Cornette Given Leave of Absence by WWE

[Zack Malibu 0]

From the WO daily update:

 

-Jim Cornette has been given a leave of absence for 5 weeks by WWE after being upset with things that took place and the overall quality of the last two week's of OVW TV tapings and the company felt he was hitting a wall. Al Snow, Tommy Dreamer, Danny Davis and Lance Storm will be handling his work load until he returns, including running the first Six Flags show of the summer on 6/3. We'll have full details on this in this coming week's Observer. Snow will work with Dean Hill on the announcing for the next few TV's. Bobby Heenan will be in for tonight's TV to do some sort of an angle with Kenny Bolin.

 

I'm not completely sure what specifially led to this, but I knew Cornette was getting frustrated. It's gotta suck being one of the few people who give a shit about the younger talent and then watch the higher-ups screw them up beyond belief in many cases. I don't think it's Cornette hitting a wall so much as running out of ways to replace the call-ups (MNM, Morgan and Heartbreakers the most recent) and trying to find ways to book around WWE's stupidity (putting Damaja/Doug Basham together, turning Dinsmore into Eugene, etc.).

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

WWE killing the Heartbreakers/throbs had to have a bit to do with it.

[Zack Malibu 0]

WWE killing the Heartbreakers/throbs had to have a bit to do with it.

Exactly what I was thinking. No buildup to the debut, no Mo Green to feed off of as the straight man (no pun intended) to the comedy act, and ruining the gimmick. For those who don't know, in OVW the Heartbreakers/throbs were blatantly gay, it was stated so by everyone, and they let their actions do the talking. Keep in mind that OVW, in the heart of Kentucky, has fans that got into the act so much they turned them babyface. Yes, you read that right. A homosexual team got turned face by Southern fans. Now they're left to rot as a comedy act on RAW.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

"The WWF are the type of people who would take the world's greatest plumber, and make him an electrician".

 

Paraphrased from a Chris Candido interview.

[Zack Malibu 0]

"The WWF are the type of people who would take the world's greatest plumber, and make him an electrician".

 

Paraphrased from a Chris Candido interview.

Amen. You and I as OVW fans both know how badly they've ruined certain people.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

"The WWF are the type of people who would take the world's greatest plumber, and make him an electrician".

 

Paraphrased from a Chris Candido interview.

Amen. You and I as OVW fans both know how badly they've ruined certain people.

I have to try hard not to think about that, because it's so depressing. They've taken some great, and not-so-great, talents from OVW, and with few exceptions, they've booked them totally ass backwards.

 

Luther Reigns was pretty poor in the ring, but could cut a great promo. So, what do WWE do with him ? Have him never talk for the first six months, and put him in the ring far too often.

 

Batista/Leviathan had a tremendous physique, and a unique look. So, what do WWE do with him ? Put him in an outfit that covers up most of his body, and have him grow his hair out, which takes away from his look.

 

Matt Morgan is a sub-par talent, but a great talker. So, what do WWE do ? Give him a stupid gimmick that stops him from giving the interviews he could.

[Dangerous A 0]

Amen. You and I as OVW fans both know how badly they've ruined certain people.

Add Matt Morgan to the list of those whose strengths have been limited and weaknesses brought out to light. He cuts a damn good straight promo and they cuff him with a STUTTERING GIMMICK THAT HE CAN'T DO WELL AT ALL!!!

[Zack Malibu 0]

The discussion about the Bashams (great rivals, excellent matches, good to great promo's from either of them, Doug especially) being morphed into the World's Blandest Tag Team could go on for days as well.

 

A company is in desperate need of tag teams, and has one of the greatest tag team managers of all team booking their developmental terriotory. This man puts a major emphasis on the tag division, forming teams and alliances left and right. Brent Albright and Chris Masters debut for OVW as Johnny Ace's Troubleshooters, a heel team. About a year later, one is having a great surge of popularity and becoming a bonafide star in OVW, the other is daring indy workers to get out of his full nelson.

