Early career (1976–1982) Cornette began working at wrestling events at the age of 14, serving as a photographer, ring announcer, timekeeper, magazine correspondent, and
public relations correspondent. During this time, from attending matches at the Louisville Gardens, Cornette got to know promoter
Christine Jarrett, who was the mother of
Jerry Jarrett, promoter of the
Continental Wrestling Association (commonly known as the "Memphis territory"). Cornette has credited her as a major influence on his early career and praised her business acumen. Cornette's photography from the Memphis territory was regularly published in
Gong, a Japanese pro wrestling magazine, between 1977 and 1982.
Continental Wrestling Association (1982–1983) By 1982, Cornette was writing programs for arena shows, having photographs published in wrestling magazines, and contributing to the Championship Wrestling Magazine. In August, he traveled to Memphis to see the TV match between
Jerry Lawler and
Ric Flair. After the show ended, Cornette was offered a
wrestling managerial role on television by promoter Jerry Jarrett. As Cornette has recalled, despite his presence being tolerated at shows and TV tapings for nearly a decade, the first time he was allowed into the locker room was only after he had become a manager. Before making his managing debut, Cornette decided to adapt the
ring name James E. Cornette in tribute to legendary wrestling promoter
James E. Barnett. Cornette made his ringside debut on September 25, 1982, managing
Sherri Martel, who herself would later become a wrestling manager. Cornette was given the gimmick of a rich kid turned inept manager whose clients kept firing him after one match. The most notable wrestlers in this angle were
Dutch Mantell and
Crusher Broomfield (who would later gain fame as One Man Gang and Akeem "The African Dream"). Over the next 14 months Cornette also managed
Jesse Barr,
"Exotic" Adrian Street, and a trio called the "Cornette Dynasty" consisting of
Carl Fergie,
Norman Frederick Charles III, and the Angel Frank Morrell. After a short-lived run in Georgia through a deal Jarrett had with
Ole Anderson, Cornette returned to Memphis in July 1983, and worked as co-manager alongside
Jimmy Hart.
Mid-South Wrestling (1983–1984) Formation of The Midnight Express In November 1983, Mid-South promoter
Bill Watts recognized his business was down and was looking to reinvigorate his territory. Watts asked Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler to visit a TV taping and offer their opinions. Jarrett suggested a talent trade and invited Watts to Memphis to see who he liked. After watching a Memphis TV taping, Watts took singles performers
Dennis Condrey and
Bobby Eaton to create a new tag team, and also took the existing team of
Ricky Morton and
Robert Gibson as The
Rock 'n' Roll Express. Watts also noticed the brash young manager in Cornette, and in his own words, recalled "He was so obnoxious I wanted to slap him", and "I knew he was instant box office if he could get me that riled up".
World Class Championship Wrestling (1984–1985) The Midnight Express with Cornette had a short stay in
World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in Texas where they feuded mainly with
The Fantastics (
Bobby Fulton and
Tommy Rogers). When opportunities in WCCW looked to go nowhere, The Midnight Express started to look elsewhere for employment and what they found would give the team national and international exposure. Cornette later reflected that they were willing to give Dallas a try, as they welcomed living in a modern city, as well as the easier travel schedule when compared to Mid-South. However, the inability to get any rivalry with the
Von Erichs—and therefore main event money—made the decision to leave for Charlotte an easy one. which Cornette often used to ensure victory for his wrestlers, with the implication that the racket case was loaded. Cornette was at his best as a
heel manager; fans loved to see the constantly yelling Cornette and his equally annoying charges beaten and humiliated. He and the Midnights were so hated, in fact, that they had to be escorted by police to and from the ring at the house shows and have a police escort to the city limits for fear of being attacked by overzealous fans. Additionally, Cornette suffered a severe knee injury during a scaffold match between The Midnight Express and
The Road Warriors at
Starrcade '86: The Skywalkers. In a shoot interview, Cornette recounted that
Dusty Rhodes convinced him to perform a dangerous stunt where he would fall off of the high scaffold. The idea was that
Paul Ellering, the manager of The Road Warriors, would chase Cornette up the scaffold. Once he was there, he would be met by
