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Jim Cornette

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Jim Cornette
Born (1961-09-17) September 17, 1961 (age 63)
Louisville, Kentucky
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Jim Cornette
James E. Cornette
Billed height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight210 lb (91 kg)
Debut1982

James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker. Cornette is the former "Commissioner" of Ring of Honor and current "Management Director" of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Career

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Cornette always loved wrestling, reportedly installing a ten-foot antenna on top of his house as a youth so he could watch as much regional wrestling as possible. He began working at wrestling events at the age of 14, serving as a photographer, ring announcer, magazine correspondent, and public relations correspondent. In 1982, promoter Jerry Jarrett made the 21-year old Cornette the manager of Sherri Martel and gave Cornette the gimmick of a rich kid turned inept manager whose clients kept firing him after one match. The most notable wrestlers in this angle were Dutch Mantell and Crusher Broomfield (who would later gain fame as The One Man Gang and Akeem, The African Dream).

In 1983 he managed a trio of wrestlers in Nashville consisting of Carl Fergie, Norman Fredrich Charles the 3rd, and the Angel, a trio that he called the "Cornette Dynasty". At the end of 1983 he would take on his best-known role becoming the frontman for the Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Bobby Eaton, and later Stan Lane). With Cornette as manager, the team were 2-time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Tag Team Champions and 2-time NWA United States Tag Team champions. As a manager, Cornette was known for both his loud mouth and for his ever-present tennis racket, which Cornette often used to ensure victory for his wrestlers, with the implication that the racket case was loaded. Cornette was at his best as a heel manager; fans loved to see the constantly-yelling Cornette and his equally annoying charges beaten and humiliated. He and the Midnights were so hated, in fact, that they had to be escorted by police to and from the ring at the house shows and have a police escort to the city limits for fear of being attacked by overzealous fans. Additionally, Cornette suffered serious injuries to his knee during a scaffold match between the Midnight Express and the Road Warriors at Starrcade '86; when dropping to the mat from the edge of the 20 ft. high scaffold, Cornette didn't allow his legs to buckle quickly enough because he hoped to have a waiting Big Bubba Rogers there to cushion his fall. Rogers was supposed to catch Cornette in mid-air, preventing any damage. But because Rogers was wearing sunglasses he misjudged his position in the ring. Cornette actually landed three feet away from the man supposed to catch him and ended up blowing out one of his knees when it folded inwards. Cornette, who is legitimately afraid of heights, later said that he knew he might get seriously hurt when he was told he'd have to fall off a scaffold, but that performing in front of such a large audience was more important than his own health.

World Championship Wrestling

In 1986, Cornette became the color commentator for Jim Crockett Promotions' nationally-syndicated NWA television show, and later took over the same role on the Saturday night TBS broadcasts alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Ross. Years later, after leaving World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (the new name for Jim Crockett Promotions after its purchase by Ted Turner) for the WWF, the announcing team of Cornette and Ross was reunited for several WWF shows.

In 1989, Cornette became a member of WCW's creative team, also known as a booker. As a booker for WCW, Cornette helped write storylines and shape the format of its television shows. Due to friction and animosity between himself and WCW head Jim Herd, Cornette quit the company after Halloween Havoc 1990.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling

A firm believer in "old-school" territorial wrestling, Cornette began the Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion in 1991. SMW promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. By this point, however, the nature of wrestling in the United States had already changed irrevocably, leading Cornette to seek a working relationship with the WWF in 1993. This did not change the new national perception that regional promotions were "minor league." The move also did not help the federation's finances, and Cornette closed SMW's doors in November 1995. Cornette later said that he chose the wrong time to start a wrestling federation because the business as a whole was in a recession.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Cornette went to the WWF in 1993 while serving as promoter of SMW. As he had in other promotions, Cornette wore many hats in the WWF, including manager, color commentator, and booker. Cornette's most notable managerial role in the WWF was as the "American spokesperson" of WWF Champion Yokozuna.

Cornette joined the WWF full-time in 1996 after the demise of SMW, and had a major role in scouting and developing new talent. On screen, he led a top heel stable known as "Camp Cornette," which consisted of Vader, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog.

In 1998, Cornette lead an NWA "invasion" with a stable including Jeff Jarrett, Barry Windham, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express, based on the old Crockett Promotions territory. Later that year, Cornette managed The New Midnight Express.

Behind the scenes, he served as booker for several years before being removed from the creative team after frequently butting heads with head writer Vince Russo.

