Jim Cornette Speaks - Would ROH Take Matt Hardy?, More
Ring Of Honor Executive Producer Jim Cornette was one of the featured guests on this week's live edition of the award-winning Monday Night Mayhem.
Here are some highlights of what Jim Cornette said about:
His thoughts about Ring of Honor's first TV tapings for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the level of excitement for ROH's debut on SBG this fall, & why people will be surprised at what they see from the Ring of Honor product beginning on September 24th:
"It only seems like a couple of days ago, because I've slept about twice since then. This wrestling show, and I should emphasize this wrestling show, I'm so excited about it. It's going to be so different and look so different from anything else on the air. We had a lot of guys in their 20's & 30's who work there (at Sinclair) walk past the edit suites as we were editing, and they would stop & look. To paraphrase, they said 'Wow, this is the kind of wrestling we would like if it wasn't so silly.' That's why people are going to be so pleasantly surprised with this product. It's a great television program, and it's different from the other programs, because they are sports-entertainment programs. We're going to treat wrestling as a serious competition. We have great athletes, and we are going to showcase that. We are going to tell their stories, and we are not going to make any up for them."
His reaction to those fans that are upset that Davey Richards will not be defending the ROH World Title at Ring of Honor's next iPPV, "Death Before Dishonor IX," on September 17th in New York City:
"There are a number of matches that are going to knock the socks off of people, and truthfully I don't want to give out any scoops, but I know we did talk about the Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong 'Ringmaster's Challenge' Match, which is going to be fantastic & off the charts. And a lot people went 'Oh Davey (Richards) is going to Japan...oh my god.' The reason quite simply is we encouraged Davey to go to Japan, because he has something great lined up over there. With the television taping having a title match, we couldn't have a title match on September 17th anyway, so we gave Davey the opportunity to go to Japan. The match between Eddie & Roddy (Strong) will determine his challenger when he comes back."
Whether or not he and/or the ROH office/locker room would have interest in Matt Hardy coming to Ring of Honor, now that Matt has been released by TNA:
"I've known Matt & Jeff since they started in the business, when Matt was 18 and Jeff was 16. They used to come to the WWE TV tapings in the Carolinas. I like those guys, and they have been tremendous stars, but A.) I don't know if their salary expectations fit in with Ring of Honor's budgetary limitations and B.) I haven't talked to these guys, and I don't know what their side of the story is, but there always seems to be controversy swirling around The Hardys right now. I believe Ring of Honor would once again take the standpoint that we are going to try & find the young undeveloped talent and expose them to the world, rather than to look to be the place where people come to have a warm place to curl up when they leave the big leagues."
Source: Monday Night Mayhem