Love hearing the history about professional wrestling. It is deep and complex and has had an effect on sports, television, pop culture, and everything in-between whether the average person realizes it or not.
Yeah I've been watching since the Hogan days, it's interesting. Wrestling decent today with some guys but basically WWE doesnt even try now with their tv deals etc
Fascinating segment in how to get away with carny BS and tax fraud, lol. He also neglected to acknowledge New Japan when saying "Nobody sells tickets anymore". I guess he would have known if he wasn't such a country bumpkin bigot.
Correction: The #18 general sports podcast. He's said he doesn't want to be considered as a wrestling podcast, because it wouldn't be fair to any of the others. They'd just be #1 and #2 week in and week out.
I love listening to The History of Professional wrestling all the way back when events were held in house shows and Travis knows how to make the best art work!
I used to go to WWF charity shows in the 1990s in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They were held in a small gym with only about a hundred people there (which was 1/4 of the gym). It was fabulous! Ringside seats were only like $15, and you could see Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc.
also he was very forward thinking for documenting his day to day operations back then down to the exact dates, locations and house show info. I bet he never knew he’d be looking back at them 40 years in the future and reading them on a podcast.
This is his true talent. He sounds so much more sensible, entertaining and logical when he focuses on pro wrestling and its history instead of the silliness of politics. Stick to wrestling Jim. This is what fans want to hear from a wrestling podcast.
@@jlillerhe did a scrap book for the midnight express witch has a lot of notes and history of the team but that was an anniversary item for the 25th anniversary of the team and is hard to find/expensive to get I there are people who write history books of wrestling territories why not have him write about his time in the Memphis territory mid south territory and other places he’s worked in could be interesting and u could split it into multiple books
@@Hypno_BPM i think most of it was for tax purposes and to make sure he didnt get screwed on payoffs at future events in the same building with nearly the same attendance ... and for using in other territories , so keeping the notes was good for going there and having angles/matches all written down to do it all again exactly the same way 400 miles away where no one had ever seen them before ... cable screwed all that up ... and Corny is a collector so he actually kept it all , unlike most people who'd of tossed it years later
The horror in Brian's "What?!" at the thought of Synn swirling her tongue around Jim's big toe, and Cornette's subsequent total no sell had me in stitches.
Man,this segment was really great. Most of us know the 'basics' of wrestling's past...but Corny gives you the small details that you never could have guessed. Especially w/numbers concerning pay outs/costs/etc and how promoters skimmed poi off the top.
It's kind of wild how the old days of wrestling relied on community support so much, and I don't even mean people showing up for the matches, like Jim always talks about local teams, restaurants, radio personalities, construction companies etc and it's cool how wrestling as a business is anti-big corporation simply because you cant own all of those individual pieces that make wrestling truly successful.
I might be a little bit strange or weird, but I always enjoy listening to Mr Cornett talk about the business from the prime as I remember it, especially here in the UK from my childhood, more than I do actually watching wrestling today!
I live close to the Hopkinsville, Ky area and Evansville, IN area it’s crazy hearing where these territories once settled where I’m from. I remember Memphis wrestling was always around the Evansville area as well as the Smokey mountain promotion.
You also have to remember this was old school wrestling. Where a match would be a hip toss, knock down arm drag, which is perfectly fine! Those guys earned $500 a night to just do that.. whole guys today will get slightly more but have to do a 450 sunset flip on a burning table to get one fan to tweet about it.
Jim brings a good perspective. It seems that when you add in cost of living, it was easier for a poor or middle class person to achieve economic independence in the 70s and 80s
@@shayr.3412 Yes it is. That was the first presidency bought by corporations in ad campaigns and donations. And guess what Reagan did in return? He was basically a puppet. He also had the same iq.
Jim is making another point that people born after 2000 might not get, these people were dealing in a cash business so they were not claiming taxes on all their money so they pocketed more profits.
God it’s crazy how much things change in wrestling. Back in Jims day you wouldn’t go to a tv taping because they wouldn’t do anything cool so you go to the live event but when I was a kid we would hate when the show was just a “live event” because we knew they wouldn’t do anything cool because it’s not on tv lol
When I was a little kid I saw a Mid-South spot show in the Eunice High School gym in Eunice, La. I don’t remember much about it except that a babyface Ted DiBiase and Mr. Olympia (Jerry Stubbs) were on the card bc my brother had Polaroids of them signing autographs.
