.”

Cena Turning Heel Soon?, Total Divas *SPOILERS* + Kurt Angle Rehab Update!

The following are highlights from a recent interview with Jim Cornette:

His thoughts on the criticisms that say he’s stuck in the 80s: I thank my old friend Vince Russo for that one. He started that and people picked up on it so now whenever anyone disagrees with anything I’ve done or even that I haven’t done. It’s not about being stuck in the 80’s. I’m one of the guys that has pushed, looked for and utilized more young talent for the past ten years. I’ve been saying lets get the young guys out there, lets push new talent, lets make some new stars, lets expose some new faces.

What led to him leaving ROH: The thing is, I support Ring of Honor, i love the Ring of Honor talent, I love the Ring of Honor philosophy and I wanted to desperately see professional wrestling taken seriously again after it’s been parodied for so many years now. I was talking to a friend the other day and realised there’s a new generation of fans that have never seen pro wrestling presented in a serious fashion and that’s part of the problem. I had my visions for ROH, I’m not even talking about creative or booking or matchmaking, I’m just talking about the way it could be structured and the things that we could do but I didn’t think that everybody in the company was pulling the same rope so to speak, I didn’t think we did ourselves any favours with decisions that were made, and gradually I lost the passion that I demanded of everyone else and you know if I obsess about it for 24 hours a day then I sort of demand that everyone around me do that too for the good of the project. So if I’m waking up going “Fuck, I’ve got to do this today” whether it’s something somebody’s done or an obstacle and it began to be a rib on me. I’m gonna be at the Charlotte Fanfest in August doing a no holds barred Q&A and I plan to give an amusing account of my last day at ROH TV tapings.

CM Punk’s Pipebomb in 2011: He went out there and he said a lot of things that a lot of fans knew to be true. Jerry Jarrett, who was a master booker, always said “tell the fans the truth as much as you can, for as long as you can because then when you work them, they’ll think well A was the truth, B was the truth and C was the truth, then maybe D is the truth too” Don’t give them a bunch of bullshit from day one. Tell them the truth from day one and then when you wanna work them, then you can slide that little white one in there. That little white lie. And they’ll believe it because you haven’t bullshitted them so far. So CM Punk, and I saw it, I’ve been clean and sober from WWE programming for quite some time now, but I did watch that. It was a tremendous performance and it was a tremendous delivery. He said things that a lot of people wanted to say and he made himself in that one night, the new Steve Austin. He did it at a perfect time because his contract was coming up and he didn’t really give a shit ‘cause he’s careful with his money but at the same time he knew he could get over doing that and somehow he manipulated them into letting him do it and probably took a few liberties out there with a live microphone. Then they had to resign him. Two weeks later when he came out to Cult of Personality by Living Color, because one thing Vince despises is having to pay music rights, I knew that he had basically got everything he had wanted in his contract. Then he was poised to become the next Stone Cold Steve Austin, the hottest babyface in all of pro wrestling, but of course once they resigned him they still had to make the point that they’re gonna control everybody and knocked him back down.

Check out the complete interview at the official Inside The Ropes Facebook page.

Update On Plans For The Wyatt Family, New SummerSlam Matches Confirmed!

Rajah.com reader RockNSock5230 sent along the following …

Check out the archive: WildTalkRadio.com

Iconic wrestling manager and former WWE, NWA, WCW and Ring of Honor personality Jim Cornette joined “2012 Award Winning Best New Show” the Rack Thursday Night. In a nearly 40 minute interview, he discussed his upcoming induction into ‘The Hall of Heroes’ at the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fanfest, his memorabilia collection and what his favorite piece from the collection is, his recent weight loss and what brought it on, what inspired him to write his book “Rags, Paper and Pins–the Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling” and where the title came from, his thoughts on the role wrestling managers today and of the climate in wrestling as a whole, could wrestling ever be taken seriously again, if he knew Kane/Glenn Jacobs would be a star back in the day, working with Owen and Davey Boy Smith, his opinions of the Bashams and who the worst trained performer he’d ever seen was, if he ever caught the WWE bus from his infamous video and more.