Road Warrior Animal, who would assist him in getting underneath the scaffold, where Cornette would hang and then drop when ready; the idea was that, as Cornette recalled Rhodes saying, was that Condrey and Eaton would catch him like "they catch the girls at the football games." What neither Cornette nor his charges knew at the time was that the scaffold that the match was to take place on was approximately 25 feet off of the ground, which left for a drop of 21 feet to the ring mat below. Cornette estimated that his positioning before the drop, factoring in the scaffold and his height of just over six feet, would still result in 14-foot drop. Suffering from
acrophobia, Cornette said it was "way too goddamned far" and that Condrey and Eaton would not have been able to catch him. Discussing alternatives, the three men decided to have their ally,
Big Bubba Rogers, be the one to catch Cornette. Rogers, however, was impeded due to, as part of his character, wearing dark sunglasses inside the arena, and so he misjudged his position in the ring. Cornette landed flat on his feet, three feet away from Rogers, and his head whiplashed back into Rogers' knees knocking him temporarily senseless. Cornette tore all the ligaments in one of his knees, broke a bone and damaged the
cartilage. The injury was so extensive that when Cornette finally saw a doctor to have the knee drained, the amount of blood and fluid filled an entire
bedpan. Cornette later said that he knew he might get seriously hurt when he was told he would have to fall off a scaffold, but that performing in front of such a large audience was more important than his own health. In 1989, Cornette became the color commentator for
Jim Crockett Promotions' nationally syndicated NWA television show, and later took over the same role on the Saturday night
TBS broadcasts alongside play-by-play announcer
Jim Ross. In 1989, Cornette became a
booker on WCW's creative team. As such, Cornette helped write storylines and shape the format of its television shows. Due to friction and animosity between himself and WCW head
Jim Herd, Cornette quit the company after
Halloween Havoc 1990.
Return and managing the Heavenly Bodies (1993) In early 1993, Cornette briefly returned to
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as part of a talent trade with
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). WCW executive vice president
Bill Watts had brought The Rock 'n' Roll Express back into the company and billed them as the
Smoky Mountain tag team champions, which incensed Cornette since his team
The Heavenly Bodies (
Stan Lane and
Tom Prichard) were the reigning champions. On the February 6 episode of
WCW Saturday Night, Jim Cornette, the Bodies and Bobby Eaton confronted the Express during an interview. Bill Watts came out and suggested the Bodies should wrestle the Express. Cornette objected since he claimed that they weren't dressed for it, but the match still took place. The Express won the match by DQ when Eaton interfered in the match, and after the match while Lane held Morton, Cornette put his tennis racket over Morton while Eaton delivered his "Alabama jam" on Morton. Cornette then struck referee
Nick Patrick, and then Cornette helped his men beat up the Express. The following week on
Main Event, Watts appeared with Smoky Mountain commissioner
Bob Armstrong, who demanded Cornette make a public apology. Cornette then interrupted the interview along with Eaton and the Heavenly Bodies, refusing to apologise and insulting the fans, Watts and Armstrong. Watts confirmed the Rock 'n' Roll Express were scheduled to face the Wrecking Crew (
Rage and
Fury) at
SuperBrawl III, but suggested they wrestle the Heavenly Bodies instead. Armstrong agreed and issued Cornette with an ultimatum: if the Bodies did not wrestle the Express at SuperBrawl III, they would be stripped of the titles and Cornette would be heavily fined and suspended. Cornette was furious and claimed that he "hated WCW" and wanted no part of Superbrawl or the company. Later in the show, Eaton and the Bodies attacked two
jobbers after a match, one being
Joey Maggs, who were saved when the Rock 'n' Roll Express ran out and attacked Cornette and his men. During Cornette's second stint in WCW, his Heavenly Bodies teamed with
Steve Austin and
Brian Pillman in 8-man tag team matches against the Express and the Unified tag team champions
Ricky Steamboat and
Shane Douglas. The Bodies, Austin and Pillman lost two of those matches, one on a February 27 episode of
WCW WorldWide by DQ when Cornette interfered, and one by pinfall. The feud between the Bodies and the Express continued over in SMW, where Bobby Eaton would participate alongside Lane and Prichard in six-man tag team matches. In one memorable segment, the Express were accompanied by a mysterious individual who stood silently at ringside covered with a white sheet. During a post-match interview Morton dared Cornette to investigate and, after some light-hearted poking and pushing, Cornette finally removed the sheet to reveal
