10 Thrown-Together WWE Acts That Made No Sense
3. The NWA
Jim Cornette was a man out of time 20 years before various Twitter trolls accused him of it every week, but the 'Prince Of Polyester' tried to make chicken salad out of the chicken sh*t he was provided by backstage nemesis Vince Russo in 1998.
Cornette had ended 1997 cutting some fabulously acerbic promos on the state of the industry at large, but a storyline endgame never showed itself until James E appeared on television with the NWA North American Title and other relics from the tired governing body that was at the time as irrelevant as it had ever been.
The subtext was obvious enough - Cornette and his aged style was back to wreak havoc on WWE's Attitude Era reinvention, but neither the gimmick nor the performers deployed had the chops to tread water in the company's choppy waters, let alone swim successfully. Jeff Jarrett was a limp champion just as much as Barry Windham and The Rock and Roll Express were limp new heels.
Cornette even acknowledged as much when Bob Holly and Bart Gunn were forced into ill-cast New Midnight Express roles. They beat down remaining NWAers Ricky and Robert long after Windham and Jarrett had got as far away from the stable as possible, but nothing materialised for either until Holly went 'Hardcore' and Gunn swung his left hook in the summer's Brawl For All.