On his upcoming induction into ‘The Hall of Heroes’ at the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fanfest: “I’ve been to almost all of them since the start; haven’t been there in a couple of years because I had commitments with Ring of Honor but this year, he () told me that he wanted to induct not only the Midnight Express and I but the Rock N’ Roll Express, and we kind of go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. So, he told us that and really it’s a great honor because I’ve been to so many of the banquets and so many of my personal heroes and guys that I looked up to and I was a fan of when I was young or in there; it’s almost like ‘Me? Up there, together, with the likes of the Fabulous Fargos and all these people?” But it’s going to be great, it’s going to be fun and we are looking forward to it.

Plus, I’ll always enjoy the chance to see the boys again; I guess we’re going to call each other ‘The Boys’ until we’re all 80. Bobby (Eaton) and Dennis (Condrey) will be here; Stan (Lane) could not be there due to a prior commitment with his annual boat race, but he’s already sent a video in. And, I’m looking forward to seeing the Rock N’ Roll Express too, because I still have got a tennis racket with Ricky Morton’s name on it.”

His recent weight loss: “I’m living vicariously now through our (www.jimcornette.com) food reviews because I’ve also, over the last 6 months; with so many guys my age and even younger having health issues and heart attacks. Jerry Lawler, who I’ve known since 1976, actually died on live television on RAW last year, as everybody knows of course; he was right next to an EMT crew and down the street from a hospital; if it had been me, I’d have been at Wartburg, TN at the county fair and the guy running the Ferris Wheel would have been standing over me going, ‘He ain’t gonna make it’. So, I’ve revamped my diet and my personal habits and have lost 50 pounds; I‘ve gone to the doctor and gotten all my blood tests done: my cholesterol is down, my blood sugar is down; everything that should be down is down and everything that should be up is up, so I’m happy with myself and I’m debuting my new girlish figure at the NWA Charlotte Fanfest as well.

And see, I’m the only guy in the wrestling industry that can go to rehab without leaving the house. Basically, I just got off the road and stopped eating triple cheeseburgers three times a day; you’d be amazed what that will do for your cholesterol level.”

His inspiration to write his new book ‘Rags, Paper and Pins–the Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling’: “As most collaborations do, it came from a mutual interest and admiration. Mark James, is the gentlemen who does the Memphiswrestlinghistory.com website and he has done some fantastic books on the history of Memphis Wrestling; the old cards, programs, newspaper ads, etc. and really kept the old Memphis Wrestling alive, for the dedicated fans it still has. And, of course, I’ve got the huge wrestling collection so we got together this past winter and he came up to the house and saw what was here and said ‘I see about ten books’ without flipping through anything.

The state of wrestling as a whole today: “Well, to be honest, wrestling is becoming a lost art, to be quite honest. You know, the business has constricted, there’s fewer places not only for top wrestlers to make big money but also for aspiring wrestlers to get in and involved with the sport and learn the right way. There’s a show on every corner, but the question is is anybody running it or if anybody featured on it know what they’re doing and have been properly trained in the particular job their performing. And with managers, it comes down to, and people ask me the same thing with tag-team wrestling, the WWE is the industry leader now, though they don’t call themselves ‘wrestling’ and actually they have achieved their goal; they pretty much aren’t wrestling anymore. I draw a delineation between wrestling and sports entertainment; they aren’t the same thing. I believe Matt Striker, who was recently released by the WWE, made the statement that ‘he understood that the WWE is not a wrestling program, it’s an entertainment program that uses wrestling as a backdrop’ and unfortunately, that’s the case.

So, when they (WWE) decide that they’re not going to feature tag teams, or they’re not going to feature managers, or hell, if they decided one day ‘We’re not going to set the ring up; we’re going to do the whole show without a ring’ pretty soon, everyone in the whole world would be following their example and nobody would have a ring because instead of trying to do something different, everyone tries to copy the industry leader and to me, if I was going to open a restaurant, and everyone was selling steak, I’d sell chicken. But you know, that’s what we were trying to do with Ring of Honor and I would have loved to stay and seen that through but unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, it was better for my health and other people’s health that I was about to choke, that I step back from that for a while.