 

The Jersey Shore Crew-Three guys and a girl, all admitted assholes who would screw their own families over to get ahead. So what do you do, WWE? Pull the most experienced one, an experienced ECW worker at that, and give him the Infomercial Gimmick From Hell.

 

I love how MNM are so over, not just because they are great, but because their fame was somewhat of an accident. Joey Matthews wouldn't have even been in OVW if his girlfriend Alexis Laree didn't get signed to a deal, so he went their on his own. Nitro and Melina date in real life, so that was an obvious pairing, and Cornette felt by putting Matthews with them, Nitro could feed off him and learn something. They currently hold the distinction of being the only actual OVW act to remain intact on WWE TV.

 

I also love how Cornette feared putting Big Bad John Heidenreich on OVW TV, yet we get to see him all the time on Smackdown.

[Guest Hass of Pain]

This is a pretty terrible move by World Wrestling Entertainment. You just can't go undermining a guy who's in pretty much total control of your developmental system along with Danny Davis, especially over something like Fertig wrestling in a baseball cap like it's a backyard fed or something, especially when it doesn't go with any of his gimmicks at all.

 

This was Dave's report on it:

 

"--Jim Cornette has been given a leave of absence for 5 weeks by WWE after being upset with things that took place and the overall quality of the last two week's of OVW TV tapings and the company felt he was hitting a wall. Al Snow, Tommy Dreamer, Danny Davis and Lance Storm will be handling his work load until he returns, including running the first Six Flags show of the summer on 6/3. We'll have full details on this in this coming week's Observer. Snow will work with Dean Hill on the announcing for the next few TV's. Bobby Heenan will be in for tonight's TV to do some sort of an angle with Kenny Bolin."

 

It sounds like the other sites may have sensationalized the story a bit, and Cornette being "forced out" sounds like a bit of an overstatement. It sounded like both sides realized that he needed a break, and this sounds like it could be a blessing in disguise for Cornette. He's gotta be frustrated over an act he believed in so much like The Heartbreakers being called up too early without Mo Green and with a new name to pander to Shawn Michaels fragile Christian ego, with WWE doing exactly what he told them not to do with the act, jobbing them clean in their debut, not using them on TV for a couple weeks and having Regal and Tajiri allegadly rough up the WRONG member of the team. Then you've got Matt Morgan who Cornette has been preparing to be the future of WWE brought up looking like Big Bully Busick with a stuttering act. But Morgan is still working a program with OVW that people are into. It's a big mess, I would be on edge too if I were Cornette.

 

I have a feeling that aside from the Bobby Heenan appearance, OVW television isn't going to be that fun to watch for the next five months.

[Dangerous A 0]

Methinks WWE higher ups underestimate Cornette like they do with Heyman. Both men have their different visions of what wrestling should be (Cornette=Southern style, Heyman=Hardcore style) and WWE just uses them to supposedly "develop" the talent. When either of these 2 geniuses of wrestling step up to give their opinions on how things should go with certain guys or whatever, Creative craps on them and chalks it up to them being two crazy guys who aren't adaptive or flexible when it comes to WWE's "entertainment style" of wrestling programming. I'm just disappointed when WWE ignores Cornette or Heyman's common sense suggestions and goes with whatever flies out of Vince/Steph/Gewirtz/HHH's head.

[Guest JMA]

I don't think it's Cornette hitting a wall so much as running out of ways to replace the call-ups (MNM, Morgan and Heartbreakers the most recent) and trying to find ways to book around WWE's stupidity (putting Damaja/Doug Basham together, turning Dinsmore into Eugene, etc.).

I definitely agree that putting Doug and Damaja together was a bad idea. If they wanted a twin tag-team they should've just hired the Shane Twins.

 

I really hope the Bashams are split up during the draft lottery (and that Danny Basham becomes the Damaja again). I think they could be very good as singles wrestlers.

