Jim Cornette on Raven In Smoky Mountain
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- From Episode 262 of the Jim Cornette's Drive Thru
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
Send in your question for the Drive-Thru to: CornyDriveThru@gmail.com
Follow Jim and Brian on Twitter: @TheJimCornette @GreatBrianLast
Join Jim Cornette's College Of Wrestling Knowledge on Patreon to access the archives & more! / cornette
Visit Jim's official site at www.JimCornette.com for merch, live dates, commentaries and more!
You can listen to Brian each week on the 6:05 Superpodcast at 605pod.com.
I think Raven really optimised 90s culture/counterculture better than anyone else at the time.
He really was smart for capitalizing on it, Raven was like the Pearl Jam of wrestling. He made it seem real and authentic rather than a "Hey this is what the kids are into!" Approach
Raven was a great gimmick for the time and the place. If you were the right age for it, you know what’s up.
Thought he had some good ideas to insulate his character ie, Beulah campground backstory feud with dreamer, stealing sandmans family, crucifixion, allegiance with Cactus Jack to destroy dreamer each for their own reasons but still under ravens manipulation even collecting every wcw wwf cast off that passed through mid 90’s into his flock
Oh yeah...NIRVANA
The Seattle grunge scene of the 90s baybay
Tracy smothers was one of a kind, a wrestler who needed no gimmick because he was better at being just him.
No he wasn’t Grunge was overrated trash and the angsty crybaby depressed crap was annoying to listen too. I listen to music for positivity, not a bunch of losers crying about their miserable lives. Glad it’s gone for good.
Scott Levy’s Raven was criminally underrated in ECW, WCW, and WWE.
I wouldn't say he was underrated in ECW, he was their world champion. The other two though, definitely.
@@davidjsaul Especially the WWF. Once Vince found out he was back in the company, it was over. "Who the Hell hired Johnny Polo?" - Vince's exact words
Even Steve Austin wrote in his book that the WWE missed the boat with Raven.
Both means 2. You listed 3 promotions.
@@blinkth3dog Huh?
I saw Raven in the PNW territory as Scotty The Body. You could tell that he was something special even back then. He talked coherently at 100 mph, his in-ring work was almost there, and he got some good heat from the Portland Wrestling crowd.
And that’s Tom Petersons… and Gloria’s too. Portlanders will know exactly what that is.
I'm so old, I remember when Missy Hyatt, who everybody knew was married to Eddie Gilbert at the time, was manipulating Scotty The Body into thinking he had a shot with her. Yes, this was an actual angle Memphis wrestling actually did.
@@ralphlowrey Yeah he was one of the ones who generally wanted to tone that DOWN rather than up. I remember him talking and saying they're only gonna have one chair shot when the other guy wanted something like ten.
@@emperorburton Tom Petersons I got a free haircut there lol
@@ralphlowrey He’s along the lines of Jake Roberts who had impeccable psychology and story-telling in ring but Raven is more solid.
So nothing like Lance Storm but in range of DDP IMO.
The Raven character in ECW was awesome his Feud with Tommy Dreamer in 1995 was fucking amazing and the sandman Feud in 1996 was crazy Paul Heyman was a creative genius in ECW.
At the 8:30 mark …… 😂 I can’t! I love Brian’s reaction and Jim pauses than starts right back up. I would love to know if anyone from Express VPN just laugh at what jim is saying!
Sending cold Canadian love to y’all
You sure you’re Canadian? We don’t say y’all. We don’t even say eh or aboot unless we’re from Worst Case Ontario. I’m from Vancouver Island. We just talk slowly because of all the second hand THC that permeates the air.
@@christhornycroft3686 im MexicanAmerican, from Southern New Mexico and say yall too. Its universal at this point, Canadian or not.
@@christhornycroft3686 Yes you guys do say those things . I’ve met many Canadians that do. Stay in denial little kid.