But that’s the thing, a manager, just like a great tag team match, just like great variety; I want to say characters in wrestling are gone and the problem now is that there are no characters in wrestling because everyone is given a character. ‘Hi Lindsey, I think you look lovely and you’d look even better if you wore a Catwoman suit and purred during your interviews.’ Well, that’s your character; No. Characters in wrestling were organic in the old days because you found a guy; Dick Murdoch was a character, I don’t care if he was in wrestling. They used to say ‘Aww Dick, what a character he is’ when he was walking down the street because he was a character. Abdullah the Butcher was a character. These guys were characters; you had to pay to see people like this because you didn’t see them walking down the street and you didn’t come across them in daily conversation. And now that people are given characters, simply made up and imagined by somebody who has a degree in creative writing that’s worked on a soap opera, as I roll my eyes and try to put as much sarcasm into my tone as possible, it’s almost impossible for the guy’s real personality to come through and the only problem with that is that having their real personality shine through is what makes a mega-star. Steve Austin’s real personality came through, The Rock’s real personality came through, Ric Flair’s real personality came through, Jerry Lawler’s real personality came through and that’s what made all these guys and so many more be as big as they were and that’s why they sold so many tickets and that’s why so well remembered. I mean, the Charlotte Fanfest guys; if you went up to Tully Blanchard and said ‘This will be your character”, he would have looked at you like you had steaming turds hanging out of your mouth.”

The state of managers in wrestling today: “That’s lost too because let’s face it, a lot of guys are great athletes and are not very good public speakers and so the manager filled that role because the manager, obviously, and there were exceptions to the rule; Bobby Heenan was not only a great talker but also was probably a better wrestler than most of the guys he managed except (Nick) Bockwinkel and (Ray) Stevens. The manager was not a great athlete but a great public speaker; you put the two together and you had the package. And, unfortunately, now even though Vince himself grew up watching guys like The Grand Wizard and Lou Albano and all the way back to ‘Gentleman’ Bobby Davis in the 50’s, great managers drawing great crowds; he’s chosen to go in a different direction because of whatever his vision of wrestling is, which changes sometimes, but generally is that it isn’t supposed to be taken seriously and it’s a shame.

I think you could see a resurgence; like I said Vince could decide tomorrow ‘We’re taking the ring out’ and then, in three years, no wrestling promotion would be using a ring. If he decided tomorrow ‘Hey, we’re going to have a bunch of managers and we’re going to make them mean something’ then everyone else would be following suit. Now, the question about whether they would be any good or not, that may still be open to debate because you can’t just say ‘Ok, you’re a manager; go out there and be great’. You have to find people who understand wrestling, who follow wrestling, who understand what the role is. It came naturally to be because I had been around so many great managers in my teenage years; not only as a fan from the time I was 9, but then being around the guys 3 to 4 days a week, doing photography or ring announcing, whatever. I watched great people do their thing and paid attention and as a result, was able to say ‘ok’ and when you get into the business itself, it’s an entirely different learning process. But I wasn’t just thrown out there like a lost ball in high weed screaming ‘Find me’.

So, then the question is will them become any good or not and it would have to be an effort, just like tag teams. A tag team is not usually instantly great; they have to get together, they have to get experience, they have to learn reach other inside and out and how to work with each other and that takes time. So, it would have to be not only a change in what’s being used today, but also it would have to last for a while so that people would be able to get experience with it. You could see anything again, it’s just that unfortunately, the one thing that can’t be changed about wrestling anymore is I don’t think we’ll ever see a day, and I wouldn’t have even said this last summer but unfortunately I have come to grips with it, much like a bad relationship that you don’t want to end but it just has to; I don’t think we’ll get to a point where people on a wide-mainstream basis will take wrestling seriously again, like they did for over 80 years because it’s now been a generation that wrestling has parodied itself, that’s been presented as entertainment and show instead of sport. You can take something serious and parody it to great effect, but you can’t take something that’s been parodied and suddenly make people take it seriously again. And unfortunately, I think we’ve gotten to that point; there’s a generation of people out there who have not yet seen, or have never seen, wrestling treated seriously as a sport and as a result, I don’t know if we can go back from that one.”

You can follow Jim through his Twitter (@TheJimCornette) or his website (http://www.jimcornette.com) for all the latest on his news and notes. You can pick up Jim’s new book “Rags, Paper and Pins–the Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling” through his website starting August 5th. Jim will also be a part of the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Fan Fest in Charlotte, NC on August 1st-4th, go to www.NWALegends.com for all the information of attendants, events and ticketing information.

