10 Wrestling Promos That Were Inadvertently Infamous
8. Cornette Ends The Madness
Jim Cornette's late-1997 Monday Night Raw rants broke up the unusual pattern of action on the flagship show, but it was hard to discern where the 'Prince Of Polyester' was really going with his state-of-the-union addresses until seeds were planted that he'd be bringing in a stable of performers to combat the embryonic Attitude Era crew before they took over the show entirely.
The NWA angle he was setting up ultimately hit the wall pretty quickly. Ill-conceived and badly executed, the old guard performers were certainly heels amongst raucous young fans and talents, but only the types everybody wanted to f*ck off, rather than get f*cked over by. It was the wrong heat gamely built by the right man, with his closing address sounding an awful lot like his feelings towards the organisation years after leaving for real.
"I think the state of wrestling stinks. I think it's disgusting. I think nobody has respect for wrestling anymore. Not Sports Entertainment but wrestling."
It's virtually the same platform he yells at clouds from in 2018, flatly refusing to acknowledge Kenny Omega's superlative back catalogue whilst referencing dated Southern Boys matches to flog t-shirts and yet another "controversial" podcast. Cornette was telling the world exactly how he felt 20 years ago, and even then his opinions were slightly out of date.