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Jim Cornette on Eric Bischoff
Topic Started: Aug 15 2010, 02:47 AM (256 Views)
Purple Marauder
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Jim Cornette responded to a fan question on his official website at www.JimCornette.com asking him his take on Eric Bischoff's comments on talents not drawing in the last decade, Ring of Honor and more:

Traditionally, a guy who "draws money" means a guy who, when you have put him in main events or important programs, sells more tickets (or PPV buys these days) than other people who have been in a same/similar spot, and has done this not just once or twice but on a consistent basis. There used to be dozens and dozens of top guys who "drew money" in the territory days. Now, there are a few, and they ARE all in WWE. The problem is, as Bischoff either doesn't want to admit or is too clueless to know, is that the way people like him have changed the business is the reason, not lack of talent on the young guy's parts.

In the territory days, the promoters didn't care WHO drew as long as someone did, they would push anyone they thought could draw, all their businesses were reasonably healthy, and they hadn't exposed everything/given people such bad booking and silly shit so that when angles were shot, they actually increased business. Now, these young guys are seldom put in the spot to draw to begin with because the "stars" have guaranteed contracts, and if you're paying someone main event money you keep them in the main event, so few get the CHANCE to prove they can draw money (It happens some in WWE, and rarely in TNA)--it doesn't apply in TNA to begin with as some of the biggest draws of the past 20 years work/have worked there and still haven't sold tickets/PPV's/increased ratings, because the booking and company structure itself is incompetant.

Does that mean those guys "can't draw" because the company they work for has lost tens of millions and still doesn't make a profit of any real size? Also, since it's been 10 years since anyone in pro wrestling drew BIG money, not because of the talent but because of the shitty booking and poorly run companies, as well as the fact that WWE and TNA have made angles/big matches mostly meaningless by doing them too often, badly, and telling people they're all phony to begin with, someone has to be blamed--are these companies going to blame themselves, or their children or families, or "writers"? No--they blame the talent. Companies like ROH struggle because WWE and TNA have made LESS people, not MORE, interested in wrestling.

He also shows his ignorance of his current residence in a glass house--if ROH is a "backyard vanity project for marks", what is TNA, since TNA has lost tens of millions MORE than ROH has lost in the exact same time in business, doesn't that mean that ROH is behind WWE but ahead of TNA? Do we grade by gross revenue or total profit? WWE has created an environment where WWE draws as a show, like the Harlem Globetrotters or Holiday on Ice, and the stars on a particular card mean less than they ever have.

To truly have guys in the business who "draw money" again, we would have to pitch out the dreck like Bischoff and others who don't respect or understand wrestling, who think they are Emmy award winning "real" TV producers, ditch the comedy writers like Russo and Stephanie McMahon's comic reading college kids, and push wrestlers who win, lose and chase championships. People will watch what wrestling is now on TV for free, and a few hundred thousand might buy the pPV's, but ticket sales for wrestling will NEVER approach what they once were without taking those steps.

That is why all the guys today who are actually draws, who sell live event tickets and PPV's in big numbers, almost all work for Dana White, the most successful pro wrestling promoter in the world. He just calls it UFC. Bischoff sees no similarity bewtween MMA/UFC and pro wrestling, which is why he is doomed to be a guy that was successful for 2 years out of a 20 year career. BTW, what other executive in any company actively dislikes, disagrees with, ignores and insults the 10% of people who are most dedicated to/spend the most money on their product or service?

All of his "crossover to mainstream culture" bullshit is because people like him, Hogan, McMahon, Russo, etc are all embarrassed to admit they are in the wrestling business (and the business hates to admit it has them) and they all want to be "real" stars--only the Rock has done that, but I wish all I named would leave our business to try!

This is just my offhand impression of this nitwit's comments, but I think you're wasting time trying to quiz Eric Bischoff on anything other than a good hair dye, a nice tanbed, a well-fitting set of dentures and the current price of a 3 way at the Gold Club. Feel free to repost any/all of this if you want.

Jim Cornette
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SRP76
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Cornette has a hair across his ass about Bischoff. Nothing unusual.

Not that I'm coming down on Purps for posting this, though. You know you're my Memphis/USWA hero. :angel:

What he said about WWE drawing based on being WWE ("like the Globetrotters") rather than an individual sounds a lot like what I said in another thread, doesn't it?
Edited by SRP76, Aug 15 2010, 04:52 AM.
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Kraul

I usually agree with Corny and once again, I find myself agreeing with him.

I've been reading The Death of WCW lately and it's helped me to truly see just how inept Bischoff really is when it comes right down to it. He isn't a wonderfully talented guy, or some genius, or anything even that special - he was just willing to play dirty with a lot of money being fed to him and got lucky.

His recent comments that slapped down the guys in ROH and guys on that level is just more of the same. It's exactly what he did back in WCW with guys like Jericho, Misterio, Benoit, and Guerrero. WCW was being headlined by Luger, Hogan, Nash, etc and they had proven that they could bring in money - but they under card guys never got that chance. We all know now that these guys not only could draw but draw very well, but since they hadn't already proven themselves in main events somewhere Bischoff got it into his thick head that it meant they weren't worth putting much energy into because "they couldn't draw".

This is, of course, despite the undercard matches usually being the absolute best matches on the card and the undercard stars often getting a lot of fan support (just look at how over Raven or Jericho was). But instead of at least giving them a shot, the men with fragile egos did what they could to keep their top spots and Bischoff agreed with them.