WWE Adding 4th Wyatt Family Member? + Huge MITB *SPOILERS* For Sunday …

Chris Masters appeared on Inside The Ropes radio Thursday night. Highlights are as follows:

How he finds Vince McMahon backstage: “He’s above and beyond everybody. Even The Hulkster. He’s the guy that put this stuff together. They’re an odd family. They are good at business. People who are business savvy tend to come off a little cold. They don’t get too close to the performers. My first meeting with him was very cool. I told him in due time, I could definitely be a huge player for WWE.”

Who came up with Masterpiece gimmick: “Dr Tom Prichard changed my name to Masters. My friend Matt Morgan and I were sitting one day and he said Masterpiece. I brought it to Jim Cornette and he ran with it, WWE ran with it. I joke that I give 10 per cent of my salary to Matt Morgan. I’m just kidding. He always ribs that he’s responsible for it but I tell him he just had one moment of brilliance (laughs).”

On working with John Cena in 2005/06: “That guy had some heavy fists. Carlito and I used to joke around that in tag matches with Cena and HBK, we would literally rush to get to Shawn Michaels, because he wasn’t as heavy with hands and the other guy would be stuck with Cena and you’d be potato’ing each other left and right. I remember at the Elimination Chamber I felt like I was in a real shoot fight. It’s not that he’s bad, he just gets really fired up and he’s got big hands, he doesn’t realise his own strength.”

Thoughts on his TNA dark match and ending up working for Dixie: “I think there’s a good chance I’ll be working them in the future. It’s a different vibe to WWE. I like that Dixie Carter makes herself accessible to the talent. Jason Hervey came up to me after the match with a camera and just let me talk, it wasn’t some writer giving you stuff to say. There was a good reaction from the crowd. All in all it turned out as good as it could go. I’ve planted all the seed I could. It’s up to them if they want to capitalise, if not I’ll just go about my way.”

To hear the rest of the interview where Masters discusses how he broke into wrestling, his first WrestleMania, working a program with HBK, The WWE’s Wellness Policy and the infamous Pec Dance gimmick, head over to www.facebook.com/theinsidenetwork.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s promotion in September 2010 to WWE’s Executive Senior Advisor made official what was already informally apparent: Vince McMahon’s son-in-law will one day run the sports entertainment empire. Speaking to Power Slam, Jim Cornette comments on whether Levesque is qualified to succeed McMahon as head honcho of WWE.

“Nobody’s qualified to replace McMahon,” says Cornette. “Vince is one of a kind, a guy who will never come along again.

“Triple H is a student of the business, but he’s still got his own little quirks. He’s Vince’s son-in-law, and he’s being groomed for the spot because he thinks in large part like Vince McMahon in terms of what a star is supposed to look like: a jacked-up bodybuilder. So, some things are not going to change. He’s probably going to bring a more youthful approach to it, although [Triple H is] in his early 40s. So, he’s not exactly youthful—but Vince is 66.

“So, no: nobody’s qualified to replace Vince. [Triple H] might do an okay job. But, personally, I think when General Patton [Vince] passes on, I think they’re in trouble. [WWE is] always going to exist because they have a lot of money in the bank and they’ve grown into such a global company, but I don’t think there’s going to be any giant ground broken or revolutionary things done after Vince is gone.”

— WWE has announced that Cody Rhodes will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Ted DiBiase at Night of Champions.

— Following SmackDown, Matt Striker caught up with Christian to get his thoughts on the now-rocky relationship with his former best friend Edge. Instead, the Toronto native promoted his Twitter account and called on fans to start a campaign to make him the No. 1 contender to the winner of the Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry World Heavyweight Title Match at Night of Champions.

The video can be accessed here.

— Jim Cornette turns 50 years old today while Masahiro Chono turns 48.

Ring Of Honor Executive Producer Jim Cornette was one of the featured guests on this week’s live edition of the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem.

You can listen to an MP3 of the audio show by clicking here.