You say 'at the 8:30 mark... I can't.' Can't what?
Can't believe it never occurred to me that Johnny Polo was inspired by Jim.
A bit of pointless history here. Johnny Polo was billed from West Palm Beach. He was actually from one town over in Lake Worth. Lake Worth High, the school Scotty graduated from, is on Lake Worth Road. The school is right next to the train station and trailer parks in the hood that have been there forever. 4 miles to the west on that same road you have millionaires. The International Polo Hall Of Fame is on that same road. Was it necessarily an adaptation of Jim Cornette? It influenced the character, no doubt. But Scotty saw the snooty rich bastards growing up.
So obvious though... lol.
I remember all this.. In PNW he was a powerlifter type & he briefly went thru North Georgia Wrasslin right before he was even Scotty Flamingo as Buff Bagwell was there as The Handsome Stranger. Then he was Johnny Polo. When he became Raven, it was one of the best character changes to happen in wrasslin at the time. He should've been bigger, but, at the same time, he wasn't what any bigger company wanted at the time.
I gave him my wallet chain to win a Streetfight against Saturn one time lol...
I feel that Raven was really a matter of timing. If he only came around the same time as Mankind and Austin rising, he possibly could’ve made a niche for himself around the upper-mid card to main event since Vince was more willing take risk with characters during that period.
@@CollegeBallYouknow he wasn't in WWF when Foley and Austin were rising to stardom.
@@layersofjade5197 Hence why I said “If he only came around”
If anyone is interested, I just learned that Raven is next to be inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame.
That's so raven
To think we were one vince thought away from Johnny Polo and Jimmy Tennis
I know everyone loves to talk about Raven’s promos and character work and justifiably so cause it was amazing, some of the best of the 90’s. But what I’ve always found just as interesting was his in-ring work. Some may thumb their noses at hardcore spot fests but Raven always found creative ways to work within it I feel.
Something as simple as setting a chair up in the middle of the ring allowed for so much more with Raven. The drop toe hold into it, a back suplex into it, sitting his opponent on it and clotheslining the fuck out of them, all of which was leading into that Evenflow DDT.
Raven never had a million moves and he never needed them. The fact that with such a comparatively basic move set he was able to put on great matches with everyone from AJ Styles, Goldberg, Benoit and DDP to Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno and CM Punk speaks for his caliber as a wrestling worker just as much as his abilities as a character. Maybe it’s cause he got his start as a light-heavyweight/cruiserweight before he moved onto hardcore brawling.
I'd argue Raven's DDT is on par with Jake The Snake's.
He was solid, I know not a lot of people here are sold on weapon wrestling but the drop toe hold into the chair was actually a cool move imo.
ECW Raven was a great breath of fresh air and criminally under-utilized in WCW. It's too bad his demons eventually took over and his work suffered because of it.
It's funny. My Dad hated Raven and called him a whiner. I remember a few years ago, when he was still with us and he was going on about Raven years later, I was like "Dad, Raven was a heel. You were supposed to hate him, he was doing his job..." lol
Scott Levy started in Memphis I believe as Scotty the Body, had potential but green as hell and had a fairly embarrassing match with Jerry Lawler, moved here to the Pacific Northwest where he honed his talents then went to WCW as Scotty Flamingo, winning the WCW Light Heavyweight title (before it became the Cruiserweight). Went to USWA after that as Johnny Polo, but got injured and became a manager while he healed up, going to the WWF for a bit managing Adam Bomb and the Quebecers. After healing up he went to ECW where he created his best persona Raven, and the rest is history
He was Scotty The Body in Portland wrestling, I believe he was an early version of Scotty Flamingo in Memphis and had a decent promo there
@@scotthalvorson1161 As I said, potential but green, and Memphis wasn't the place for green rookies. The Northwest was better but not as good as it used to be, Don Owens was old as Methuselah and nearing the end of his run, and like a lot of older promoters was preferring the older guys he already knew.
