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| So long, and thanks for all the cheeseburgers Photo Credit: @KILLSTEENKILL |
And I say good.
My feelings on Cornette's creative prowess are well-known, but for the benefit of people who don't know, I think he's pretty much stunk out loud since his run in Ohio Valley Wrestling, which I can only take as rumor since I didn't see any of it. TNA was garbage when he was there, and I don't really buy the excuse that he didn't have enough power either. He may not have, but there weren't a whole lot of redeeming qualities about the show to attribute to him, and even if there were any that I remembered, who's to say that they were Cornette's ideas anyway?
His run in ROH was even more disastrous as he had no Vince Russo to pin the blame upon. Hunter Johnston took over for Adam Pearce, and there was excitement in the air again. Cornette took over for Johnston, and BOOM, suddenly the American Wolves, Ohio Valley Wrestling alumni, and inexplicably, the Headbangers were focal points. Johnston took over again, and boom, ROH is fun again.
However, I'm not happy to see him go because of the creative stuff. Nope, I'm happy to see him go because there really is no room in any workplace for people who make death threats to other coworkers because they don't like the way they do their jobs. Cornette's history of being a hothead is well-documented, seeing as it's gotten him the boot from now no fewer than three companies. In OVW/WWE, he was booted for putting his hands on Santino Marella before he was Santino Marella. In TNA, Russo was the target of the aforementioned death threats. And now, it seems the threats of physical harm against Sinclair Broadcasting Group officials has left him without a home there too.
Now, in all fairness to Corny here, SBG is a terrible owner for ROH, and yes, they should have handled Steve Corino's not-as-gory-as-it-looked injury with better support. I think it's perfectly natural to be angry at someone for not having regard for the lives of their workers. It's that kind of culture that has sent the US down the road it's currently on. But there's a right way and a wrong way to go about things. Cornette blowing up at SBG here did more harm than good, because it shifted the attention on him, not Corino. Maybe if he didn't threaten harm on people for not getting attention on Corino, there might have been a more concerted effort to get Corino to the hospital. Then again, maybe there wouldn't have been, but it also wouldn't have had a locker room on edge because a raving madman was making threats of violence the way raving madmen are wont to do.
Wrestling is seen as a carny business because people like Cornette have handled things the way they have. The worst argument for continuing in a destructive behavior though is that it's the way that it has always been done. To change the culture, the offenders need to be gotten rid of. Cornette is a main offender. Of course, he is but a drop in the bucket. Like I wrote above, SBG has no business owning a professional wrestling company. We also don't know about the horror stories about what goes on that DON'T go reported because they're shrouded by secrecy.
That doesn't mean that Cornette should stay. He's out of ideas and not part of what should be considered as acceptable behavior from management. Good riddance.
