2. Jim Cornette Was Fired For Slapping Him
wikimediaThis is a story that, when it happened, received a decent amount of publicity, but as the years went by, it began fading further and further into the background of people's minds. As the story goes, Santino, while still in the very early stages of his OVW training, was sitting in the crowd during a show where The Boogeyman made an appearance. At the time, The Boogeyman was supposed to be portraying a very serious character, intending to strike fear in his opponents, as well as in the fans. As he made his way to the ring, Boogey stopped in front of Santino, who was sitting with his daughter. Upon seeing his daughter entertained by the interaction with another wrestler, Santino smiled and laughed, happy to see her in a good mood. Cornette, OVW's head booker at the time, saw Santino's reaction and went ballistic, thinking Santino was openly laughing at The Boogeyman. Cornette brought him backstage and berated him in front of the locker room, and would eventually slap him in the face. Santino would go on to say, in interviews, that he didn't want to retaliate because he was working in America as a Canadian citizen, and he didn't want to lose his job and be deported in the process. In interviews, he has taken the low road and the high road with Cornette since the incident, either calling Cornette a "bastard" and saying he should have kicked his ass, or saying the entire thing was merely a misunderstanding. Cornette was suspended for the incident, and was eventually fired right after returning from suspension. He has not worked for WWE in any capacity since.