@@scotthalvorson1161 He started as Scotty The Body in Memphis too. I never even knew he had that name in Portland before.
He started out in Portland, where he stripped to pay the bills.
Raven was one of the few reasons I watched WCW as a teenager
I think I remember Raven once making a basketball analogy for his crowd reactions in WCW, compared to how he was used on screen.
He said something like how he was getting starting 5 crowd reactions but was lucky to be making the bench some weeks.
Why?
Always liked his DDT finish, as good as Jake's IMO
Jake, Raven and honestly the Rock have always had the best DDTs imo. The former two on account of how legit deadly it looked, the latter on sheer flashiness.
Thought Arn had the best.
I agree
"Quote the Raven never more" - Raven
He took it from Allen Poe without asking permission.
@@azazaeldevile2506 Poe had been dead well over 100 years and the poem "The Raven," like everything else he wrote, had long since passed into the public domain.
@@MrDinghus Doesn't matter if he is alive or dead. The fact remains the same. Raven, The Crow, that Simpsons episodes, Garfield episode, Goth metals they all took direct inspiration from "the Raven" without his permission, are you denying that?
@@azazaeldevile2506 hey jackass how is a guy who has been dead for over a century going to give permission?
And it's "Quoth"
@@azazaeldevile2506 tons of guys used lines in promos . Why do they have to ask permission? I remember Jake the Snake using lines from some Ozzy Osborne songs. Should he have asked Ozzy ?
In in tears at the VPN skit😂😂, would love to see Brian's face
That's not Raven, it's *clearly* Corey Feldman.
Jim's in-video ads are incredible.
Jim's rambling on the VPN ad makes more sense than it really should
"Raven in Smoky Mountain". That sounds so poetic.
Brian refusal to acknowledge his two stolen children is honestly very sad
"Jim, NORD VPN here, ummm, we really need to talk about your ad today....."
Raven would’ve been a great heel for SMW
Yeah the guy who owned and book the company . Just said won't work and couldn't be shown there tv . Don't know anything about the territory 😕
Raven is a character that you either get it or you don’t. If you get it you know Raven is a legit goat. If you don’t get it, you never will. Maybe had to be there back in the day to understand.
This is spot on and an underrated take. Raven was my favorite wrestler in the WCW days - would show up dressed like us in our teens in the 90s, recite poetry and prose instead of screaming and spitting into the mic like a neanderthal, sit in the corner of the ring to assess what was coming his way, and have the most brutal, physical matches the promotion offered ("ravens rules means there ARE no rules" - JJ Dillon), all while leveraging effective psychology with the flock both in and outside of the ring. He was peerless, especially feuding with DDP for the US title which went so far as to hit TRL on MTV.. I was so stoked when he was on the cover of WCW/nWo Revenge for the N64 and his taunts/moveset were authentic. Followed him from his ECW debut through WCW, back to ECW, into WWF/E, and then TNA, and you couldn't be more right: he's GOAT'd while simultaneously being underutilized and underappreciated. At this point he's so underrepresented in wrestling history that I popped when I saw Corny was speaking on him.
Jim: That stranger has sold your children to a foreign government
Brian: what!?
Me: Oh thank god, I thought he was going somewhere else with that.
Poor Brian doesn't know how true that is lol
@@xylsky1300 If he ever found out his side was in on it, his brain would explode.
😆 Jim totting Express VPN is hilarious!
raven was the man , I use to quote him to my buddies in elementary class and they thought I was weird
I honestly think that if you told him that story, he'd say that's how it should be.
Cause you were weird. I did the same thing though lol. Being weird was fun. I'm 38 and still weird.
well I'm sold on Express VPN, thank you Corny for helping me pick a reliable VPN network
Raven/Sandman was the best feud in ECW history.
