Jim Cornette On Wanting To Avoid Another Hardy Situation, Clarifies Working Relationship With GFW

Jim Cornette recently spoke on his podcast about his appearance on Global Force Wrestling (GFW) last night. You can check out the highlights below:

Not being a member of the GFW Roster:

"I'm not a member, let's clear a few things up, I'm not a member of the Global Force Wrestling (GFW) roster. Even though I have been on the roster page since two years ago when I did some ball park shows, but as everybody knows, I'm not interested in anything full time with any promotion for just the simple fact is I got too many things going on and I don't like to travel. But in this case, to come back and right a few wrongs, see some of my old friends – and boy it's amazing, I haven't been here in so long but the air is so much fresher. It's almost like there's a grizzly stench that has been lifted from the Impact Zone from the last time I was here. At any rate, I wanted to come down, we're still in the process of taping a lot of television over the next week, and there's a few more things corporate wants me to do, some messages they want me to deliver, but this is it. I'm not a member of the roster, I'm not an announcer, I'm not a wrestler, I'm not a manager, I'm not a production person, I have nothing to do with creative, I work directly for corporate and I handle the problems they want me to handle.

"I don't have a dog in this fight, I don't have a horse in the race, I don't care who wins and who loses, as long as things are fair. And I've said some things [last night], and I'll elaborate on them on the coming weeks, but I don't like the idea that some of these guys that are such big Superstars, they've come down here and they've taken Impact Wrestling's money and feel like it's on vacation, they feel like they're being treated like second class citizens, they're just gonna sit it out until they get the proper respect – I got news for everybody.

"You're gonna show us what you can do in the ring, and you're gonna conduct yourself like a professional outside the ring. And if you do that, then I'm gonna be fine with everybody. But as you know, I have no patience for anybody that thinks they need special treatment or they want to be glory hounds or they want to go do things their own way or go into business for themselves – they're going to toe the line. Because once again, we have an entire staff, that if they weren't happy, if they don't want to do that, if any wrestler doesn't want to follow corporate's instructions and keep their business in the ring and professional outside the ring, we have a whole staff that can help them carry their bags to the car, and we can show them the directions to the gate to get out. And then they can do what they want."

If he is still his own boss:

"Yes. I'm an independent contractor. I'm a corporate representative, as an independent contractor. I am not a member of the roster, I have not signed a contract, I have signed agreements, obviously, for my likeness to be allowed on television, don't get me wrong about that, but I will be here as long as there's a problem for me to solve. I look at it like this, I will be like Paul Lynde on Bewitched. I'm not gonna be a regular member of the cast on the show but I will be making appearances when necessary and I will probably steal the show when I do so, so just consider me Uncle Arthur in Impact Wrestling. I've mentioned this, it's not anything to do with the quality of the company, everybody treated me wonderfully, I saw a bunch of my old friends there tonight and met a bunch of people I had not known, but I always loved everybody in Impact Wrestling except for two specific people who are, amazingly enough, no longer there. So that's why I said the air was fresher. I'm my own boss, I'm not signing any exclusive deals, or long term deals, for anything with anybody. I'm too old to do this on a regular basis but I will be appearing when there is reason for me to do so."

Trying to avoid another Hardy situation:

"Everything is good so far, some of the wrestlers are not gonna be liking some of the things I will be saying, some of them are. Hopefully all of the fans will, but the point is, we're not gonna hand titles around, we're not gonna have guys coming in here taking advantage of inexperienced owners, they're great business men, I've actually met them, but they did get into wrestling and did't really know how to deal with these personalities. We've talked about some of the situations, some of the issues, and I'm gonna be honest: What's already under the bridge with the whole Hardy situation, I've mentioned it, and that's not up for debate because it's in the hands of attorneys, but hopefully with a little input I can keep things like that from happening again. I'm not just a corporate hitman. I know how hard it is to be a wrestler. And if I see these wrestlers showing positive effort, showing that they're working hard and they're going to conduct themselves as professionals and they're gonna show up for work on time and they're gonna do what they need to do to get themselves over without embarrassing the company, then we're gonna be fine.

"But if they want everything to be about them or they think they're gonna coast on a name and a reputation, or they think they're gonna get away with making the company look bad in any way, shape, or form, I'm sorry but they're gonna have a one-way ticket to anywhere else but here cause I ain't gonna put up with it. A lot of people know that, as I said tonight, I'm not a charitable guy. I wouldn't give a crippled crap a crutch when it comes to business. They treat me right and I'll treat them right. They don't treat me right, they're gonna get the mouth-foot on them and I have no problem changing things around to suit what is best for – well, I can't say "Best for business," that may be trademarked, what's best for Impact."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please provide a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Source: Arcadian Vanguard