7 WWE Angles That Felt Plucked From A Different Time
6. Jim Cornette Tries To Bring Back "Real Wrestling"
Here’s an example of an angle that intentionally felt out of place.
By his own admission, Vince Russo, former WWE head writer and Jim Cornette’s best friend in the whole wide world, had gotten annoyed by Cornette’s constant protestations about the state of wrestling in the late 90s, and how things needed to go back to the old ways. As a way to show Cornette that nobody wanted to see his style of southern wrasslin’ anymore, Russo put together a quasi NWA invasion angle. NWA talent such as Dan Severn and The Rock ‘n Roll Express were brought in, and WWF stars Bart Gunn, Bob Holly, and Jeff Jarrett were repackaged with NWA championships, with Gunn and Holly rechristened as the New Midnight Express. The angle meandered for a few months, and was ultimately dropped unceremoniously.
In Russo’s mind, this should have proven the point to Cornette that wrasslin’ was dead, but really, this was evidence that any angle will bomb if it just meanders without any clear goal or purpose. Still, it was bizarre to see a “Midnight Express” and Rock ‘n Roll Express match on WWE pay-per-view in 1998.