Cornette Discusses Ring Of Honor’s First Set Of TV Tapings For The Sinclair Broadcast Group, Why He Believes The Way Sinclair Is Rolling ROH Out On Its Stations Will Work And Be Effective, Why People Will Be Surprised At What They See From The ROH Product Beginning On September 24th, The Level Of Excitement For Ring Of Honor’s Debut On SBG This Fall, His Reaction To Those Fans That Are Upset That Davey Richards Will Not Be Defending The Ring Of Honor World Title At “Death Before Dishonor IX” In New York City, His Response To Eric Bischoff’s Recent Comments Against ROH, Whether Or Not He Has Interest In Matt Hardy Coming To Ring Of Honor, How Important The Return Of Nigel McGuinness Is To ROH As The Promotion’s New Color-Commentator, The Impact That Delirious Has Made In Front Of The Camera & Behind The Scenes In Ring Of Honor, Plus Much More In His Exclusive Monday Night Mayhem Interview!

Here are some highlights of what Jim Cornette said about:

His thoughts about Ring of Honor’s first TV tapings for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the level of excitement for ROH’s debut on SBG this fall, & why people will be surprised at what they see from the Ring of Honor product beginning on September 24th:

“It only seems like a couple of days ago, because I’ve slept about twice since then. This wrestling show, and I should emphasize this wrestling show, I’m so excited about it. It’s going to be so different and look so different from anything else on the air. We had a lot of guys in their 20’s & 30’s who work there (at Sinclair) walk past the edit suites as we were editing, and they would stop & look. To paraphrase, they said ‘Wow, this is the kind of wrestling we would like if it wasn’t so silly.’ That’s why people are going to be so pleasantly surprised with this product. It’s a great television program, and it’s different from the other programs, because they are sports-entertainment programs. We’re going to treat wrestling as a serious competition. We have great athletes, and we are going to showcase that. We are going to tell their stories, and we are not going to make any up for them.”

Whether or not he and/or the ROH office/locker room would have interest in Matt Hardy coming to Ring of Honor, now that Matt has been released by TNA:

“I’ve known Matt & Jeff since they started in the business, when Matt was 18 and Jeff was 16. They used to come to the WWE TV tapings in the Carolinas. I like those guys, and they have been tremendous stars, but A.) I don’t know if their salary expectations fit in with Ring of Honor’s budgetary limitations and B.) I haven’t talked to these guys, and I don’t know what their side of the story is, but there always seems to be controversy swirling around The Hardys right now. I believe Ring of Honor would once again take the standpoint that we are going to try & find the young undeveloped talent and expose them to the world, rather than to look to be the place where people come to have a warm place to curl up when they leave the big leagues.”

His reaction to those fans that are upset that Davey Richards will not be defending the ROH World Title at Ring of Honor’s next iPPV, “Death Before Dishonor IX,” on September 17th in New York City:

“There are a number of matches that are going to knock the socks off of people, and truthfully I don’t want to give out any scoops, but I know we did talk about the Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong ‘Ringmaster’s Challenge’ Match, which is going to be fantastic & off the charts. And a lot people went ‘Oh Davey (Richards) is going to Japan…oh my god.’ The reason quite simply is we encouraged Davey to go to Japan, because he has something great lined up over there. With the television taping having a title match, we couldn’t have a title match on September 17th anyway, so we gave Davey the opportunity to go to Japan. The match between Eddie & Roddy (Strong) will determine his challenger when he comes back.”

— The Sydney Morning Herald has an article on Kofi Kingston, who recalls being a victim of bullying when he was a child.

“When I went to school I was definitely bullied,” Kingston told the children who are part of Underdogs, a Sydney, Australia based anti-bullying support group. “I wasn’t the biggest guy, I grew up in a town [in America] that was affluent – a lot of people had a lot – and while my family wasn’t what you’d call not well off, we didn’t have what others had.

“So, it was tough. For me, growing up was just a matter of dealing with it. You’d try to fight it but there were some days I didn’t want to go to school and come across certain people because I didn’t want the conflict.”

The article on Kingston’s anti-bullying efforts is available here.

— Jim Cornette wrote the following regarding CM Punk mentioning Ring of Honor last Monday on Raw: “@CMPunk Recognizes the best wrestling in the world when he sees it.Thanks Punk. #bitw #ROHbest #findroh.”

— Monday’s issue of The Sporting News has a story on fathers and sons who were pro athletes, and James and Joe Laurinaitis (a/k/a Road Warrior Animal) are mentioned. The WWE Hall of Famer is dressed up like his son in a St. Louis Rams uniform and James is dressed up in a Road Warriors ensemble.

