Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru Episode 68
Release date: Sep 24, 2018
Recap by: Paul Briody
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
0:00 – Intro featuring a mumbling and very grumpy Jim revisiting his Philadelphia experience thanks to Google Earth, fast food disasters (“possum patties”) and driving misery! Also, a great Stephen P. New plug link.
16:01 – Were the Midnights disappointed when they learned that their opponents for Starrcade ‘85 would be Ron Garvin in drag and Jimmy Valiant, as it doesn’t seem like the best use of a team as valuable as The Midnight Express? Jim: “I would be lying if I said I was a fan of Ronnie Garvin as the Miss Atlanta Lively thing but who was I to tell Dusty what to f*****’ book at that point in time?” Jim loved working with them, Jimmy Valiant was extremely over and compared to the Midnight’s other Starrcade matches (on scaffolds) the actual match quality was better in ‘85.
23:10 – At Clash Of The Champions 4, in the match between the Midnights and Ric Flair and Barry Windham there were some very stiff looking shots and on one spot in particular Windham was late and was shouted at by Flair. Was anything said after the match? Jim: “Those slaps were stiffer than crowbars but nothing was said because that’s what Flair wanted, he loved working with Bobby.” As for the mistimed spot, Flair would’ve been giving Windham constructive criticism and nothing was said afterwards. Everyone that was in that match “loved it.” Flair called most of the match, and the others listened. Jim Herd was not a fan of the stiff shots!
28:30 – Did the Midnights ever have to go on after an undercard match that unexpectedly tore the house down and did their approach to such a situation differ from the norm? Jim: “In the heyday of The Midnight Express, on a house show, unless there was a place where you could stand and not be molested by the fans… we didn’t watch all the matches… a lot of times we were still in the locker room, a lot of times we were searching for companionship… having said that, I can’t remember one time that we changed anything that we were gonna do because of anything done before us… there certainly (wouldn’t be) a chair in the previous match if we were going to use a chair in our finish… they just didn’t do that in those days.”
33:03 – How did you maintain kayfabe when flying commercial – heels on one plane and babyfaces on another? Jim: “Actually, yes. That was done by Watts in WCW.”
36:11 – What were pre-Starrcade big shows like in the mid-Atlantic area? Jim: “Big shows in the Carolinas, pre-Starrcade, were basically built on either a holiday (Thanksgiving or Christmas) or when they had a big match that they knew would draw a huge house and needed to go to a bigger building… and then by ‘75 or 6 or so when George Scott had taken over the book and they’d brought in Flair and Valentine and the modern era group of guys they pretty much went to the big building in every market on a full-time basis but there were no branded shows.” Those events weren’t televised, so fans had to go to the event in order to see it.
42:30 – How was Dustin Rhodes’ reception in the locker room in NWA, December ‘88? Jim: “Everybody could tell he was good… Dustin was talented, he belonged there.” George Gulas gets a mention as pretty much the opposite of Dustin Rhodes and Jim and Brian discuss the fact that no member of the Welch family is in the Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame.
48:03 – In August ‘86 Baby Doll turned on Dusty and reunited with the Horsemen, this didn’t last too long before she disappeared, were there ever any plans to bring her back? Jim: That was the period of time when she first became involved with young Sam Houston.” Jim talks about the couple “making out… tongues lolling around like anteaters” on the Crockett plane making “everyone f*****’ skeevish” , leading to Sam, then Baby Doll, eventually being kicked off the plane.
52:44 – Roddy Piper confirmed in his book that he met with Crockett and Dusty in 1986 to talk about coming back to feud with Flair and the Horsemen. How much of a game changer would that have been and did Jim know about the talks? Jim: Oh good lord, no, that would’ve been way, way beyond what we would’ve been told in those days… it would’ve been a game changer as far as the quality of both programs (with and without Piper)… but I don’t think it would’ve changed the end result of the wrestling war just by itself but boy, that would’ve been insane to have Roddy in ‘86.”
54:57 – How would Jim compare Jerry Jarrett to Bill Watts as bookers? Jim: “Watts was like a drill sergeant and Jarrett was like a country lawyer.” Their presentation was different but that was as much to do with what worked in the territory as anything else.
58:44 – Out of The British Bulldogs, is Jim surprised that Davey Boy had the better singles career and was Jim ever surprised at the break-out star of a tag team? Brian: “There aren’t too many examples of tag teams breaking up and two stars becoming stars on their own.”
1:00:44 – Does Jim have any stories about Mike Rotunda being a badass? Jim: “He was an excellent amateur wrestler, I don’t know that there’s any Mike Rotunda ‘Haku stories’ where he bit anyone’s face off.” Jim talks about the Midnight/Varsity Club feud in 1988 NWA.
1:03:19 – Jim is asked about the Midnights/Lanny Poffo and Saul Weingeroff in Mid South In 1984. “They were there to do jobs on TV.” Short pre-match meeting!
1:07:50 – Any Mighty Igor stories? Jim: “I saw him in the magazines, I saw him a couple of times on TV, in the early ‘70s, on The Sheik’s television show but I never got to meet The Mighty Igor.” He was a body builder who got into wrestling and they gave him a gimmick where he was a simple-minded, Polish friend to children and the gimmick was so popular that they recycled it for Ivan Putski.
1:10:15 – Outro.
Plugs: Twitter: @TheJimCornette, @GreatBrianLast #CornyDriveThru; CornyDriveThru@gmail.com; JimCornette.com; 605pod.com; kfrpod.com; tinyurl.com/cornyyoutube; the law offices of Stephen P. New: newlawoffice.com.
Rating: 7.4
Time stamps:
16:01 – Starrcade ‘85
23:10 – Clash Of The Champions 4
28:30 – Midnights having to follow a classic
33:03 – Kayfabe on commercial flights
36:11 – Pre-Starrcade mid-Atlantic shows
42:30 – Dustin Rhodes
48:03 – Baby Doll
52:44 – Roddy Piper
54:57 – Jerry Jarrett vs Bill Watts as booker
1:00:44 – Mike Rotunda
1:07:50 – Mighty Igor
I’m just a guy, from England, who watches wrestling and listens to podcasts!
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