WWE would go to the Scranton CYC in the 80s. They'd stop by on the way to Pittsburgh or Philly, 2 times a year. WWE stops by the local arena for the Scranton Penguins every 15 to 18 months. Scranton would be a C toen in the territory days. We were happy the two known guys from television showed up for the main event.
I do my shopping in hohenwald cause it has the closest wal mart to my house. Believe it or not wrestling still draws a crowd. My wife is from hohenwald just thought it was cool to hear it mentioned.
No sir it's a real place. He has another video where he talks about bucksnnort tn. I live in duck river tn which is actually between hohenwald and bucksnort lol
I’ve literally spent the past 25 years wondering what happened to that storyline 😂 I remember the 2 weeks of promos on it and the match but them never wrapping up the Diana part!
Really enjoyed the breakdown. Then you imagine every part of the country with a active territory, crazy going back and looking at some of the small towns drawing 2k +.
When I heard this on the podcast all I was thinking for the 45 minutes was “holy crap I can’t wait for this to hit UA-cam so I can send it to several people I know” this was amazingly informative and I loved every second of this lesson.
He is a historian, that really loves pro wrestling. You're definitely correct, there are probably very few that have the overall wealth of knowledge on pro wrestling that Jim Cornette has.
These are like time machine rides for me , he gets so detailed and so precise I feel like I’m standing next to him in ghostly form as this is happening , absolutely love it 😍
I was born and bred in Johnson City Tennessee. And wrestling was in my blood. I was 17. and went to watch wrestling at least twice a month. at the legion Street rec. I would watch the Fuller Brothers. Adrian Street. Ron and Don write. big bad Wolf. the hands of stone Ronnie Garvin. Kevin Sullivan. But that's not the end.i also went to Smoky mountain wrestling quite a bit. I truly enjoyed it.
Jim Cornette talks about the facts and gate $ in his book and the attendance. It's interesting to me he is the best talker in the Wrestling industry and I like listening to him.
How hard is it to understand that in any business you don’t get paid if you don’t show up to work. If independent contractors don’t have insurance, they sure don’t have vacation or PTO.
I'm 25 minutes in and just realized his only point is that live shows sold better before the internet existed. I mean I love hearing his stories, they're downright educational, but I thought there was going to be a less obvious or more insightful point lol Edit: about 34:30, I take issue with the implication that not drawing a crowd of 4k means people aren't interested. I've sold pro sport tickets in both hockey and basketball and I can't tell you how many times diehard fans have told me they've already experienced going to a game and a nowadays are fine watching from the comfort of home. The only reason I make it a point to go to WWE or AEW is because they come rarely. If they were local and ran every week or month I'd be much less tempted to bother, i.e. my local indies.
Understand that the "modern day" stuff gets the views/listens but I'd much rather listen to this stuff than the reviews of the current product. Fascinating stuff
I wish i was alive in the territory days. I grew up in the attitude era which was an awesome time but it woulda been so cool going around to see different territories and different wrestlers every month
There's not really much point in buying a ticket when you can see all the matches that matter on TV/PPV with a better view than you would even get with a ringside seat.
There's not much point in buying a concert ticket when you can hear all the songs that matter on radio/Spotify with a better sound system than you would get at even a stageside seat.
@@duckmercy11 That's not an apples to apples comparison. If every single concert in the world was livestreamed as it happened less people would go to those too. Wrestling historically sold tickets by making that the only way people had to see the matches they really wanted. That changed with the TV era.
when you live like 20 minutes from North Wilkesboro where almost nothing ever happens; and you randomly hear Jim name drop it... nice lmao btw there is nothing in North WIlkesboro now, prob even worse 30 or 40 years ago
This does provide some context into some of the complaints that wrestlers have made about Graham's payoffs. Most guys from Florida who complain about Eddie's payoffs were main event guys. Those same guys loved Paul Boesch and Sam. Well, what if you're not in the Main Event. Paul and Sam did not have a constant crew so they could get away with this. The guys with crews have to take care of the whole crew. The actual difference was that Paul and Sam focused all the money on the Main where Eddie and Watts and Vince Sr. spread it out. This is why Gino had the falling out with Paul. When Gino was on a card and was not in the main he was paid the usual one percent. Gino rightly complained that the main event or not he is always a draw in Houston (he was) and should at least be paid as a Special Attraction (3ish percent).
