10 Faces You Never Thought You'd See On WWE TV

When the tennis racket-swinging, profane motor-mouth took the podium at the WWE Hall of Fame this year, wrestling fans pinched themselves.

After more than a decade of roasting everything sports entertainment, Jim Cornette played nice for one night to induct his onscreen arch rivals and offscreen good friends the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express. It was a well-deserved return for the former developmental head who was fired from the company in 2005 after slapping Santino Marella for not taking the Boogeyman character seriously.

As surprising as his appearance was this past April, it was his WWF debut that shook the foundation of the industry. A longtime critic of McMahon’s cartoony characters and less-than-realistic action, Cornette joined that circus in 1993 to become the American spokesman of WWF Champion Yokozuna. Adding to the surrealism, Cornette was running his own promotion – Smoky Mountain Wrestling – at the same time.

The legendary manager was able to leverage the juggling act in his favor, gaining the services of several WWE Superstars for visits to SMW.