Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru Episode 69
Release date: Oct 1, 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 – Long intro features a fun little AWA discussion and Don Fargo showing up there. For a time, down in Texas, Stanley Blackburn would cash Fargo’s cheques because he didn’t want to leave a paper trail. This week’s plug for the law offices of Stephen P. New contains some interesting and depressing emailer insight into the opioid problems in West Virginia.
20:20 – Any memories of Tennessee wrestler Bobby Rich (Tommy’s kayfabe brother)? He was the emailer’s grandfather and the question contains a synopsis of Rich’s ‘career highlights.’ Jim: “None of that s*** actually ever happened, there was no Bobby Rich related to Wildfire Tommy Rich, none of those matches or incidents ever occurred and I don’t know any of those people.” Quite deflating! Jim then talks about watching Tommy Rich’s early work in the late ‘70s. Jim: “Bobby Rich… not so much.”
26:23 – How was working with Sherri Martel? She was the first person Jim managed. Jim: “She was great, she was so much fun and she knew what she was doing, and she understood the wrestling business, she was one of the boys.”
31:50 – During a promo on 1998’s WWF Breakdown PPV, Mick Foley mentions Spaceman Frank Hickey, can Jim shed any light on Frank Hickey? He was a “perpetual job guy” who was “apparently, as far out in space personally as he was in his gimmick.” He would wear a “spaceman hat” and a silver cape. Because of his strange look he was memorable and even legendary down in Memphis, where Foley worked for a time.
36:15 – How did Jim end up calling Sunday Night Heat (replacing Jim Ross) with Shane McMahon and why was he pulled from the show? It was Shane’s first stint on TV and it was “brutal.” Jim: “I think it was perfect what happened with Shane being part of the McMahon family and that being a gimmick unto itself because he was not gonna be a real good wrestling announcer.”
41:06 – Funny email about Jim interviewing The New Breed and their new robotic ‘manager’ XTC1 In JCP, 1987, how much did Jim hate this? Jim: “It was really, really, really cheesy… but The New Breed were convinced that was really gonna be a cool thing to get them over.” Jim then talks about improvising in JCP at the time including receiving a trophy from comedian Jay Hickman for being the best manager in the world. Dusty would always give you the time you had to fill and “just get yourself over.”
49:10 – What are Jim’s thoughts on Brie Bella’s recent botches and has Jim ever had to tell anyone that they had no business being in the ring? Jim: “There’s many people I’ve told “you shouldn’t be doing this anymore” but it’s not because they lost a step it’s because they never had a step to begin with… it was a f*****’ potato, it was a timing thing that both girls were involved in and it’s s*** that happens because this ain’t ballet.”
57:06 – What Jim’s thoughts (and what were the opinions in various territories in the ‘80s) on WWF cage matches, where the winner escapes the cage and effectively flees the fight? Jim: “Well, same thing!” Jim talks about forgetting about their backwards cage rules when he went there to manage Yokozuna. Jim: “It was just Bizarro World wrestling, was the WWF, to me, in the ‘80s.” WWE tried to give Jim a “big blue cage” when he went down to OVW but he refused it.
58:57 – Why were there so many tag teams with ‘Express’ in their name? Jim: “It was because of the Rock ‘n’ Roll and Midnight Express, it just happened.” Jim talks about a team in Alabama called the Stop and Go Express! Sounds “like a convenience store!” Jim: “Everybody that didn’t try to be the Rock ‘n’ Roll or Midnight Express tried to be the Road Warriors.”
1:04:45 – Why did NWA WCW move from Techwood Drive to Center Stage and what were the contemporary thoughts of talent there? Jim: “That was when Turner Broadcasting had taken over and they wanted it to be a bigger deal and be more visually appealing to compete with Vince’s programs that were being shot in arenas.” Interesting discussion about studio wrestling.
1:10:34 – 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: 7.3
Timestamps:
20:20 – Bobby Rich?!
26:23 – Sherri Martel
31:50 – Spaceman Frank Hickey
36:15 – Commentating on Sunday Night Heat
41:06 – The New Breed
49:10 – Brie Bella
57:06 – WWF big blue cage
58:57 – ‘Express’ tag teams
1:04:45 – NWA WCW move to Center Stage and studio wrestling in general
I’m just a guy, from England, who watches wrestling and listens to podcasts!
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