3. He Was An Influential In Shaping The Current Generation Of Stars - Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton And More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aRgVuASG2k Cornette's on screen career in WWE proved to be very successful, but like everybody in wrestling he knew when it was time to walk away and do something else. He moved on to booking WWE's development territory in Louisville called Ohio Valley Wrestling. Cornette was a part of OVW from 1999 to 2005 as a booker as well as a part-owner. That early 2000s era in OVW saw some extraordinary talents in developmental at that time. Names like John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Batista and many others were tabbed as future stars. Over a decade later, it's obvious that WWE management was right to have Cornette groom these men into the superstars they are today. When you consider that over 100 OVW talents have appeared in WWE over the last 15 years, it's proof that what they did worked and a lot of is thanks to Cornette. In a February 2014 interview with
Wrestling101, Cornette talked about John Cena in the early years: " John came from California, we got him really early on in his career but you could tell he was a natural, I thought he would actually be this generations version of a Ric Flair. He was a heel then, and he was so cocky, arrogant and good looking he had the physique and the genetics, he could talk but they decided to go a different direction with him and he got over just as big on the other side." Regarding Lesnar, Cornette had this to say about beginnings in OVW: "With Brock Ill be honest with you, he was getting paid about four or five times more than everyone else in the developmental program because of who he was. You dont come across an athletic specimen like that who won the NCAA Heavyweight Championship every day. However he was not a natural wrestling fan, not a natural wrestling student, he was a bit boring in the ring to be honest because he wasnt used to being a showman. Also for a world class athlete I didnt think he was trying five times as hard as his salary." Cornette went on to say that he teamed Lesnar up with Shelton Benjamin so that Benjamin could work most of the match and then Lesnar could come in to use his power to win for his team. He also spoke about the Shooting Star Press that Lesnar famously botched at WrestleMania 19: "Remember the shooting star press he did at WrestleMania? He would do that for us and I would tell him he was crazy and to save it for the big show at the Louisville Gardens when the WWE agents are there and not in the high school halls. He did it in front of the WWE agents and they signed him directly because of that. The time he did it at WrestleMania is the only time Ive seen him miss it." There's also a story about how Cornette slapped Santino Marella, in OVW, in front of his peers because he was laughing during a Boogeyman segment that was supposed to be serious. That led to Cornette getting suspended by WWE and he was fired soon after that. Here's the story of him slapping Santino. Note that he likes to swear a lot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26uu4-0kxjA As mentioned, over 100 OVW talents made it to WWE. Anybody that was there in the first half of the 2000s was greatly influenced by Jim Cornette. Out of everything he's done in his career, perhaps grooming the stars of tomorrow was the greatest thing of them all.