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Issue #86 featuring the Jim Cornette Interview
(part 2)In this issue Cornette does what he does best and that's speak his mind as he talks about:
- His candid opinion of Paul E. Dangerously
- The final days of Smoky Mountain Wrestling
- The late Brian Hildebrand
- Jerry Lawler
- & more...
If you have a credit card, just click here to order Issue #86 for only $3.00 Here is an except from the Jim Cornette Interview (part 2)
Copyright Notice: This interview is Copyright (c) 2000 Wrestling Perspective and may not be quoted, reprinted or distributed without written permission from Wrestling Perspective publishers Paul MacArthur and David Skolnick.Wrestling Perspective: Does (Vince McMahon) subsidize ECW?
Jim Cornette: I do not know that he does. I wouldn't think that he does. I wouldn't think there'd be any reason for it. But you never know what kind of deal Paul E. is in. But it seems to me that every time they enter into a business relationship, nobody's actually ever happy. Paul E.'s always uhh, like the evil empire. What the fuck is that all about? Jesus Christ. Why is he going to compete with Vince McMahon? For God sakes, get a fucking clue.
Wrestling Perspective: Why does Vince do business with him?
Jim Cornette: I think Vince has had a lot of people, and Russo was a big ECW fan because Russo's only feedback to tell him how great he is and what a genius he is is some people on the Internet and naturally, they like ECW. That's why Russo was always like, "Bring the Blue Meanie in." I like the Blue Meanie as a person. But, my God, this is the epitome of what's wrong with the wrestling business. God bless him. He's in horrible shape. He's painted blue. If you turn on the channel for the first time, you're like, "What the fuck is that? What kind of athlete is that? What kind of sport is this? What's going on here?" This is a clown show. That's Russo's thing. So he was big on an ECW relationship. Paul E.'s so crooked and lies so much. He was on the WWF payroll for a couple of years and swore to his boys that he wasn't. That's why all of his guys leave him, by the way, because he lies to them all the time. If I'm working for somebody, I'd rather have them tell the truth and pay me no money, but be honest to me and honest about the situation than have them pay me a lot of money and be a lying prick that you can't trust to turn your back on.
Wrestling Perspective: Did you ever like him?
Jim Cornette: Oh, we were friends who talked on the phone and ride around in his car when I would visit New York in our younger days. I got him booked with Jim Crockett. Dusty (Rhodes) came to me and Bobby (Eaton) and said, "Dennis Condrey fucked you and I won't book him again unless you guys say so." The whole Original Midnight deal I had presented to Dusty. It was the thing where he came in, he called me on the phone in the studio and blah, blah, blah. The timing was my idea. I presented it to Dusty. I said, "We want to do this. We don't have anybody to work with. We can draw some money with this." So he gave them a job. At that point, Paul E., of course, now he wants to do his little political shit and be the only manager and I hated him at the time. Eventually, I was gone. I left. He'd call me every once in a while like the time I quit. He'd call and Paul E.'s so crooked. He can't contemplate that somebody actually does something for any legitimate reason. It's always a scam. I quit and left and Paul E. called me, "You've got them right where you want them. They'll give you anything to come back." "I'm not going to come back, Paul." "Yeah, okay, right, yeah, sure, you've got them right where you want them." "Paul, I don't want to come back. I don't want to work for them." "They'll give you anything. They'll double your salary." "I don't want double the money, Paul. I'm not going to come back for double the money. If they offer it to me, I won't take it." "Okay, sure." I said, "Wait and fucking see. I'm not coming back." I guess he still thinks I'm holding out. He couldn't contemplate that I just didn't want to work for those fucking people. It's always a scam, always a con, whatever. He got fired for falsifying the receipts and the fucking plane ticket thing and then he'd come back.
Wrestling Perspective: He claimed he was framed on that.