Arn Anderson, Eaton's former tag team partner in
The Dangerous Alliance. As Cornette recoiled in shock, Eaton went to shake Anderson's hand but was punched to the ground, triggering a brawl between both teams. Anderson justified his actions by stating that after he was injured by
Erik Watts during a confrontation at a
gas station, Eaton never once called to see how he was doing. When the Bodies finally faced off against the Express at SuperBrawl III, Eaton arrived with Cornette but was ordered back to the dressing room. Typically, Cornette then tried to interfere in the match by climbing onto the ring apron to argue with the referee; however, the Express eventually won via pinfall when the returning Eaton accidentally hit Prichard instead of Morton. As a singles wrestler, Eaton was also very successful in Smoky Mountain, winning the
SMW TV title. under Cornette's guidance.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991–1995) A firm believer in "old-school" territorial wrestling, Cornette began the
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion in 1991. In March 2001, Cornette returned to WWF television for one night at
WrestleMania X-Seven in
Houston to participate in the Gimmick Battle Royal, but was quickly eliminated by
Hillbilly Jim. In the spring of 2007, Carelli, who had since been called up to the WWE as Santino Marella, appeared on a Canadian radio program where he publicly challenged Cornette to a match despite Cornette working for rival promotion TNA at the time. Since beginning his podcasting days, Cornette has looked back on Carelli's actions as the last straw and cited burnout from time working in OVW, while still putting down Carelli as a comedy 'joke' wrestler.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1997) In June 1997, Cornette made a surprise appearance on the
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) show
Orgy of Violence, assisting
Jerry Lawler and attacking
Tommy Dreamer with his tennis racket as part of a WWF-ECW rivalry angle.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2006–2009) In 2006, Cornette joined
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as the new face of TNA's management. He held the title of "Management Director" according to the press releases following his premiere at the
Slammiversary PPV event on June 18, 2006, in Orlando, Florida. After a brief speech, he departed, but returned at the end of the show in light of the "Orlando Screwjob", taking the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt after
Jeff Jarrett,
Larry Zbyszko and
Earl Hebner successfully executed a worked
screwjob on
Christian Cage and
Sting.
Matt Morgan had also become Cornette's on-screen bodyguard to prevent harm to his physical being, until leaving that post to become a full-time wrestler. Cornette was released from TNA on September 15, 2009. He has said that he was released because he was not "100 percent" behind TNA's creative team, headed by
Vince Russo.
Ring of Honor (2009–2012) In 2009, Cornette signed a contract with
Ring of Honor (ROH) to be their executive producer for the
Ring of Honor Wrestling show on
HDNet. Cornette made his surprise return to ROH at
Glory By Honor VIII: The Final Countdown on September 26, announcing he was the new executive producer for the show. Cornette made his first appearance on
Ring of Honor Wrestling on the December 7 episode and immediately made waves by putting ROH champion
Austin Aries into a four-way title match later that night and created the Pick 6 contender series. Backstage, Cornette worked under booker
Hunter Johnston, who wrestles as Delirious. On the edition of January 21 of Ring of Honor television, Cornette announced that chairshots to the head were banned and anyone that did so would be fined $5,000. On the February 4 telecast, Cornette made another ban in which the piledriver — in any form — was banned. In October 2012, ROH wrote Cornette off television by having him suffer storyline injuries at the hands of
Jay Lethal. In November 2012, it was revealed that Cornette had left the promotion. The reason for Cornette's absence stems from an outburst he had at the November 3 ROH television taping. At the taping, ROH talent
Steve Corino suffered an injury, and no ROH officials were still at the venue to be able to pay for Corino's immediate medical attention or even arrange for an ambulance to be called. This left Corino in pain for hours and Cornette to be the only person there with enough power to handle the situation. Following his departure from Ring of Honor, Cornette decided to take an extended break from professional wrestling to focus on his health and work on personal projects.