As one of the 5,000 people watching Smokey Mountain Wrestling in Pikeville, KY, I had no clue this was going on behind the scenes. Wow.
I could listen to Cornette talk about behind the scenes all day. It really is fascinating.
@@ambassadorofthekingdom8896 you mean Jeff Jarrett? I wasn't aware he had one.
"Selling them the sleeves off their vests" -Corn
I dont agree with some of his opinions but he is definitely good radio
@@jasonvoorhees8416 you don't have to spell correct when it is literally the same name lol
I'd honestly rather listen to Cornette talk about the old days and houses and payoffs than watch a lot of the modern product
Love hearing the history about professional wrestling. It is deep and complex and has had an effect on sports, television, pop culture, and everything in-between whether the average person realizes it or not.
I love it more when Jim explains it
"Jabroni" is now in the dictionary 😄
Yeah I've been watching since the Hogan days, it's interesting.
Wrestling decent today with some guys but basically WWE doesnt even try now with their tv deals etc
Hey Pal! I couldn't have said iui t better myself.
Mike Rotunda heard this and now Cornette will pay his taxes
I love these segments more than the reviews honestly. Still love the reviews but these take the cake
I cant get into the recaps, modern wrestling is too bad. But these segments are the greatest content on UA-cam
Jim Cornette is a lying socialist, Trump 4ever
@@seebee6804 I agree with you. 100%.
@Adam N That is quite the (embarrassing) statement. Please give one example, just one, of an instance Jim lied in anyway about anything political.
@@diggermeddler1169 Trump forever 🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅😅
This was a fascinating segment in how the territories and spot shows worked. Heard it on the podcast and glad to see it segmented out here.
Fascinating segment in how to get away with carny BS and tax fraud, lol. He also neglected to acknowledge New Japan when saying "Nobody sells tickets anymore". I guess he would have known if he wasn't such a country bumpkin bigot.
@@duckmercy11 you're lost, puppy. go find your owner on the other channel
This is why Cornette has the #1 wrestling podcast
The stories, history and just insight like this that most just don't offer.
Correction: The #18 general sports podcast. He's said he doesn't want to be considered as a wrestling podcast, because it wouldn't be fair to any of the others. They'd just be #1 and #2 week in and week out.
Thank you Jim Cornette. When you do this it’s very informative.
I love listening to The History of Professional wrestling all the way back when events were held in house shows and Travis knows how to make the best art work!
I used to go to WWF charity shows in the 1990s in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They were held in a small gym with only about a hundred people there (which was 1/4 of the gym). It was fabulous! Ringside seats were only like $15, and you could see Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc.
Cornette's memory on this stuff is astounding. He really is library of pro wrestling knowledge.
also he was very forward thinking for documenting his day to day operations back then down to the exact dates, locations and house show info. I bet he never knew he’d be looking back at them 40 years in the future and reading them on a podcast.
This is his true talent. He sounds so much more sensible, entertaining and logical when he focuses on pro wrestling and its history instead of the silliness of politics. Stick to wrestling Jim. This is what fans want to hear from a wrestling podcast.
He really needs to write a book, or five.
@@jlillerhe did a scrap book for the midnight express witch has a lot of notes and history of the team but that was an anniversary item for the 25th anniversary of the team and is hard to find/expensive to get I there are people who write history books of wrestling territories why not have him write about his time in the Memphis territory mid south territory and other places he’s worked in could be interesting and u could split it into multiple books
@@Hypno_BPM i think most of it was for tax purposes and to make sure he didnt get screwed on payoffs at future events in the same building with nearly the same attendance ... and for using in other territories , so keeping the notes was good for going there and having angles/matches all written down to do it all again exactly the same way 400 miles away where no one had ever seen them before ... cable screwed all that up ... and Corny is a collector so he actually kept it all , unlike most people who'd of tossed it years later
Jim is like a giddy kid on Christmas opening his presents talking about Old School Wrestling and I love it
It just now hit me that Jim Cornette is so compelling, I'm entranced by him talking about accounting stuff.