[razazteca 0]

WWE killing the Heartbreakers/throbs had to have a bit to do with it.

Did Romeo always do the stupid ass kissing face 495890235 a match? The finisher is nice but everything else about the team sucks.

[Zack Malibu 0]

The good thing about this is that they are actually sending in people who seem to give a damn about OVW (Dreamer and Snow, and Storm's been training guys there of late), rather than just sending anyone down (which is a move that wouldn't have surprised me).

 

Morgan, as much as he's not much in the ring, could have been a goldmine for WWE, but has had his two callups to TV marred by stupidity. First time around (November '03 as part of Heyman's crew), they take a guy who has worked face his whole time in developmental, and turn him into a heel. A non-promo cutting heel at that, already taking away two pieces of his personality. Now, just weeks after taking part in a GREAT back and forth promo with Cornette about how he had been rushed into stardom, couldn't cut it, and was his "own worst enemy", he gets called back up to become Buh Buh Dudley 2K5.

 

I shudder to think how Atlanta could turn out with no Cornette there.

[The Decemberists 0]

I thought the WWE couldn't get rid of Cornette as they don't run or own OVW, but just have a working relationship with them...?

[Zack Malibu 0]

WWE killing the Heartbreakers/throbs had to have a bit to do with it.

Did Romeo always do the stupid ass kissing face 495890235 a match? The finisher is nice but everything else about the team sucks.

No offense then, but you don't have a clue. Granted, they need work in the ring, but if WWE ran with them as they were in OVW and didn't tweak the gimmick, they'd be doing better for themselves. They have enough charisma to carry that gimmick and make up for the fact they're average workers. Also, for some of the best skits ever, you need to see the two OVW videos they did-one a workout video to "Let's Get Physical" and the other a shopping spree video set to their OVW theme song, "It's Raining Men".

[Guest JMA]

I've always thought that Matt Morgan would've made a better bodyguard for Christian than Tomko. Maybe that'll actually happen if Christian is traded to Smackdown.

[razazteca 0]

Then why not have Simon Dean as the manager for the team?

 

No offense then, but you don't have a clue

Just telling you my opinion in what is wrong with the team.......it is obvious that I am not in "the business".

[Zack Malibu 0]

Then why not have Simon Dean as the manager for the team?

 

No offense then, but you don't have a clue

Just telling you my opinion in what is wrong with the team.......it is obvious that I am not in "the business".

I'm not saying your opinion is wrong as in "you can't think that way", but just that if you're going on what you see on RAW and Heat, you don't understand how badly botched their debut has been. That's where my "you don't have a clue" comes in.

 

Simon Dean would be a terrible manager for the team. Mo Green (formerly Lamont with The Cat) didn't act or talk like them. Picture them being managed by The Godfather, just smaller and with more natural charisma.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Raza, he's more meaning you don't understand what these guys were like before WWE decided to fuck them up.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

The Eugene thing may be the worst of all. How do you explain to your fans that the most gifted techincal wrestler on your roster.... is now a mentally challenged guy who just imitates other wrestlers and acts incredibly stupid? I think that's worse than the Bashams and the Heartbreakers.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

The Eugene thing may be the worst of all. How do you explain to your fans that the most gifted techincal wrestler on your roster.... is now a mentally challenged guy who just imitates other wrestlers and acts incredibly stupid? I think that's worse than the Bashams and the Heartbreakers.

To be fair, Dinsmore pitched the Eugene gimmick idea.

[The Niggardly King 0]

The Eugene thing may be the worst of all. How do you explain to your fans that the most gifted techincal wrestler on your roster.... is now a mentally challenged guy who just imitates other wrestlers and acts incredibly stupid? I think that's worse than the Bashams and the Heartbreakers.

