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Kevin Eck of the Baltimore Sun has posted an interview he conducted with Jim Cornette at this link. Some highlights from the interview:
On the Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook: "You know, it started out as just kind of one of those things: “Well, you know, I’ve got all the results of The Midnight Express’ matches; I ought to do a little record book. Just take it down to Kinko’s and maybe a few people would be interested in it.†And over the course of a year it grew into this 232-page, 8½ x 11, slick paper, 32-page color section, giant pictorial history of not only The Midnight Express’ seven years together, but also, conveniently enough, we were right in the middle of the beginning of the wrestling war. So it details the ’80s wrestling war between the WWF and the NWA and later WCW, and all the problems the business went through when Turner Broadcasting bought the company. Everybody sees every document there is to do with wrestling these days on the Internet and everybody knows what everybody makes and there are no secrets, but back then nobody saw booking sheets or paycheck stubs or memos to the talent, and I saved all that. So it’s reproduced there to give as much of an accurate picture as I think has been published of what wrestling was like 25 years ago and at the start of this whole fiasco. We’ve got a lot of rave reviews on it so hopefully I did a pretty good job. So it’s not just for Midnight Express fans; it’s for anybody who likes the inner or outer workings of wrestling. There are road rib stories and funny chapters. I tried to make it as entertaining for everybody as possible."
On working with Vince Russo in TNA: "We have totally different styles and, no, I have no input in booking. Because we do have totally different styles, it would be counterproductive to the company. I will say nothing good or bad or anything else about Vince Russo or his booking because we have agreed to disagree [laughs]."
Why we don't see male managers in wrestling anymore: "Part of it is Vince McMahon. He decided that Sable, because they smashed her over despite the total lack of talent or personality, now all managers should look good in bikinis, which immediately eliminated me and Paul Bearer out of the equation. It became the dressing at ringside. Vince feels that you put the attention on the star and the personality. People follow the trends, and the trends at the highest level were to not have any male managers. Male managers were heat magnets. There is no heat anymore in wrestling. Everybody knows that you can’t get people to want to go to jail by taking a swing at the heels because they got one over on the babyfaces when they know it’s all a show to begin with. It’s just one of those things that went by the wayside, along with every other tool that we had to draw money."
Cornette also talks about his current role with TNA, what he thinks of the business today, his appearance for Maryland Championship Wrestling this weekend and more in the interview, which you can read at this link.
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