In the Valley: Jim Cornette invites you to take a tour of Ohio Valley Wrestling, where the WWF is mining for new talent - Interview

Wrestling Digest, Feb, 2002 by Jason Scales

TO LONGTIME WRESTLING fans, the name Jim Cornette conjures up images of multiple-time National Wrestling Alliance world tag-team champions the Midnight Express (Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton), arguably the most innovative and exciting tag team in all of wrestling in the 1980s. Cornette managed that team, as well as WWF world champion Yokozuna and NWA world champion Dan "the Beast" Severn.

Now, the Louisville native--who has also worked as a photographer, announcer, and television producer--is relying on his diverse wrestling experiences to help him scout future champions for the WWF as a matchmaker and color commentator for Ohio Valley Wrestling. Cornette has already played a role in developing talent such as Kane, D'Lo Brown, the Headbangers, and Al Snow. If his record is any indication, he's only started to discover wrestling's future superstars.

In the following exclusive interview, Cornette talks about his scouting philosophy, the progress of the Big Show and Mark Henry, and his current crop of promising performers.

WRESTLING DIGEST: What's the story behind Ohio Valley Wrestling?

JIM CORNETTE: Almost seven years ago, Danny Davis retired from wrestling, settled in Louisville, and decided to open a wrestling school. As it evolved and some guys started graduating, he decided to start running live events using the students he trained. That mushroomed into more than just a once-a-week thing.

I knew Danny from years ago when I managed him and Ken Wayne as a tag team. When I was visiting my mom about three years ago, we went to our favorite seafood place, and lo and behold there was Danny Davis. I visited his school, and I was impressed. At the time, I was becoming more involved with the WWF. I was in the Connecticut office scouting new guys. The one thing the WWF didn't have was a really good separate training program. They would send guys to Memphis but there wasn't a school in place where they could learn how to wrestle and then apply what they learned on shows. I wanted to come back home and get out of the Northeast worse than a sick man wants penicillin. So I proposed this idea to Jim Ross: "There's a good school with a good trainer in Louisville, and I would be more than happy to move there and help oversee that aspect of it."

So in July 1999, I started. What we built is a multifaceted training situation. If you've never had a wrestling lesson in your life, we've got a school you can start from scratch in. We run live events and we have a weekly television show, so guys can get experience doing interviews. It's kind of a full-service, one-stop shop. We've become a full-fledged promotion with a highly rated television show. We're branching out within 100 miles of Louisville. We run one television taping a week, two to four live events a month, and have school classes on the days that we don't have shows.

WD: You were involved in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the early 1990s. What is the main difference between that federation and OVW?

JC: In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, we were trying to create a wrestling promotion. Unfortunately, it was during a wrestling recession. Smoky Mountain Wrestling was too big to be small and too small to be big. We didn't do much of anything in the way of training guys. We booked talent that was already experienced in wrestling. Here, we grow our own then augment that with WWF talent and the occasional individual who wants to come in for exposure.

WD: What traits do you look for in an aspiring wrestler?

JC: My philosophy on spotting wrestling talent is much the same as the philosophy Denny Crum, the University of Louisville basketball coach, has about basketball talent I want people who can jump; I can teach them how to play basketball. In this case, I want people who have the athletic ability so we can teach them how to wrestle. I can't say that we can take a guy from Jiffy Lube and make him a great wrestler, but if we get a great athlete who is motivated, wants to learn, has an open mind, and is coachable, we can teach him how to be a good wrestler. So you take a good athlete who's coachable and motivated, who has the right attitude--and that's the most important key--then you teach him the business. Some people get it, and more people don't. This sport is more complicated and harder to learn than football, baseball, or basketball. In those sports you have a play you can teach, and if the guys can be in the right spot, they can execute it.

THE BIG SHOW AND MARK HENRY IN THE VALLEY

WD: What did The Big Show learn in his recent stint in OVW?

JC: First, a lot of people don't know that not only did Show have a back injury, but he also had knee surgery. It wasn't serious surgery, but with a guy that size, it caused him to be laid up for a while. He gained a lot of weight, which a person that size is going to do when they are not able to be active. So he had two problems. No. 1 was his cardio and his weight because of the rehab of the various injuries. Second, because of his size, he was rushed into the business with very little training, so he missed out on a lot of basics. It was like the guy was put into high school and college without going through more than a year or two of grade school.