RECAP AND REVIEW: Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru on why the WWF quit using AAA talent in the ’90s, what Jim Ross had to say to Vince McMahon about it, thoughts on Ludvig Borga, what was the bond on the NWA Heavyweight Title? (Ep. 70)

Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru Episode 70

Release date: Oct 8, 2018

Recap by: Paul Briody

Top stories/moments of interest:• Brian Last asks Jim Cornette listener questions about current wrestling and wrestling history with great chemistry between the two.

0:00 – Longest intro ever features Jim’s critique of Brian’s pronunciation of “hello” and some upcoming Midnight Express reunions (details at www.jimcornette.com) as well as Dennis Condrey’s recent battle with cancer. Nice little synopsis of Condrey’s career. Jim: “His s*** was just always right there… he was always good in every match and he was usually calling the thing.”

33:09 – Jim talks about a Christine Jarrett spot show in Huntingburg, Indiana in May 1981 that Jim did photography for. They drew about 2,600 in a small town. Jim also talks about various figures in wrestling walking around with large sums of cash on them. Lots of interesting tidbits about business takings in Kentucky/Tennessee.

The first hour-or-so of this show is largely just Jim and Brian discussing the business in Memphis in the early 80s and it’s always great to hear Jim’s encyclopedic memory of houses and gates etc.

53:31 – Jim mentioned Antonio Pena once being over a day late for a meeting with Vince McMahon, what were the details? In the mid-to-late 90s, when WCW was using luchadors, WWF management managed to persuade Vince to consider using luchadors, too. They were going to bring AAA guys in and some of them worked the 1997 Royal Rumble. A meeting was arranged, at Vince’s house, between Vince, Bruce Prichard, Vince Russo, Corny and Antonio Pena but Pena changed his flight and only arrived a day later. The AAA talent that the WWF was given was nowhere near the level that WCW was using and the venture fizzled after a few weeks. Jim talks about saying to Vince “Why don’t you just p*** in his mouth while he’s down there” after AAA’s champion lost a four-minute squash.

1:00:09 – How does Jim feel about non-wrestlers using wrestling jargon? Jim: “If a person who clearly knows what they’re talking about uses wrestling terminology, I’m not offended, but in many cases a lot of the fans doing it to the boys don’t come off too well.”

1:03:09 – Instead of Bob Holly and Bart Gunn, who would Jim have chosen to be The New Midnight Express? Jim: “It wasn’t because because of the talent because they did the best they could, it was because the idea sucked and we all knew it.” Holly went on to have a successful career in his own right but no one wants to see “new” anything.

1:05:43 – What did Jim think about Bobby Eaton’s teams with Arn Anderson, Steve Keirn and Steven Regal following Jim and Stan’s departures from WCW and was there anybody else on their roster at that time that Jim would’ve liked to have seen Bobby team with? He saw a lot of Bobby and Arn because he still had a bit of free time then but he didn’t see much of the other pairings due to SMW/WWF commitments.

1:08:17 – Any memories about Tallahassee/North Florida? Jim: “The WCW shows sucked hind t** there… I have no stories otherwise than it was a very dreary atmosphere.” Ouch.

1:09:31 – What are Jim’s thoughts on Ludwig Borga and what are his memories of managing the Foreign Fanatics at Survivor Series 1993? Jim: “He was a nice guy… a shoot fighter and a badass for real. I don’t know if he got the entire wrestling mindset and experience or whatever but they were gonna push him, they thought he was gonna be a big deal and I don’t think that he fit well, I don’t think they fit with him, it was just one of those things. At Survivor Series ‘93 the All American team of Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers and The Undertaker with Paul Bearer defeated the Foreign Fanatics team of Yokozuna, Ludwig Borga, Crush and Jacques Rougeau with Johnny Polo, Jim Cornette and Mr Fuji. Jim: “If you held a gun to my head I couldn’t tell you what happened in that f*****’ match.”

1:12:51 – What was the bond on the NWA title? Jim: “When you were chosen to be the NWA champion either you or the promoter on your behalf would have to put up the bond with the NWA that you would not only take care of the belt but would drop it on request.” Buddy Rogers’ bond was $25,000, so was Ric Flair’s and Flair’s bond would probably have been paid by Crockett, which eventually led to Flair having ownership of the ‘big gold belt’ following the sale to Turner.

1:23:43 – Outro.

Plugs: Twitter: @TheJimCornette, @GreatBrianLast #CornyDriveThru; CornyDriveThru@gmail.com; JimCornette.com; 605pod.com; kfrpod.com; tinyurl.com/cornyyoutube; the law offices of Stephen P. New: newlawoffice.com.

Rating: 6.9

Timestamps:

53:31 – Antonio Pena
1:00:09 – Wrestling jargon
1:03:09 – New Midnights
1:05:43 – Bobby Eaton’s other tag teams
1:09:31 – Ludwig Borga
1:12:51 – NWA title bond

I’m just a guy, from England, who watches wrestling and listens to podcasts!

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