?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 3:08 PM EST

The following was transcribed by Betsy Byrd of wrestlingweekly.com:

Jim Cornette talks about Vince Russo's 'Ring of Glory', his current status at OVW, and why 'People hate Arabs':::

The August 14 Wrestling Weekly interview with Jim Cornette started out lightheartedly as hosts Doc Young and Les Thatcher asked him what it was like to train Jillian Hall and Melina Perez at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), now featured prominently at WWE. He joked that "it's a hard job but somebody has to do it." They kidded about Jillian's "appendage" and Jim said, "I told her not to take the apartment down from the nuclear plant."

Since Jim is a man who is very familiar with the old territories of wrestling, the question arose about the return of the territories. Jim says the problem is there needs to be someone to run them. There are more wrestlers than promoters and fewer good promoters to capitalize on the talent out there.

He went on to talk about Jerry Oates promotion in Columbus, GA, promotions in Lenore, NC and in Louisville, his hometown. All have a tremendous history of wrestling and he believes the "grassroots level is really coming back." However, many of these feds are centered on old talent. He cited his experience as the Midnight Express performs to sellout crowds in smaller towns because people are looking for good-quality wrestling "even if it is 20 years later."

Conversation turned to Vince Russo's newest promotion, Ring of Glory. Jim hadn't heard about Russo's Christian-based promotion but quipped, "If there was a God, Vince Russo would never be allowed in the wresting business." Then he said, "It would take divine intervention for Vince Russo to come up with a good idea." He went on to express his gall at the way Eric Bischoff and later, Vince Russo was able to take WCW from a successful promotion down so quickly. His outrage continued as he described "how you can take a company that was making records profits down the tubes" and they "did it in a year and a half!" He said WCW was eventually "sold like a flea market" for two million dollars. He said, "That takes talent!"

When talk turned to wrestlers currently in the business, he said the problem is many talented guys just need opportunities. He said, "The best booking cannot overcome bad talent and great talent cannot overcome crummy booking." Success in this business doesn't just come from having talent but having the talent and given opportunities.

When Jim was asked about the controversial WWE Arab characters, Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari, and their recent exorcise from the SmackDown! program because of complaints from UPN, he said the Muhammad character was a "bullet proof gimmick." He elaborated by saying, "People hate Arabs", and went on a long tirade of why! Any Arab character "will definitely get heat" but unfortunately for Muhammad and Daivari, "no one wants to see a war" and their characters constituted enough heat. He mentioned as an aside that "it worked for the Sheik for 40 years."

Tag Teams became the topic when a listener asked how many matches the Midnight Express and the Rock-n-Roll Express were involved in together over the years. He said, "I have no idea how many there's been." He described a match in Charleston, SC during the Clash of Champions in 1990 where they approached the match in a different way than they had and "none of it clicked." Although at the time it was hard, he said, "That match might be good now" if he watched it again.

When the question was asked about who he would choose as a tag team partner if his choices were Vince Russo or Eric Bischoff he said he would choose former Smokey Mountain Wrestling (SMW) TV Champ Bruiser Bedlam and give him "a big fat wallet for him to do the job." Bruiser had the most success of his career with Cornette at SMW but was arrested earlier this year on a double murder charge.

A listener asked Cornette about the difference between being a heel manager against the Rock-n-Roll Express and being a face against Paul E. Dangerously. He said it was a lot different-with the Rock-n-Roll Express he was on the outside but with Paul E. it was his chance to be the protagonist. They were the "yin and yang" of wrestling managers. He approached it as a challenge. People told him that a babyface manager could not be over and only Paul E. could turn him face. He said, "Genghis Khan could not turn me face" but Paul E. did.

Someone else asked him about the tennis racket gimmick he started while in the Mid-South. He originally used it to "keep the fans off of me" but it ended up being his trademark. He said he was watching a teen movie one day and saw this rich preppie kid who carried a badminton racquet around. He thought, "I'm a spoiled brat, rich kid" and he "loaded that son-of-a-gun" and went with it. He joked that although he's "lobbed a few" in real life he's "deadly at ping pong."

He doesn't believe there are any true "key players" in the business as far as promotions go except for the WWE but it depends on what is meant by "key player." He doesn't believe any promotion will overtake the WWE and TNA is definitely not going to run them out of business. He describes Ring of Honor as a "tremendous promotion for fans" and has enjoyed working with them and probably will again. He said, "Their fans are the most rabid." He also says they have a good product and the key to being a "key player" is to "find your audience and serve your audience."

Talk quickly turned to his status at OVW. After booking for TV at OVW for as long as he has, "you get burned out." He said, "I was really hating wrestling" and he felt far apart from the WWE. He said you have to be obsessive/compulsive in this business and if he can't do that, "it drives me crazy." In any creative business "you have to love it, eat it, sleep it, to be good at it." He described being fixated on the product, waking up in the middle of night to write down ideas and when outside influences come in and your face is on the product and the product is not top notch, "you're pissed." He is now behind the scenes getting sponsors for OVW and lining up spot shows for the promotion. It allows him to stay in Louisville, KY, make the company stronger, and also take a few months off.

Finally, Jim was asked what it takes to become a Manager or Valet in today's wrestling world. He said, "Don't even think about it. " He said, "If I can't get booked, you can't either." He believes wrestling "managers are a lost art" and if you don't look good in a bikini, forget it.

Tune in Sunday, August 21 when Doc Young and Les Thatcher welcome Lance Storm and Jimmy Jacobs to Wresting Weekly.

Wrestling Weekly Radio featuring Doc and Les can be heard every Sunday from 6:00-8:00 pm EST at http://www.wrestlingweekly.com.