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2010–2011) On September 8, 2010,
Ohio Valley Wrestling announced that Cornette would resume his duties as the head booker of the promotion. Cornette left OVW in November 2011, when the promotion announced a working agreement with TNA.
What Culture Pro Wrestling (2016–2017) On October 6, 2016, Cornette made his first appearance doing color commentary in two years, debuting for What Culture Pro Wrestling at their Refuse to Lose event in
Newcastle upon Tyne,
England. He would be joined on the announce team by his long-time friend
Jim Ross, who he had not done commentary with in over fifteen years. He then provided commentary for their next event True Legacy, which took place a few days later. Cornette returned to WCPW at their April 1, 2017 State of Emergency event. At the event, Cornette and
Matt Striker provided commentary for the British promotion's debut in the United States.
WWE appearances (2017–2020) On March 31, 2017, Jim Cornette made his first appearance with WWE in 12 years when he inducted The Rock 'n' Roll Express into the
WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017. Cornette was also featured in an episode of the WWE Network Original series
Table For 3 alongside Eric Bischoff and Michael Hayes. Since then, Cornette made more appearances for WWE, starring in an episode of the WWE Network Original Series
Photo Shoot in March 2018, and an episode of
Story Time in October 2020. Many fans and wrestlers, notably
Dwayne Johnson, have continued to lobby for Cornette to be inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame.
Return to Impact Wrestling (2017) Cornette returned to Impact Wrestling, which had formerly been known as TNA, and was attempting to rebrand as
Global Force Wrestling (GFW), on August 17, 2017, at
Destination X and fired
Bruce Prichard. Cornette stated that he was put in charge by Impact's parent company,
Anthem Sports & Entertainment, to resolve the
Unified GFW World Heavyweight Championship situation. Cornette made the decision to book
Low Ki as the twentieth entrant in the GFW World Heavyweight Championship gauntlet match. On September 18, Cornette confirmed he was done with the company. He had been brought in by Jeff Jarrett and the original agreement only included one set of tapings. With Jarrett out of the company, the new creative team was said to be more focused on in-ring action and less on authority figures. According to Cornette, there was no "heat" between him and the company.
National Wrestling Alliance (2018–2019) The
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) chose Jim Cornette to be the color commentator for the
NWA 70th Anniversary show that took place on October 21, 2018. This was the first pay-per-view promoted by the NWA in years. Cornette was joined on commentary by
Tony Schiavone for the main event
NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between
Nick Aldis and
Cody Rhodes. He returned to the promotion for the NWA's
Crockett Cup tournament on April 27, 2019. On September 12, Cornette was announced as part of the commentary team for the NWA's weekly studio series,
NWA Power. However, on the
NWA Power episode broadcast on November 19 during a match between Nick Aldis and
Trevor Murdoch, Cornette made the remark "[Trevor Murdoch] is the only man I've ever known that can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across
Ethiopia. Trevor Murdoch can take care of himself!" Later on the same day, the NWA apologized for the racist overtones of the comment and pulled down the episode to remove the remark. The next day, Cornette left the NWA. Cornette had previously made the same comment on commentary during the March 6, 1995 episode of
Monday Night Raw.
Major League Wrestling (2019) Cornette debuted for
Major League Wrestling (MLW) as a color commentator for the March 2, 2019 event Intimidation Games in Chicago, Illinois. He then returned to the commentary desk for their April 2019 events, Rise of the Renegades and
Battle Riot II. From the start, he would also work unofficially in an
agent-like After immediately being uncertain of his future with them, Cornette continued to do commentary for them, working Fury Road in June and their following event in July. It was reported that following that show he was not signed on for any further shows, as Tony Schiavone had finished his sports commitments and returned to the MLW commentary table. Cornette announced on the December 13, 2019 episode of his
Experience podcast that he was retired from announcing/commentary. == Podcasting career ==