Cornette later became lead booker and part owner of OVW, WWE's Former lead developmental territory, run by "Nightmare" Danny Davis of Cornette's hometown of Louisville. As a talent developer, Cornette helped discover current and former WWE Superstars Kane, D'Lo Brown, Sunny, Al Snow—all of whom had previously worked in SMW—and others.

Cornette returned to WWF television for one night at the WrestleMania X-Seven pay-per-view in Houston, Texas, where he took part in the "gimmick battle royal". Cornette was telling the people in the OVW crowd that Randy Orton signed a deal with the WWF and The Prototype (John Cena) didn't like that and challenged him and Cena won. Cornette was suspended for several weeks in May 2005 as a result of a backstage altercation with Kevin Fertig, and released by WWE in July 2005 due to another incident shortly after returning from suspension for slapping OVW wrestler Anthony Carelli (who would later be called up to WWE as Santino Marella) for breaking character and laughing at wrestler The Boogeyman. In the spring of 2008, Marella, on a Canadian radio program, publicly challeneged Cornette to a match, despite Cornette working for WWE rival TNA. Cornette bluntly responded that at this stage of his career, Cornette didn't need to wrestle a career jobber with a drinking problem.

Despite his current association with TNA, Cornette participated in the recent Nature Boy Ric Flair: The Definitive Collection DVD for WWE, giving comments in the documentary portion.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

In 2006, Cornette joined TNA Wrestling as the new face of TNA Management. He holds the title of "Management Director" according to the press releases following his premiere at the Slammiversary PPV event on June 18, 2006 in Orlando, Florida. After a brief speech, he departed, but returned at the end of the show in light of the "Orlando Screwjob," taking the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt after Jeff Jarrett, Larry Zbyszko and Earl Hebner successfully executed a screwjob on Christian Cage and Sting.

Cornette is seen by some as "bringing the NWA back to TNA"; although, this has never been officially stated. During Cornette's first TNA Impact! appearance, he got into a verbal confrontation with Jeff Jarrett. Remarkable comments from Cornette included "This is the NWA!" and "This is the NWA Title!" He also referred to Jeff Jarrett's family, discussing his father and grandmother. His shouts of the NWA could have been a simple mistake on his part as a common mistake made by many people is still regarding TNA as "NWA: TNA."

As the figure head "Management Director" of TNA, Cornette does not usually take up more than ten minutes of the show, which can be attributed to both his quick tongue and TNA's lack of desire to create another Mr. McMahon. Matt Morgan had also became Cornette's on-screen bodyguard to prevent harm to his physical being, until leaving that post to become a full time wrestler. Part of Cornette's gimmick is that when multiple situations build up at once, he often takes care of them all swiftly by getting all the TNA wrestlers to come out to the iMPACT Zone for a "company meeting" to hear his decisions, or exasperatedly deals swiftly with people who barge into his office. The clear impact of this feature was made evident right from the start, as the first company meeting (which aired on the June 29 2006 edition of TNA Impact!) saw Cornette clear up several issues:

With the return of Vince Russo to TNA, Cornette's run with the company has come into question. Cornette has been one of Russo's harshest critics and has blamed him for the "disintegration of the business." He has also stated that he wished to inflict bodily harm on Russo due to his involvement in a WCW angle with Ed Ferrara in which they mocked WWE commentator and good friend Jim Ross' Bell's Palsy condition. However, since then he has come to working terms with Russo and also become more involved in TNA.

Jim Cornette has had numerous anger management problems throughout his career as a manager as well as in WWE and Ring of Honor and as the part-time owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling. This has also translated into his TNA character, who, while still generally a face, has shown consistent pessimism and paranoia in his promos.

The Daily Star recently conducted an interview with TNA's Jim Cornette, who had some harsh words for the WWE Chairman. "Have you seen the stock market? Vince is not a billionaire any more! He may not even be a millionaire by the time this thing's over! I will sacrifice every penny I've got and cut my neighbour's lawn to see Vince McMahon a broken man laying in the gutter!" Cornette worked in WWE for years and ran the old Ohio Valley developmental territory.

Cornette has recently not appeared on iMPACT! and there are rumors that he left the company. He returned on the Nov 20 episode of Impact! and reversed referee Shane Sewell's decision to name Eric Young TNA X Division Champion.

Wrestlers managed by Jim Cornette

Championships and accomplishments

References

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