Eric Bischoff has responded to a fan question about Jim Cornette’s recent death threats to TNA creative member Vince Russo.

Read More: Cornette Threatens Russo, Receives Legal Letter From TNA

A fan asked Bischoff on Facebook: “Cornette knows this business and is quite intelligent but either he’s suffering from dimentia or he has realized that he has burned every viable bridge and has become desperate to get over using the “shock” approach. It comes off as pathetic. If that’s how you feel then keep it to yourself. Mr. Tayler really had no choice in this matter. Heaven forbid if Mr. Russo would have been murdered (by Cornette or anybody else) then Mr. Tayler could have been in a lot of hot water.”

Bischoff responded with some harsh words for Cornette, who he calls a “low rent con man:”

“Cornette doesn’t know any business. He is a low rent con man that is only good at gaining the attention of the internet wrestling community. He’s all yours! Trust me, he never has nor ever will become a part of a meaningful national promotion. But if you are looking for a bootleg dvd or a fake autograph….hes your guy!”

Former TNA creative writer Jim Cornette published today on his official website a strongly worded e-mail he sent to Terry Taylor, TNA Wrestling’s Director of Talent Relations, saying that while he meant no ill will towards anyone in the company, he would murder writer Vince Russo if he could.

Included in the e-mail is descriptive passage saying he regularly wakes up from dreams in which he’s in the act of murdering Russo and that he would willingly go to jail if he ever saw him in person again.

In an e-mail dated Mar. 19, Cornette wrote to Taylor, among other things: “I will say it because I am trying to quell the burning in my heart–I hate Vince Russo. I despise Vince Russo. I want Vince Russo to die. If I could figure out a way to murder him without going to prison, I would consider it the greatest accomplishment of my life.

“I hate him for the money he’s cost me. I hate him for what he’s done to the business. I hate him for keeping TNA from being competitive to WWE. I hate him for the careers, even the lives he’s ruined with his shitty booking and the irreparable damage he’s done to every promotion he’s been involved with. I regularly wake up from dreams in which I am in the act of murdering him. I literally burn whenever I think of him. I have sworn to myself that I will willingly go to jail if I ever see him in person again, and he had better pray to his fictitious invisible man in the sky that that day never comes. I intend to make it my life’s work and mission to **** with him and anything he ever has anything to do with in the wrestling business.”

He added that he hopes TNA goes under “because of the stupidity Dixie (Carter) has exhibited in employing Russo and now the WCW murderers.” He indicated he’s mad at Jeff Jarrett for talking him into working with Russo, as well as Carter, for employing Russo and lying to him about why he was fired.

Cornette’s e-mail prompted a legal response from the law firm of Davis, Shapiro, Lewit & Hayes, LLP, a firm representing TNA Entertainment.

Their letter states that Cornette’s comments towards Russo constitute “terroristic threats” and that he “has understandably experienced extreme fear for himself and his family” as a result of the comments made by him. They added that Cornette’s “terroristic threats” have been reported to “applicable Federal and State law enforcement agencies.” The letter also states, “any further threats to contact Vince Russo or any other TNA personnel (directly or indirectly) shall be viewed as acts in furtherance of such threats and shall be pursued and prosecuted accordingly.”

Cornette has posted both the e-mail as well as the legal letter on JimCornette.com.

— Sting is not expected to return to TNA action soon. Word going around is that he won’t return until several months into 2010.

— TNA President Dixie Carter announced via her twitter account that Knockouts champion ODB has signed a “new multiyear deal” with the promotion.

— Jim Cornette updated the Q&A section of his website with a long response to the question “What is your opinion of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff signing with TNA?” Cornette answered, “This whole thing reminds me of why I hate corporate wrestling. I must admit there are bright spots, like imagining Vince McMahon’s face and blood pressure when he heard the news, or hearing Hogan bitchslap Vince Russo by saying they’d be OK if “he stays in his place.” Can TNA make their minds up, LAST month everybody had to be “100% behind Russo’s creative direction” and THIS month they hire a guy who once SUED him for his lousy booking? They have reunited the same team that helped WCW lose more money than any wrestling promotion in history.” To continue reading, visit cornette’s official website.