Raven was a terrific character for that time. Wrestling isn’t just about technique and psychology - it’s about being culturally relevant and identifiable to a modern audience. The Attitude Era and ECW were culturally relevant. Wrestling hasn’t been that for 20 years. It’s a business. Unless you’re all of those things together, you’re not selling anything. WWE makes money with half empty arenas and comparably low ratings to the Attitude Era. AEW tries, but they’re mostly indie nonsense. WWE doesn’t even try because they can make record profits without trying. Raven was a huge part of making wrestling relevant in the 90s. Like Pillman and Austin. And Flair in the 70s and 80s.
But the Raven character was not just a grunge thing.
The way he dressed was grunge but The Raven character was a manipulator.
Raven was Charles Manson and it was a Cult leader starting Cult and leading people.
"Quote The Raven, Nevermore"
You could do that character in any promotion.
So, you're saying that the guys like The Rock and Steve Austin wouldn't have gotten over in any other era? And the fact that they were at the right place in the right time was the reason they were so successful? Because they were relevant to the late 90s?
Also, do you think that a wrestler is gonna get super over nowadays if only he starts doing tiktok dances in the middle of the ring? Or talking with internet lingo during promos? Cause that's the stuff kids love nowadays.
It's all about charisma and talent, not gimmicks. Flair, Austin, Rock, HHH, Cena and all the other big names in wrestling would've gotten over in any era regardless of gimmick.
Thats not always true. Gimmicks that cater to pop culture has a shelf life. Which is why the raven character would only have worked at that time. Any time before or after that shit wouldve died in 2 weeks
@@kennethrawlings7265 bullshit, the Raven could have worked in any Era.
Because The Character was more then a Grunge thing.
@@colonelkenpachi5009 Raven in Mid South in 1984. Raven in WCCW in 1981. Raven in wwf 1992. Raven in crockette 1987. And so on and so forth. Raven wouldnt fit in any other time besides mid-late 90s for ECW. Scott Levy has a chance because he could work, the Raven gimmick. No
Raven’s promo’s in ECW in the 90’s were second to none. Raven, Crow Sting and Stone Cold were the best re invented gimmicks in the last 30 years.
I liked Raven in ECW and WCW.
I honestly think Raven, perhaps slightly tweaked to fit SMW a little better, could have been an amazing talent for SMW and a source of incredible heat.
Have him be someone who is in SMW to tear down the old traditions and drag the company into the future. You could have him vs Tracy Smothers or one of the Armstrong brothers in a old school territory vs modern grunge style wrestling feud. The SMW originals want to preserve their slice of old school territorial wrestling and Raven represents the new breed that want their time in the spotlight and to retire the old hangers on.
Man that may have been the best advert segment yet, Jesus Christ I'm howling
whether he intended to or not, Travis drew the most accurate cartoon of Dream Theater's James Labrie ever.
The Theme Song Raven had in WCW is one of the most Underrated to Me …..
Jup. I really liked his work and this amazing ddt! not the talk so much.
It's instrumental version of Nirvana's "Come as You Are."
@@sinistermaniac966 it's a little different tune though right. Not just the instrumental.
@@lulu-hm2xp It's based on a Silverchair song, I forget the name of it though.
Someone had "Smells Like Teen Spirt". DDP, I think.
@@sinistermaniac966 And come as you are is "based on" a Killing Joke song...
Oooooo...... Jim was slightly wrong. Scott Levy's stripper character was "Scotty the Body". "Scotty Flamingo" was his "flamboyant" character. He was doing Scotty the Body for a couple of years in Portland and a couple of other territories back then.
Scary to think that he would be the father of Val Venus and Fandango's love child.
Raven Once Used the "Chippendale" Gimmick?!?
*HILARIOUS*
also Raven would probably been killed literally if he hung Sandman on a Cross like he did in ECW
Why would Vince see this young 20-something body builder like Scotty Flamingo and decide we'll hire him to be a manager? I mean they're doing something similar with LA Knight, but Raven was some 15+ years younger.