Bischoff is an idiot. He stumbled onto a good thing or two then proceeded to let the hottest pro wrestling company in history at the time turn into a complete and utter wreck because he quite simply does not know how to do his job. He knows stars can bring in ratings...but that's about all he knows.

The wrestling world would have been better off without him if he would have just never returned after his Raw GM stint (the best thing he's ever done - and he was just playing a character written by someone else).
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SRP76
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Kraul
Aug 15 2010, 04:51 AM
It's exactly what he did back in WCW with guys like Jericho, Misterio, Benoit, and Guerrero. WCW was being headlined by Luger, Hogan, Nash, etc and they had proven that they could bring in money - but they under card guys never got that chance. We all know now that these guys not only could draw but draw very well, but since they hadn't already proven themselves in main events somewhere Bischoff got it into his thick head that it meant they weren't worth putting much energy into because "they couldn't draw".

How much of that is really true, though?

WCW did do wonders for a long time with those guys headlining, no denying that. It wasn't until 1999/2000 that it started slipping.

I read in WOW (World of Wrestling) magazine waaaaay back then, Hogan had an interview. He was getting into his feud with Kidman. He said that guys like Kidman were just then starting to get the balls to actually work with the top guys like Hogan, Luger, etc. As everyone knows, undercard guys aren't going to elevate unless/until they do just that: work with he top talent, and win. Now, I know 90% of what Hogan says is bullshit, but, if he's truthful here, those guys like Mysterio and Jericho would have nobody to blame but themselves. You can't get huge just working with other midcarders.
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Kraul

Well seeing that pretty much every single person that was involved in WCW that wasn't one of the people that others point the finger at in disgust (like Hogan, or Nash) has said similar things, and a huge chunk of their undercard roster was quitting or trying to quit because of the same reasons, I'd imagine it's very close to the truth.

Quote:
 
WCW did do wonders for a long time with those guys headlining, no denying that. It wasn't until 1999/2000 that it started slipping.


It started slipping in at least early 1998. 1998 was the year WWF started to pull ahead and the year when fans started losing interest. Even back then their main events were considered crap. WCW had been using the same main events guys, give or take a few, for three years by that time and all of the major match-ups were already old news. Most of the people also were getting old and slow.

It was the perfect time to start changing things up, but since Bischoff is a fool, he just stayed the course expecting what worked in 1996 to keep working far into the future. "Why fix what isn't broke?" Right? That's a mentality that always winds up screwing people over in the end when the times start demanding something new but the people calling the shots are too slow to act. Instead of building the stars for tomorrow while the stars he had were starting to slip, he just kept the spotlight on them full force like an idiot.

Quote:
 
I read in WOW (World of Wrestling) magazine waaaaay back then, Hogan had an interview. He was getting into his feud with Kidman. He said that guys like Kidman were just then starting to get the balls to actually work with the top guys like Hogan, Luger, etc. As everyone knows, undercard guys aren't going to elevate unless/until they do just that: work with he top talent, and win. Now, I know 90% of what Hogan says is bullshit, but, if he's truthful here, those guys like Mysterio and Jericho would have nobody to blame but themselves. You can't get huge just working with other midcarders.


How were guys like Jericho or Misterio supposed to work with the main eventers if the main eventers refuse to work with them? Hogan saying that they were "finally getting the balls" or whatever is such crap. It's because of guys like Hogan that people like Jericho couldn't take a step up.

Raven has said before that, despite being very popular during his run in WCW, Hogan would make sure to say that "oh this kid can't work. He can't main event", etc, etc. Hogan was afraid to lose his spot and had total creative control in his contract so he could insure this. Why else was Hogan involved with every major storyline and always coming out on top in the end? And guys like Nash weren't any better.

The company was filled with a bunch of men past their prime that didn't want to leave the spotlight and whose egos were too fragile to admit that the new guys underneath them had potential to be better than them or to replace them.

Maybe the undercard guys wouldn't have been able to hang with the other main event guys, but there was no way to know unless they were booked too. It isn't like it's a real competition where if you try real hard and stand out from everyone else, you'll succeed. It seems to have been quite the opposite. Stand out, dare to make some noise and not be Nash, Hogan, Luger, etc then you're going to get shut up. Jericho was getting over, so they tried to tuck him away, but he kept getting over. Jericho was supposed to be just another job to Goldberg, but he turned the whole thing into a hugely over "feud" that wound up making both Jericho and Goldberg look good at the expense of absolutely no one else. That right there should have screamed "this kid has something", but no. So what happens? He heads to the WWF and in his very first appearance goes head to head with The Rock and skyrockets in popularity.

WCW could have beat the WWF in the ratings and buys for a much longer time if they had just adapted to the times, but they were stuck in 1995. If you watched an episode of Nitro in 1998 then watched one from two or three years earlier, you'd be seeing the exact same show. And that shit isn't going to fly. By the time WCW started to change at all (2000?) the damage had been done and the WWF was completely dominating.

And remember, Bischoff was the same guy who thought guys with masks like Juvi or Rey weren't marketable. Ask Vince if Rey Mysterio and his mask is marketable or not...
Also: the article says that this was posted on Corny's website, but I can't find it. In the fan questions, the newest one that pops up for my is from October 2009; in the commentary it's that cease and desist letter from TNA's lawyers from back in April.

I thought for a minute I might have a reason to put his site back in my bookmarks...
Edited by Kraul, Aug 15 2010, 07:18 AM.
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Purple Marauder
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Just for the Hell of it...Jim Cornette's first promo debuting as a manager.



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Kraul

Oh my god, he looks like he's starting to get hair in funny places and thinking about girls. :lol:
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