10 Times Jim Cornette Got It Absolutely Right
9. The Brawl For All
The 1998 Brawl For All Tournament was a ridiculous concept, but the pitch wasn't without some merit - if one can squint. For the uninitiated, the tournament saw 16 men, largely also-rans, contest legitimate fights on obviously-worked WWF shows, with a fusion of boxing and amateur wrestling rules.
There were several guys flailing around the undercard, with little else to do, and the resurgent WWF was reaching stratospheric heights because it was flying outside of its comfort zone. What was the harm? Nothing was spoiling.
Except Steve "Dr. Death" Williams, an NWA and All Japan Pro Wrestling legend, who the WWF thought would be legitimised through his inevitable victory. He wasn't. He was knocked out by Bart Gunn and knocked out of main event contention forever.
Oh, and the less-heralded careers of Savio Vega and Brakkus, who sustained injuries that precipitated their withdrawal from the mainstream wrestling world.
Nobody is disputing that the Brawl For All was an unmitigated disaster - but Cornette provided the perfect insight on exactly why it was so bird-brained. The WWF, he argued, had finally, in late '97, all but announced (to their audience) that wrestling was predetermined - and had started writing around this (literal) attitudinal shift. Presenting a real tournament mere months after this admission completely undermined its potency, premise and legitimacy.
The WWF, in the ultimate jutting of their lips, refused to even push the winner, Bart Gunn, so upset were they that he had fairly won a shoot tournament they themselves had promoted.