Jim Cornette: Oh, bullshit. He sat in the locker room and told me one time how he figured out how to refund those plane tickets to his own credit card. He's a crook. Paul E. Dangerously's a crook. Everybody knows that he lies, he lies, he lies, he lies, Jesus. So anyway as far as why the WWF has ever had a relationship with him (it's) because he's another Russo. He's an Internet self-promoter and he convinced them he was more valuable than he was. Their shit, I like some of the guys in ECW, but the ECW style did not do anything for Raw when the ECW guys came and appeared on it. While Paul E. for two years personally was on Vince's payroll because Vince felt bad about taking some of his talent and gave him a check, he would lie to his boys and tell them that he wasn't on the payroll. He agreed to be a color commentator for the WWF and then lied to his boys and said he didn't agree and didn't show up at the taping and nobody could get a hold of him from the WWF office. Two weeks later, he calls with some bogus story of why he couldn't be in contact and tell them he wasn't coming for two fucking weeks like he'd been stolen by gypsies or something. He got in a situation where the WWF had been paying him for so long and then finally asked him to do something for his money. He couldn't figure out a way to say no. At the same time, he couldn't admit to his boys that he was working for the WWF because he had the evil-empire thing going so he just crawled in a hole until he could worm his way out of it.
Wrestling Perspective: What was the theory behind having him on the payroll? What was he supposed to be doing?
Jim Cornette: Vince had felt bad because Vince had signed up several pieces of talent and was using them all at the same time so Vince was trying to make it right with him. Since he had hurt his business, he gave him a little check. He had him on retainer. I guess he was thinking at some point we will be able to use this young man and utilize his talents or whatever the fuck.
Wrestling Perspective:: That's kind of hard to believe that Vince would feel that way when he raided numerous companies over the years.
Jim Cornette: Yeah, but let me tell you something, if you added up the money that Vince pays out in favor jobs and to help people or to support people or to make up for taking talent or something that he feels should be made right, my God, you could live for 30 years.
Wrestling Perspective:: Does this mean Verne Gagne's on the payroll?
Jim Cornette: He may be one of the only ones that ain't. Vince McMahon is to the point where when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash left by faxing a notice after they promised they were staying and blah, blah, blah and that whole story's been well documented, he could have paid them anything he wanted to for that last Wrestlemania. He not only gave them an excellent pay-off, he gave more at least to one of them, he gave them more than the guy he worked with as a bonus because he wanted to say, "They can't truthfully say I fucked them on the way out." But he's been nice to some people to the point where it makes me want to puke. I wouldn't have done it. They didn't deserve it. But at any rate, the thing with Paul E., every time they have entered into some kind of relationship, it's short-lived and Paul E. does nothing but bad-mouth everybody publicly and I don't get the concept of that. He ain't gonna get bigger than Vince. He ain't gonna whip Vince. Why not work together with Vince? Why not acknowledge some kind of public relationship? Because it would damage his perception as being the bad boy. Well, fuck that shit. Anybody who can't understand that hey, this guy has a multi-billion-dollar company and meanwhile, I've got what I've got, of course I want him on my side. I'm going to bring this talent down. He can't bring WWF talent to work for him because none of the WWF guys will do that bullshit and risk their lives and their careers.
Wrestling Perspective:: He's so concerned with the fans who will chant, "You sold out" at people who are going to get big-money deals and when they come back, it's like all is forgiven and all is forgotten. Also, who was hated more than Dusty Rhodes when that company started? The fans don't know what to do.
Jim Cornette: It's the Ole Anderson principle. Ole Anderson told me one time, this was one of the greatest things anybody ever told me, he said, "Cornette, at one time, I thought you were a dumb fuck. But so many other dumb fucks have come along who are worse than you that it's moved you up the ladder without you doing anything." Same principle. They hated Dusty 10 years ago, but now, the situation is so stale they love seeing his fucking bubbly, fat ass back again. So anyway, I don't have any clue what the WWF-ECW relationship is today nor do I really care. I'd rather stay out of all of this. I don't want to hear about things. I don't even listen to most gossip except when it relates to somebody I really dislike just because I'm here doing this. I watch enough wrestling between here and Memphis and our house shows, I don't hardly watch anything on Monday night anymore from anybody or Thursday night or Saturday morning or whenever the hell it's on. Don't care.
Cornette has much more to say and the only place where you can read his candid comments is Wrestling Perspective. Order your copy today!
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