I could sit under the Jim Cornette learning tree all day.
For tv tapings, Memphis territory received around $400,000 per year in today's money.
Any small promotion would kill for that today
The horror in Brian's "What?!" at the thought of Synn swirling her tongue around Jim's big toe, and Cornette's subsequent total no sell had me in stitches.
Man,this segment was really great. Most of us know the 'basics' of wrestling's past...but Corny gives you the small details that you never could have guessed. Especially w/numbers concerning pay outs/costs/etc and how promoters skimmed poi off the top.
Yeah that was a fascinating segment I had to listen to twice. Amazing how different things were back then vs now.
It's kind of wild how the old days of wrestling relied on community support so much, and I don't even mean people showing up for the matches, like Jim always talks about local teams, restaurants, radio personalities, construction companies etc and it's cool how wrestling as a business is anti-big corporation simply because you cant own all of those individual pieces that make wrestling truly successful.
I might be a little bit strange or weird, but I always enjoy listening to Mr Cornett talk about the business from the prime as I remember it, especially here in the UK from my childhood, more than I do actually watching wrestling today!
I've never heard the sponsor spot for this. i was crying, laughing at Jim's conviction, and Brian's confusion
It's amazing that Corinth Mississippi was mentioned in a good light for the first time ever,, I was born and raised there
We have heard so many stories about supposed robberies at the box office. Can you blame us for thinking guys weren't making money back then?
I live close to the Hopkinsville, Ky area and Evansville, IN area it’s crazy hearing where these territories once settled where I’m from. I remember Memphis wrestling was always around the Evansville area as well as the Smokey mountain promotion.
You also have to remember this was old school wrestling. Where a match would be a hip toss, knock down arm drag, which is perfectly fine! Those guys earned $500 a night to just do that.. whole guys today will get slightly more but have to do a 450 sunset flip on a burning table to get one fan to tweet about it.
History lesson for free. Just listen and learn.
This is like taking a course in Wrestling Economics with Prof. Cornette.
Overlooked in all this is how insane and exhausting it is to work 7 days a week doing anything.
Jim brings a good perspective. It seems that when you add in cost of living, it was easier for a poor or middle class person to achieve economic independence in the 70s and 80s
60s and 70s Yes. Purchasing power has gone hard down the drain thanks to neo liberalism instigated by Reagan and then even continued by the democrats.
@@drunkensailor112 Wow. It's that simple huh?
@@shayr.3412 Yes it is. That was the first presidency bought by corporations in ad campaigns and donations. And guess what Reagan did in return? He was basically a puppet. He also had the same iq.
Inflation was already retreating by 1979.
Reagan was the big change that ruined every Basis for a middle class or poorer person to have any chance of getting out of financial slavery.
I don't know what's better - listening to Corny spin his tales or Corny riffing on the sponsors to his co-host's dismay.
I love how Wrestling could help the community! As a fund raiser. I remember this from my childhood!
this stuff is so interesting to me, the logistics of running shows back then. I would love to hear more stories of Jim’s early days in the business.
Little did we know the real entertainment was happening in the office and the locker room and the car.
Let's go Jim Cornette!
Lame.
I wonder if there were less savory sponsors for spot shows. Surely somebody was trying to make more than the cost of new football uniforms?
Sell tickets? Hell, even WWE and AEW have trouble giving them away.
Jim is making another point that people born after 2000 might not get, these people were dealing in a cash business so they were not claiming taxes on all their money so they pocketed more profits.
like pizza and chinese restaurants....
@@chrismemphis8062 Deli's and bodegas in New York still don't ring up half of their cash transactions.
Not in STL
@@rl318 Yup. They sell untaxed loose cigarettes on the low too.
