It's not Working: Jim Cornette & ROH

I know a lot of people who would argue vociferously that somehow everything from the current era of wrestling is superior than what came before. But that isn't true all the time. Yes, in terms of innovative offense, 2012 has it all over 1988. But are the workers better, smarter, more capable now than then? Depending on who you ask, you'll get a different answer.

Jim Cornette is one of those people. He has argued, in the multitude of shoots that he's done, that wrestlers today are less qualified, less skilled, than their peers from eras past. Combine this with his admitted obsession with making pro wrestling more like MMA, and you have a very strange booking philosophy. How do you fix it? And what are the problems?


Firstly, the point about ROH's troubles. ROH's issue is that ever since Jim Cornette became in charge (to whatever degree he is in charge), they've tried to be progressive. But frankly, his idea of progressive wrestling in 2012 feels about as progressive as a Stormfront newsletter. Where's the new talent, the guys who are going to remind people of the stars ROH made once upon a time? Instead, we get stuck with WWF retreads like The World's Greatest Tag Team, and political favor bookings like Mike Mondo. Where's the progressive vision of blending the best parts of pro wrestling with an eye towards what sells in 2012? Instead, we get faux-MMA from Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, and Kyle O'Reilly to name just a few offenders. And let's not even get started on the production values, which are still bad.

Now I know that Jim Cornette has always been troubled by the working style of independent wrestlers. But even this shows his age. I am perhaps correct in assuming that Jim Cornette believes that Ric Flair should be the inspiration for all young wrestlers.  Mr. Cornette, i respect you. But Ric Flair isn't the inspiration to young wrestlers that you think he is. Your roster is inspired by Kobashi, Misawa, Dynamite Kid, and Chris Benoit more than Luger, Flair, Sting, and the Andersons. Should they be? That's a question for a man more qualified than me. The point is that they are.

But those are the problems. Here are the solutions. (See Mark Madden? That's what you do. When you write an article hammering a promotion, you don't just hammer and hammer. You offer solutions.)

1: Emphasize Tag Team Wrestling.

Here's the great thing about wrestling, a thing that you can't find in MMA. Tag teams. It was what made the NWA special in their mid-80's prime, what made them different from the WWF, and what can make you different from the WWE now.

And it's not that hard. You already have the Briscoes and the World's Greatest Tag Team (although they should be separated from each other for the rest of the year at least.) Richards\O'Reilly is another team, and I am pretty sure you could find some more if you looked. Which leads me seamlessly to point 2.

2: Find New Talent


So this is the big problem. Ever since Cornette took over, the ROH roster has gotten small. Fans of ROH might remember a time when ROH didn't just bring in guest stars from Japan, but actually had the temerity to book angles surrounding them so that other stars got over. Since Cornette took over, that doesn't happen ever. Forget bringing in Japanese stars for a promotion that was built around the idea of Japanese puroresu as a counterweight to the showmanship of modern big-box wrestling. ROH doesn't bring ANYONE in. That's got to change.

And there's plenty of options. You want to rebuild your women's division, show WWE and TNA what true honest women's wrestling looks like in the ROH tradition? Jessica Havok is there. So is Hailey Hatred, Portia Perez, and Nicole Matthews. Hell, give everyone a taste of Ayako Hamada or Fabi Apache if you want to show people lucha libre.

You want to rebuild your tag team division? FIST is there. So are the RockNES monsters, The Submission Squad, and a few others.

ACH is there too, and so is Sami Callahan, Willie Mack, AR Fox, Kyle Matthews, and several several others. But i'm not a talent scout. It's not my job to find these people. But ROH should be.

But right now, right this moment, it's not working. it's a shame that it's not but it isn't.