I think he was recovering from an injury at the time
" flock off" quote the Raven nevermore.
Cornette’s promo for Express VPN is GOLDEN.. I absolutely love the truthful entertainment believe it or not lol
Raven worked as a gimmick because he had the perfect face and look for it. His face just looked grunge and with the piercings it just looked right.
6:00 Im rewatching WCW Nitro what I grew up on. And Raven cut a really really good promo on DDP. Saying He had to go to "barbwire city" ECW to make a name for himself
Too bad WCW just tossed em to the side.. Eric didn't understand his character even though a lot of fans liked him..
This ad read is almost up there with Bill Burr's Sherry's Berries ad read.
There was never a better 90s counterculture representation in wrestling than Scott Levy as Raven. The angry grunge kid.
So... that's why that brown Ford has been parked across from my house so often lately.
Ed Leslie had a million and one gimmicks, so did Scott Levy. The only difference is Bruti had the right friends, Raven burned his bridges with the wrong people.
The Raven character in his initial ECW run is my personal all time favorite gimmick
Steve Borden nixed the WCW push of Raven. Scotty got hot and headed to ECW to cool off. He even tried to get Page Falkinburg to join him.
Listening to Jim's Express VPN spot after watching a video about Daniel LaPlante. Oh, the irony.
I heard the guy in Jim's walls. He kept screaming "For the love of God, Montressor!" Nearly put me off my glass of amontillado.
Corny booked NEW Jack in SMW; so, Raven could've worked as an instant heel in that market.
Raven could have worked but the Gangstas worked (too well, actually) because the gimmick played on real tensions surrounding affirmative action (the genius but very controversial idea of them only having to get a 2-count to win matches, for example) and race that existed at the time and especially in many SMW towns. They had actual near riots in places like Johnson City because of the Gangstas.
Ya gotta keep em’ separated…….
Raven cut some of the best promos of all time in the 90s. He was so verbose
I'm just waiting for Jim to do the "Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrell" line from Homerpalooza
The reinvention of Raven from Scotty the Body/Johnny Polo worked because Scott Levy was that brooding outcast.
He also disappeared, no one saw him until he showed up on ECW television after Stevie Richard's hyped up Johnny Polo coming in. He showed up looking like Eddy Vedder and Layne Staley's love child, 20lbs heavier than we last saw him speaking above everyone else but it wasn't non sensible.
One of the best transformations ever
I remember when he left WWE. He was doing All American Wrestling with Gorilla on Sundays. Then The Million Dollar man showed up . Gave Raven money for his job. Raven says "thanks" then just walked away never to be seen on wwe again lol.
raven is actually Dax Harwoods father
Jim saying Raven wouldn't have worked in SMW.... what timeline are they talking? Because if its a heel thing, Raven could have gotten major heat from Tennessee, with that character, I'd imagine.
They would have HATED him, not an "I don't get it" reponse.
The flock was so underrated in WCW. ONLY if Vince ever could of done something with them instead of bum ass factions
Vince would've loved to write for the Flock but they were long gone by the time he got there. Russo doesn't get enough credit for look after the up and coming talent. Vince Russo and Raven would've came up with great stuff and Raven would've stayed in WCW during the Russo era.
@@DarksaberForce yea diff type of tag teams and solo acts with former flock members
did somebody say REVAMPED?
The prevailing logic about the best gimmicks being a reflection of the actual talent may have been a little too on the nose with Raven.
Raven ruled by Raven's rules!
He demolished the 90s vibe in 3 sentences.
Raven came across as extremely intelligent and he was a great talker.