God it’s crazy how much things change in wrestling. Back in Jims day you wouldn’t go to a tv taping because they wouldn’t do anything cool so you go to the live event but when I was a kid we would hate when the show was just a “live event” because we knew they wouldn’t do anything cool because it’s not on tv lol
When I was a little kid I saw a Mid-South spot show in the Eunice High School gym in Eunice, La. I don’t remember much about it except that a babyface Ted DiBiase and Mr. Olympia (Jerry Stubbs) were on the card bc my brother had Polaroids of them signing autographs.
As an Evansville, IN native, I love how often Jim uses Evansville as an example on the podcast.
This is Jim at his most brilliant.
WWE would go to the Scranton CYC in the 80s. They'd stop by on the way to Pittsburgh or Philly, 2 times a year.
WWE stops by the local arena for the Scranton Penguins every 15 to 18 months. Scranton would be a C toen in the territory days. We were happy the two known guys from television showed up for the main event.
I thought the promoters made money by putting the house profit in a basket, throwing it in the air, and giving the boys whatever stuck to the ceiling.
Tickets were a lot cheaper then even accounting for inflation
Love how anytime cornette talks about oldschool wrestling the views are thru the ceiling
I love hearing about this stuff. The hate watching modern stuff is fun sometimes but this is why I'm subscribed.
These are the segments I like. The history of the of what it was like back in the day.
I do my shopping in hohenwald cause it has the closest wal mart to my house. Believe it or not wrestling still draws a crowd. My wife is from hohenwald just thought it was cool to hear it mentioned.
Lol, I thought he was making up a fictional town called Hole-in-wall.
No sir it's a real place. He has another video where he talks about bucksnnort tn. I live in duck river tn which is actually between hohenwald and bucksnort lol
@@genedriggers389 Hohenwald is german and can be translated 1:1 into Highforest, must have alot of german roots down there?
@@henriklarssen1331 you are correct. There are allot of German roots.
I used to wrestle in Howenwald back in the 90’s for booker Chris Champion(promoter Sammy Manire). Barnes Auction Barn.
I’ve literally spent the past 25 years wondering what happened to that storyline 😂
I remember the 2 weeks of promos on it and the match but them never wrapping up the Diana part!
Really enjoyed the breakdown. Then you imagine every part of the country with a active territory, crazy going back and looking at some of the small towns drawing 2k +.
Jim's knowledge and records of the Terriyory days is Amazing!!!
Gary Hart also broke down how the payoffs were done. It's in his book. Corny is always right.
This is the type of segment I’m here for. Thank you.
The awa did have shows in smaller towns in my area in the late 70's,at 2 area high schools
When I heard this on the podcast all I was thinking for the 45 minutes was “holy crap I can’t wait for this to hit UA-cam so I can send it to several people I know” this was amazingly informative and I loved every second of this lesson.
Good one. Love to see what's behind the curtain
This says less about how much money promoters used to make and more about how the dollar is barely worth the paper it's printed on now.
I guess that's why many people don't use cash anymore.
I love it when JC takes us all to school
People can disagree with Jim’s views on current wresting but when it comes to stuff like this he’s unmatched …
Could listen to it all day …
He is a historian, that really loves pro wrestling. You're definitely correct, there are probably very few that have the overall wealth of knowledge on pro wrestling that Jim Cornette has.
These are like time machine rides for me , he gets so detailed and so precise I feel like I’m standing next to him in ghostly form as this is happening , absolutely love it 😍
I was born and bred in Johnson City Tennessee. And wrestling was in my blood. I was 17. and went to watch wrestling at least twice a month. at the legion Street rec. I would watch the Fuller Brothers. Adrian Street. Ron and Don write. big bad Wolf. the hands of stone Ronnie Garvin. Kevin Sullivan. But that's not the end.i also went to Smoky mountain wrestling quite a bit. I truly enjoyed it.
Thoughts on current wrestling?
These are the segments I live for
Jim needs to put all of his notes in a book
Too many 2/3s. He must be using Steiner math
Steiner explaining this would be hilarious
EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fantastic stuff!
The last real mind in wrestling
i could listen to this all day.
I would really like to hear Cornette review wrestling games from over the years
Jim Cornette talks about the facts and gate $ in his book and the attendance. It's interesting to me he is the best talker in the Wrestling industry and I like listening to him.
