Wrestling legend Jim Cornette recently discussed The Revolt (The Revival) on his “Experience” podcast, and why he’s not interested in managing them in AEW or anywhere else, at least for the long-term. There’s been a lot of online chatter and speculation among fans who want to see Cornette manage The Revolt on the indies or in AEW. Cornette has said he’s not interested in working with AEW due to how he feels about the product, and some of the top talents such as Executive Vice Presidents Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.
Below are highlights from the discussion:
Not being interested in managing the team in AEW: “Every time that something like that is teased, then it starts on Twitter and I get emails, and everybody [asks] ‘Are you gonna manage The Revival?’ And even Uncle Dave [Meltzer] chipped in this past week, I guess in his newsletter he said, ‘Unless Cornette has been perpetrating a work of Biblical proportions, he’s not going to AEW.’ And for once, Dave’s right on the nose on that. But everybody — and I want to try to explain. Even if, in a perfect world, ladies and gentlemen. If competent, adult, serious professionals were the Executive Vice Presidents of All Elite Wrestling instead of Kenny Olivier and the Road Warrior Bucks, I would still not be the manager of the Revival in All Elite Wrestling on a full-time basis. And that’s never been something that was gonna happen.”
Being interested in a one-off managing appearance: “I’ve said on the program a couple of weeks ago. I would love to manage The Revival on an independent show of some — once there are such a thing again, and it would have to be some level of professionalism with a halfway decent crowd. Something like a WrestleCade or something, you know those guys have a big building and draw a great crowd. Or someone, you know, Bobby Fulton has a new building. I haven’t seen it yet, but if it’s new than it’s better than the old one up there. But somewhere where there’s gonna be a legitimate crowd and a legitimate facility, I would like, I think they’d like it if I managed them. I think I’d like it if I managed them against a decent, quality tag team. That would be fun to do that once.
“It was never gonna be a situation where — even if people that I was in love with. Even if Bobby Fulton inherited a billion dollars and opened All Elite Wrestling, I was never gonna be the manager of The Revival on a weekly television basis, ever. Because that would require me being on the road on a weekly basis. You saw where they were doing television. One week they’re booked in Newark. One week they were in Salt Lake City, for f**k’s sake. I’ve been on an airplane twice in my life in the last 20 f**king years. Both times was to go to England for a variety of reasons. One was a large sum of money and the bigger one was that my wife the first time had never been there before and wanted to go badly, and the second time had new friends and wanted to go back. Stacy has never been to Salt Lake City, I don’t think she ever wants to f**king go.”
Not being interested in being part of AEW: “I’ve said this in the past on the show, there’s a bunch of new listeners. Yes, at one point in time when I heard that this All Elite Wrestling was going to be a thing. After I talked to Tony Khan, I was not optimistic as I’ve said, because of who he was gonna be in business with. But there still would’ve been a time where I would have said, ‘Okay’ for something, for a PPV. I’ll do two or three weeks of television for a large sum of money. If I have to, I can drive to Salt Lake City, flying still wouldn’t have been an option, to build up to a PPV just to piss those fans off. Because that would have been a pop. And to help get The Revival over, and established in a new company. Yes, I would have been open to that.
“Had the All Elite Wrestling brain trust proved me wrong about my original assumptions, which they didn’t. Because from the very first PPV and the Battle Royal, with the freakshow, and the vaudeville s**t, and the f**king guy with hands in the pockets, and the f**king small children, and the people painted different colors, and the f**king cat that chased the rat that ate the whatever-the-f**k. That closed that off. And the intrepid insipidness of Kenny Olivier and that smarmy, slappable face, and all the gesticulating and finger-pointing and all the other, just goofy, unnecessary, independent, outlaw, mudshow s**t that they have done. And the fact that there are legitimate professional wrestlers out there who could get over and help a startup company on national television, and instead a bunch of high school buddies are out there playing wrestler. That’s what closed that window for me. I have no interest whatsoever in being a part of it.”
Liking The Revolt: “So for everybody that always sends the tweets and emails. I love The Revival, no matter what name they’re under. Those guys not only were wrestling fans, but they had the eye to see what the s**t was supposed to be like, and the dedication to train themselves to do it. And every time I have seen them — I haven’t followed weekly for the last five years. But every time I have seen them, they have had a great match and they have excelled at something that very few people can do well anymore at all. And I do agree that probably a manager would help them out, because if there’s any weak point in their game, it may be the promo aspect. And I would love to have managed them in the old days when I was younger, if we were either in a territory or we could drive or I still had the love of the wrestling business to put up with getting on planes. But I’m not younger, I ain’t gonna fly. And as everybody knows that listens to this program, I would be insane to give up…all the things I’ve been doing the last several years to just jump into a full-time wrestling job for somebody else again.”
(H/T to 411mania for the quotes)
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