Raven would have been a great feud with the undertaker during the American badass era when taker was hardcore champion he would have also been a great main event guy if given the right storyline and push
Raven wasn't on smw wrestling promotions
Raven in ECW was a superstar. I used to love that character when he was there. Then in WCW he was also great but he had a ceiling on him because that place was one of the most difficult places to break into the main event because the main eventers quite literally ran the place. I always remember WCW was a 3 hour show that was broken down into 3 shows. 3 commentary teams. They'd tell you when hour 2 and hour 3 were beginning and ending. The Luchadores dominated hour 1. Then you had Harlem Heat, The Steiners, DDP and Raven guys like that on hour 2 and then the main event hour was hour 3. But Raven was one the best parts about hour 2. Then Raven came back to WWE and... He looked like shit. In ECW he was still in Scotty the Body shape. He was a jacked good looking guy. He had a main event look. He was like grunge Jim Morrison. When he came back to WWE he looked like a homeless guy. He looked like he'd aged 20 years in 6 years. The drugs and partying had obviously hit him very hard. So of course he was never going to rise above lower mid card status.
"Quote the Raven nevermore"
What I love is how people who brag about having a VPN and insist that everybody get one also have no problem with installing "security" cameras in almost every room of their house so literally their every move is recorded, as well as thinking it's awesome to have Siri or Alexa to record everything they say. But they're suddenly about "muh privacy!" when it comes to the internet.
Guest artist needs to come back. Hate this bland shit!
Nevar more
if you're gonna have a mid-video ad break, put it between the content and your ad read FFS.
"Hillbillies, red necks, and regular people in east Tennessee"
As someone from Chattanooga....I identify with that remark lmao
Thanks Raven
Raven would have been fine in Smoky Mountain, he would have adapted. But he might have been redundant. Was there a particular need for another heel unaffiliated with Jim Cornette? He couldn't really be with Cornette if he didn't understand what Raven was about after all.
Hey Jim, didn't you come up with the headbangers?
Jhonny Polo was an outlaw version of Jim Cornette?
Damn JC got dark with the express VPN pitch that shit went a little far
I always had allot of respect especially after he went to WCW was jobbed out to Goldberg right after winning the US title and eventually popping back up in ECW and becoming tag champs with Dreamer. I didn't know the details then but instead of being paid allot of money and doing nothing he went back to ECW where he was used and appreciated by fans even if they booed him
[Wow. After 8 minutes or so, I found out where the Twilight Zone is. That was weirdo territory. Corny's Handler must've taken a head break.]
Jim said the SMW fans wouldn't have understood Raven's gimmick, but you could have made the same argument for The Gooii{angsters
What about me? What about Raven?
Scott Levy is a very intelligent guy far beyond the wrestling industry and he could have excelled at a number of careers.
What about me??
What about Raven??
Bring back the guest artist
If The Headbangers worked as Heels can't a grunge gimmick work the same way?
What abou Raisin?!
In the 90s flannel not black lol
I can't get enough publicity from Cornette 😂
Raven and Punk.
Whoa… it got really weird at the end there.
Raven was over in WCW. They fucked it all up by jobbing him out to Goldberg. They should've kept.that separate from Goldberg and kept building it
I was a big raven. Guy. Loved him and his flock. 🦅. Wwe definitely dropped the ball with him….. he could have been great in wwe. But vince always fuked up. Wcw guys
I agree, but... wtf is up with your spacing?? UA-cam doesn't even 'allow me' put in that much spacing without getting my comment auto-removed 😆
These ISP's must be stopped.
I WILL STRIKE DOWN WITH GREAT VENGEANCE WHOEVER IT WAS THAT SOLD YOUR 2 CHILDREN ON THE DARK WEB, BRIAN LAST!
Hmm, Raven as the spokesperson for the House Of Black?
Before Brody Lee was the leader of the dark order, raven was heavily teased as who the leader was. Imagine what dark order would have become if raven was in charge
One time I was talking on my twitch stream some random story where I got left out. So without thinking about it, I say "What about me? *Long pause* What about Raven?" Lol. Exactly one person got it but we made a connection that will stand the test of time haha. Gg 90's WCW fans.
No you didn't