This video is the only time I’ve heard someone mention North Wilkesboro outside of a NASCAR context.
How hard is it to understand that in any business you don’t get paid if you don’t show up to work. If independent contractors don’t have insurance, they sure don’t have vacation or PTO.
Nobody knows more about rasslin than Jim.
I was born on September 17 too😁
I'm 25 minutes in and just realized his only point is that live shows sold better before the internet existed. I mean I love hearing his stories, they're downright educational, but I thought there was going to be a less obvious or more insightful point lol
Edit: about 34:30, I take issue with the implication that not drawing a crowd of 4k means people aren't interested. I've sold pro sport tickets in both hockey and basketball and I can't tell you how many times diehard fans have told me they've already experienced going to a game and a nowadays are fine watching from the comfort of home. The only reason I make it a point to go to WWE or AEW is because they come rarely. If they were local and ran every week or month I'd be much less tempted to bother, i.e. my local indies.
Understand that the "modern day" stuff gets the views/listens but I'd much rather listen to this stuff than the reviews of the current product. Fascinating stuff
I miss old school professional wrestling 🤼♀️
“Hole In Wall” Tennessee lol
Love this type of stuff
A nice 45min Sunday Corny vid to listen while i slay wild beasts in the Witcher 3, Magnificent!
I wish i was alive in the territory days. I grew up in the attitude era which was an awesome time but it woulda been so cool going around to see different territories and different wrestlers every month
The more I hear about this Ernie Couch fella, the more I like him.
A business badly in need of a union.
I hope some Wrestlers were working as Giggalos on the side 😂😂😂😂 I’m sure there were plenty of ladies with there husbands $$ to spend
Buff Bagwell has entered the chat
Someone share this to Tony Khan lol.
Danm sounds like a good hustle.
I'd love to hear Scott Steiner explain the math
😆
I'm just waiting to hear what Jim gotta say about the Kingston vs punk promo
Good ole Hole in the Wall, Tennessee. I know it well.
37:22...
I'd Like to Have Ernie Couch's Old PinBallMachines.
(If They Function)
I'm like 20 25 min from Hohenwald lol...
There's not really much point in buying a ticket when you can see all the matches that matter on TV/PPV with a better view than you would even get with a ringside seat.
There's not much point in buying a concert ticket when you can hear all the songs that matter on radio/Spotify with a better sound system than you would get at even a stageside seat.
@@duckmercy11 That's not an apples to apples comparison. If every single concert in the world was livestreamed as it happened less people would go to those too.
Wrestling historically sold tickets by making that the only way people had to see the matches they really wanted. That changed with the TV era.
@@Tim85-y2q And was cemented with the shitty product nobody would pay to see.
Sponsors cover the shows nowadays(mostly) and the marks cover their shows with a debit card😳
when he said that FIA fund line i've completely lost it 🤣
MJF vrs Punk. Im willing it into existence. I know it doesn't fit here
when you live like 20 minutes from North Wilkesboro where almost nothing ever happens; and you randomly hear Jim name drop it... nice lmao btw there is nothing in North WIlkesboro now, prob even worse 30 or 40 years ago
Learned a lot on this one.
I don't have a pet but HoMedics gave me a free one with my purchase
45 minutes of Wrestling History!
Buckle up & enjoy Cornette junkies! 😁
Scott Steiner is scratching his head
This does provide some context into some of the complaints that wrestlers have made about Graham's payoffs. Most guys from Florida who complain about Eddie's payoffs were main event guys. Those same guys loved Paul Boesch and Sam. Well, what if you're not in the Main Event. Paul and Sam did not have a constant crew so they could get away with this. The guys with crews have to take care of the whole crew. The actual difference was that Paul and Sam focused all the money on the Main where Eddie and Watts and Vince Sr. spread it out. This is why Gino had the falling out with Paul. When Gino was on a card and was not in the main he was paid the usual one percent. Gino rightly complained that the main event or not he is always a draw in Houston (he was) and should at least be paid as a Special Attraction (3ish percent).
Ah yes the old FIA fund lol
😆
How much did Flair make?