All you need is for someone to drop him on his head, or a Piledriver to the concrete.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

The Eugene thing may be the worst of all.  How do you explain to your fans that the most gifted techincal wrestler on your roster.... is now a mentally challenged guy who just imitates other wrestlers and acts incredibly stupid?  I think that's worse than the Bashams and the Heartbreakers.

To be fair, Dinsmore pitched the Eugene gimmick idea.

I know the gimmick worked out and everything... but seriously... what the hell was he smoking when he had that idea?

[Matt Young 0]

And aside from WWE/OVW continuity problems and the fact that the gimmick will eventually get old, Eugene is great. As a longtime Nick Dinsmore fan, I hated the idea when I read about it, but after a week or two, I was sold.

 

Think of it this way- There would be no way in hell that Nick Dinsmore, straight technical wrestler, would ever move that high up the card, at least nowhere near as quickly. The man had a Tag Team title reign, several PPV appearances, a World Championship match, and a match with Triple H at the second biggest event of the year, all within a very short period of time. He'll need a gimmick change eventually, but right now he entertains me both in the ring and out, and he's had a lot of success.

[Fro 0]

Teaming Damaja and Doug Basham is fine. They were a great team in OVW. They should have given Cornette a little more notice though.

 

Only problem is they didn't let them talk for months (and they still rarely do) and they encourage them to just do headlocks and crap since that's "toned down WWE style".

 

They also shaved Doug's head and called Damaja his "brother", further robbing them of their quite distinct personalities in OVW. You'd never in a million years confuse Damaja and Doug Basham in OVW.

 

The big point is, WWE doesn't have a damn clue about how to book talent to their strengths, and they expect guys to get over by not talking and not doing highspots.

[Guest Desperate Housewife]

They did have a logical reason for Eugene - Johnny Ace forced him into the gimmick for not getting the job done. If you people got your anti-WWE heads out of your asses and read some stuff, you would have read that, a year ago, like my Observing Reading ass did.

[Zack Malibu 0]

They did have a logical reason for Eugene - Johnny Ace forced him into the gimmick for not getting the job done. If you people got your anti-WWE heads out of your asses and read some stuff, you would have read that, a year ago, like my Observing Reading ass did.

We know that.

 

It was seeing someone that was presented as the next Benoit turned into a gimmick worker. Granted, Dinsmore proposed the gimmick as a way to get on the roster, but it says something when you won't call up a good worker like him and are bringing up stiffs like Heidenreich.

 

And if we're so anti-WWE, why are we OVW fans? It's more annoyance at the stupidity of the talent relations and the fact that many in WWE do not even pay remote attention to OVW.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Granted, they need work in the ring, but if WWE ran with them as they were in OVW and didn't tweak the gimmick, they'd be doing better for themselves.

No. No. No.

 

 

Gay gimmicks do not draw on national television. It may work in OVW, where the audience is a fair mix of marks and guys who followed the business long enough to know that every gay angle is a flamboyant twit.

 

But Mr. & Mrs. America with basic cable find pro wrestling gay gimmicks to be a turn-off. It doesn't matter if they're out, closeted, queen-like, straight-acting (although there's a dimension that never gets explored), etc. When you come up with a one-dimensional character that revolves around alternate lifestyles, regular people don't care to cheer or boo someone just based on that. The only people who will play along are southern yokels or people who follow the business well enough to know it's all being done in good fun.

 

Call it Jobber's Law.

[Guest Desperate Housewife]

And if we're so anti-WWE, why are we OVW fans? It's more annoyance at the stupidity of the talent relations and the fact that many in WWE do not even pay remote attention to OVW.

Because any excuse to blindly bash the WWE, and you seem to jump all over it

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

And if we're so anti-WWE, why are we OVW fans?  It's more annoyance at the stupidity of the talent relations and the fact that many in WWE do not even pay remote attention to OVW.

Because any excuse to blindly bash the WWE, and you seem to jump all over it

I can see how some people fit that bill, but ZM isn't one of them.