Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru Episode 51
Release date: April 30, 2018
Recap by: Paul Briody
Top stories/moments of interest:
• Usual format in which Brian Last asks Jim Cornette email questions from fans about current wrestling and wrestling history with great chemistry between the two.
0:00 – lntro includes a discussion about a recently acquired (by Brian) issue of The Body Press (Detroit) from March 30th, 1974 featuring a card from Detroit Olympia with Wild Bull Curry, Bobo Brazil, Killer Tim Brooks and The Sheik. For a while, around that time, during the promotional war between The Sheik and Dick The Bruiser, Detroit was selling more live-event wrestling tickets than anywhere else in the country. Lots of interesting tidbits about various territories, angles, TV partners and attendance figures, particularly Detroit. Jim’s graphic novel is coming along well, you can go to tinyurl.com/cornykickstarter to contribute.
23:30 – Jim’s asked why he thinks Braun Strowman’s Wrestlemania activity lowered his value as a top guy when the ‘friend to all children’ gimmick worked well for Andre. Jim: “Andre didn’t bring little Joey in out of the f*****’ stands to team with him against Big John Studd and Blackjack Mulligan.” Jim: “A big, unstoppable monster doesn’t scare me when he’s calling kids to the ring… it just made everything silly.”
27:28 – Is it true that Ric Flair and Kerry Von Erich once wrestled an hour broadway when they were completely wasted? Not quite! Sometime, in early 1985, they wrestled in the main event for the NWA title at the Will Rogers Coliseum and just prior to the match Kerry was found sleeping in his car. The match was a shambles, lots of botches, and they went an hour broadway. They showed the first ten minutes of the match on TV with the disclaimer that Kerry had wrestled the match against doctors orders. Flair was not happy afterwards! Leads into a conversation about the party atmosphere in WCCW, particularly the Von Erichs, David especially.
38:03 – How are battle royals booked? Pat Patterson was always “the guy” in WWF/E. He’s always know which guys Vince wanted to feature and was inspired by the success of battle royals in San Francisco under Roy Shire. Elsewhere, in the kind of battle royals that Jim would organised, participants and referees know major spots and who will be the final few wrestlers but apart from that, they’re just told “pick you spots.” Lots of interesting details about the mechanics and logistics of multi man matches. They do tend to be “the most ad-libbed” matches but modern Royal Rumbles have a much more controlled structure.
51:58 – Does Jim remember attending a BBQ at Jim Ross’s house in Connecticut with his family along with Vince Russo and his family, as recalled by Bruce Pritchard? Bruce is misremembering! It was Bruce’s house, not JR’s, Corny was there alone and was sprayed with a garden house by Russo’s kids while he was lay on a hammock. After much swearing and venting, in which Jim told Russo what he thought of his kids, Jim left!
54:52 – Was the ‘Montreal Screwjob’ a work?! No! Jim: “I’ve heard that there’s people that believe the earth is flat, you know they have ‘The Flat Earth Society?’ They have members of this all around the globe.”
58:39 – Why, in a local promo during the March 27, 1987 episode of NWA Worldwide, did Jim mention “self righteous twits” who don’t like controversy and people would have to come to the show in Roanoke to “hear the uncensored truth?” Jim: “They had just told me to be careful what I said ‘cause of Roanoke being the religious capital of Jerry Falwell or whatever the f*** and that they had gotten complaints at the television station about the wrestlers being so violent in their descriptions of what was going on.” Some of “the boys” can be heard laughing.
1:01:06 – What does Jim think about Mr Fuji eating dog as a rib, considering they got on well? He only heard about it years later and doesn’t fully believe it actually happened. Jim: “I’m still not taking back my condemnation of people that eat dogs.”
1:02:14 – Was Jerry Jarrett in place to run the WWF if Vince McMahon had to serve jail time after the steroid trial in 1994, as has been denied by Bruce Prichard? Jim’s answered this question before but it’s been universally acknowledged by pretty much everybody apart from Bruce Prichard and Pat Patterson, who likely saw Jarrett as a threat. Around that time, people backstage would call them “Bruce-and-Pat” because they were inseparable.
1:07:21 – How did Jim come up with his ‘forefinger on the chin’ pose for photos from the early 1980s? It was influenced by Jack Benny and Paul Lind, showed off Jim’s truck stop-bought fake jewellery and was “so heat-getting.” Jim does a funny little “Oohh” to accompany the pose! Jim and Brian talk about the logistics of Jim having to move his photography darkroom at the Louisville Gardens when he started managing because heels and babyfaces couldn’t be seen together.
1:13:54 – Why did Jim hate the WWE unmasking Kane? Jim: “I hated that because I thought it was such a cool gimmick.” Kane was recommended to Jim by Dutch Mantell when he was working in Puerto Rico and the last time Dutch had recommended a big guy it turned out to be The Undertaker, so Jim was interested.
1:16:03 – Outro. Funny story about Big Bubba (Bossman) having the most high pitched squeal that Jim has ever heard. It used to crack Bobby Eaton up when they were traveling in the car.
Plugs: Twitter: @TheJimCornette, @GreatBrianLast #CornyDriveThru; CornyDriveThru@gmail.com; JimCornette.com; 605pod.com
Rating: 7/10
There are so many interesting facts about the territory days, if you’re interested in that period of wrestling you really should give this podcast a listen. Jim and Brian’s recall is impressive. Always funny, too!
Time stamps:
0:00 – Intro, Detroit wrestling in the 1970s
23:30 – Braun Strowman
27:28 – Ric Flair/Kerry Von Erich
38:03 – Battle Royal booking
51:58 – BBQ at Bruce Pritchard’s
54:52 – Montreal screwjob
58:39 – Controversy in Roanoke
1:01:06 – Mr Fuji eating dog
1:02:14 – Jerry Jarrett
1:07:21 – Jim’s photo pose
1:13:54 – Unmasking Kane
About Paul:
I’m just a guy, from England, who watches wrestling and listens to podcasts!
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