Jim Cornette On NWA Powerrr & More

During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Jim Cornette discussed NWA Powerrr and more. Here are the highlights:

On NWA Power Being A Breath Of Fresh Air:

A major wrestling personality who shall not be named who works for a national wrestling company that shall not be named told me that it’s just not fun to go to work anymore. They’ve run the passion and emotion out of everything. It’s so overly produced and manipulated and choreographed and timed. It’s not fun anymore for a lot of the performers, and I thought that was the exact opposite of the NWA Powerrr studio show. That’s not just for the fans watching, but also for the wrestlers. They weren’t told every move to make or every word to say. The audience wasn’t conditioned to react in a certain fashion. It was fun, and the wrestling fans were able to tell.

On What Makes NWA Powerrr Stand Out:

The NWA you’re seeing on Tuesday nights, this is what wrestling was. It was easy to watch, easy to understand, and credible as a contest, rather than video game wrestling.

Every wrestling show is now designed to be the greatest show ever. In contrast, the NWA show is different. It didn’t tire people out to watch, something was allowed to register. It is the exact antithesis of planned, big budget, choreographed, scripted sports entertainment, and that is what makes the show so different.

On NWA Powerrr Being Wrestling Focused:

It’s pro wrestling presented in a fashion from 30 years ago, done by guys that weren’t born 30 years ago. Cowboy James Storm and Eli Drake, those guys can talk and rile the people up. Those Dawsons, those big fat f—s from North Carolina, may look like big fat f—s but they’re also tough as bikers and I wouldn’t call them big fat f—s to their faces at the bar. They are out to beat some people. And there is Nick Aldis, the world champ. What else do you need in one hour? And there aren’t people getting brain damage from taking reckless bumps over and over again.

On The Rock Endorsing NWA Powerrr:

The Rock had seen a tweet where I’d answered a person’s question about something related to studio wrestling, and Rocky took that opportunity to say he’d checked out the show and it was cool. Rock loves wrestling in general, but this also has a nostalgic feel for him because of his family.

Not only did The Rock start in the Memphis studio in the last year the Memphis studio was a program back in the ‘90s, but he also went with his father so many times. I have tapes of his father doing studio wrestling from the ’70s. He likes that intimate atmosphere and that old fashioned, territory style of the business.

On Corgan On Lagana Deserving Credit:

I’ve got so much of the credit for the show, and people have been reaching out thanking me. I’m merely an employee, though an opinionated employee. Billy Corgan has done a tremendous job, and Dave Lagana has produced everything. They have resurrected not only the brand, but the championship and the Crockett Cup, and now this series.

On His Political Views:

Good god, Rocky could do a better job than our current president, but that’s faint praise—Howie the mailman could do a better job than our current president. But here’s the thing about Dwayne, he is not only driven maniacally to be a perfectionist and study and train and prepare, which is why he’s so successful, but he’s also reasonable. He’s reasonable enough to know what he doesn’t know, which we get none of from this current administration, and he would smell out the people who could tell him those things, which we haven’t had since Barack Obama was president.

Maybe Rock and Elizabeth Warren could team up and shore up each other’s weaknesses. Elizabeth Warren has a plan for everything and all the experience, and The Rock could sell it to the people, ‘cause the people could smell what Rock is cooking.

On Why People Should Watch NWA Powerrr:

The reason to keep coming back for the show is because it’s going to be more of the same but completely different.
We’re still in the studio, but you never really know what will happen. We’re also not in a ratings war with somebody. In a ratings race, you can only highlight the stars and there is pressure to win a time slot. We just want people to get to know the wrestlers and care about them.

We’re just in a process to build our product. Things will constantly be different, a lot of wrestlers will want to get on the program, like the old days when the wrestlers wanted to get on TBS to get exposure around the country. This show gives exposure around the world. It’s only an hour, so it won’t take up your entire life, and you’ll know everything you need to know without any of those mind-numbing video game, pinball machine matches. It’s the perfect platform for people to care about.

You can read the article HERE.

Credit: SI.