Love him or hate him, Jim Cornette is a name you can’t get away from in professional wrestling. He won’t let you. Whether it be his feuds with the likes of Vince Russo, his role in popular shows like Dark Side of the Ring, or the infuriating comments he makes in his podcast, Cornette is a voice that demands to be heard. A few short years ago, as Billy Corgan’s version of the NWA began a newly weekly show called Powerrr, Cornette was made one of the commentators. Just weeks later, in a surprise to no one, Cornette resigned due to controversial on air remarks he made. Here’s what happened.
Jim Cornette’s Legacy In Wrestling
To understand why anyone would care what Jim Cornette has to say, you have to first honor his historical presence in the annals of professional wrestling. Few have made such a last impact, and few have stayed as passionate about the business for so long.
If you’re of a certain age, you remember Jim Cornette as a manager. He was one of the greats, first making his name as the mouthpiece for The Midnight Express in Mid-South Wrestling. Impressively, Cornette was only in his early 20s. He worked in WCW for many years as well, with his heel antics always eaten up by the crowd. His knowledge of the sport and his great mic work also saw him work commentary alongside the legendary Jim Ross, and for a time also saw him as part of WCW’s creative team.
Jim Cornette is most known for his time in WWE. He did it all. Cornette worked as a manager, a commentator, and even a booker. He was successful at it, but his passion also got in his way. There are too many stories to count of how angry and disrespectful Cornette could get when he disagreed with an angle or something didn’t go his way. For all of his great attributes, Cornette struggled as a team player and from the weight of his own ego. In 2005, Cornette was fired by WWE.
Jim Cornette Makes Racist Comments On NWA Powerrr
Even though many might have wished he would, Jim Cornette didn’t fade away from wrestling when his WWE days ended. He made stops in TNA and Ring of Honor, before landing in the NWA in 2018 to do commentary duties with Tony Schiavone for a one off PPV honoring the promotion’s 70th anniversary.
The night was a success and Cornette was invited back to the NWA in September 2019 in a commentator capacity as the promotion debuted their own weekly program, Powerrr. It was a quick internet success with a look that harkened back to the old days of professional wrestling. Not two months later, on the November 19th broadcast of Powerrr, Jim Cornette threw his NWA career away.
During a match between Trevor Murdoch and Nick Aldis, Cornette stupidly decided to make this comment about Murdoch: “Trevor Murdoch is mad, bad and dangerous. He’s the only man I know that can strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and ride a motor scooter across Ethiopia.”
One has to wonder what in the world Cornette was thinking by making such an obvious racist remark. There was an immediate and understandable backlash from fans. The very next day Cornette was out. The NWA released this statement: “Effective immediately: Jim Cornette has resigned from the National Wrestling Alliance. As an announcer on the November 19th edition of ‘NWA Power,’ Jim made remarks during a singles match between Nick Aldis and Trevor Murdoch that were both offensive and do not meet the high standards of decency and good faith of the National Wrestling Alliance. To ensure that such an error can never happen again, we’ve established new procedures of review for all NWA programming going forward. We sincerely regret our failure in this regard.”
Jim Cornette Tries To Explain Himself
According to Dave Meltzer, the NWA’s VP Dave Lagana told Cornette in a phone call that he needed to apologize for his remarks immediately. Cornette refused, wanting to wait to address his actions days later on his podcast, or worse, to wait until the NWA’s next PPV, which was almost another month away. This showed that Cornette didn’t understand the hurt he caused, but only wanted to make it about himself. When Lagana said that Cornette was going to be suspended, it should come as no shock to anyone that Cornette quit and hung up.
Cornette claimed on his podcast that it wasn’t a race joke, but one about starvation, comparing his remarks to the Starvin’ Marvin episode of South Park. He mentioned that he had made the joke on air before, going back to the 80s, as if this somehow made it better. As for using Ethiopia and fried chicken in the same sentence and leaning in to a disgusting stereotype, Cornette gave the excuse that it was just a coincidence, saying that chicken is a funnier visual than “a plate of f**king sushi.”
Cornette went on to give a half-hearted apology before ending the segment in the most Jim Cornette way possible, “For people who think that I was expressing Nazi ideology and hate for a variety of people and should be boiled in oil and have my fat sold for soap for a bad joke, fuck you. And I don’t care if you don’t like me.”
One would hope that Cornette would have learned his lesson after such an embarrassing fall, but he didn’t. In 2021, he called AEW wrestler Penelope Ford “a slutty girlfriend.” It’s a shame to witness a man who has so much knowledge and passion for wrestling be controlled by so much anger and insecurity.