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The arch-nemesis of Jim Cornette is Vince Russo. The real-life animosity between the two dates back to the late 1990s and Cornette is happy to rip into Russo whenever the opportunity is presented to him. While Russo is at the top of his hit list, Cornette’s disdain extends to a lot more people than just Russo. In fact, his scorn encompasses entire wrestling promotions.
He hates WWE's John Laurinaitis for ruining Ohio Valley Wrestling. He dislikes Shawn Michaels for his attitude back in the 1990s. He still harbors some hatred for Eric Bischoff. But his most bizarre rivalry is with Santino Marella. Unlike the aforementioned individuals, Santino and Cornette actually got a little physical. Sort of.
Jim Cornette And Santino Marella Got Into an Altercation In OVW
In 2005, Santino Marella was a trainee at OVW and the big boss over there was Jim Cornette. One day, Marella brought his daughter to watch the show and one segment featured the Boogeyman. According to Marella, the lights and heat ruined the makeup of Boogeyman, and instead of looking terrifying, he came across as a comedy character.
Marella then started laughing and this drew Cornette’s ire. The trainee was then brought backstage and Cornette slapped him across the face about a dozen times as he felt that Marella had made the whole segment a joke by laughing at one of the top acts in OVW.
Marella did not strike back, and the situation was diffused by the nearby folks. Marella later said that the whole incident was a misunderstanding and that he was not actually laughing at the Boogeyman but that he was enjoying his daughter being terrified in the presence of the Boogeyman.
Jim Cornette Is Fired By WWE Over The Incident
This got Jim Cornette fired from OVW and the details remained somewhat of a mystery for many years, but eventually Cornette himself commented on the incident and said that he was already sick and tired of Laurinaitis micromanaging OVW, and he was at the limit, hence his meltdown backstage.
Despite saying that he shouldn’t have slapped Marella, Cornette embarked on another rant just five minutes later when he accused Marella of having no respect for the business. He then said he’d gladly slap him again. Cornette also mentioned that Marella only got a job in WWE because he got him fired, and that is something John Laurinaitis was hoping would happen.
In act two, we had the mysterious voicemail saga. When Santino Marella retired in 2014 due to neck issues, he claimed that Cornette sent him a voicemail rejoicing the fact that Marella would never wrestle again. In response, Cornette cut another blistering promo on a podcast and said that Marella was lying through his teeth.
Finally, in 2017, these two actually crossed paths at a fan convention in Detroit. A mutual acquaintance reached out to both Marella and Cornette to appear during an event and the former WWE wrestler thought it would be a good idea to bury the hatchet.
Marella ran into Cornette backstage and extended his hand for a shake but Cornette went on another verbal tirade before he accepted the handshake. Apparently, Cornette labeled him a stooge of Laurinaitis and said that Marella was a jabroni in the wrestling world and only got his spot on the main roster as he had a hand in his firing.
Cornette And Marella Got Into Another Altercation During A Fan Convention
The situation escalated from that point on and Marella, according to his own statement, dared the former manager to slap him again and see what happens during a fan convention in Detroit. A bunch of folks came in between them and the two were separated. This incident led to both of them being kicked out of the convention. A video of the incident later surfaced online and there was nothing too conflicting about their accounts. Both agreed that Marella wanted a handshake and Cornette ran him down before shaking his hand.
Thankfully, these two did not cross paths again, but the hatred is still very much there. After the incident in Detroit, there is little hope that these two will ever bury the hatchet. Aside from his personal problems with Marella, Cornette despises comedic wrestlers and that’s another reason for him to hate Marella.
That being said, even this off-screen rivalry that involved actual physicality does not come anywhere close to matching the heat of Jim Cornette versus Vince Russo.