Jim Cornette on Money In Wrestling: Then vs. Now 

I could listen to cornet tell stores all day everyday

Just astounding how lucrative an entertainment business wrestling was - especially in the south - in those days! Really enjoy hearing these old stories!

Jim, Ive met you on multiple occasions when working with IWCCW and then as half owner of Worldstar and I can truly say that you are the only podcast I can listen to. Whether the general population knows or not, Jim is the only guy who tells the truth about everything wrestling. Which, believe me, is a rarity in the business. It didn’t matter if I was the first match or playing DJ for the night, you were always respectful to me and always said hello and remembered me. I truly think you need to do your own promotion to compete with Vince. One thats booked well, cares about the guys and makes the entire staff feel as important as the biggest draw on the card. You know the best people in the biz and who you can trust, along with the best workers around the world. Keep doing the great work you do.

Out of all of the events I've been to see in person, NWA wrestling in mid through late 80's remains the most memorable. Legion Stadium (small high school size field)in wilm.n.c. all seats were close enough to the ring to feel those yelling and selling, jamming and slamming those with a seat on their feet!! I realize it probably wasn't the ideal venue for the wrestlers/crew,but they had me thinking, I and my crew feeling like we were at Starcade!! They gave it all!! Thank you again and again to all y'all that put it all on the line to create that magical feeling of suspended reality for a few hrs. Dang!... wish I could go back and watch it again right now!

I Miss Wrestling...

In terms of raw sports cultural power and influence no one can top Gorgeous George. He was the archetypal heel whose influence lingers today, plus he was the highest paid athlete in the world at one point, and he also inspired Ali's trash-talking, who used that style to draw heat combined with his athletic prowess to reach his own legendary heights.

53:09 This is why WWE 's booking is so erratic. With each talent, they are trying to make as big a star as possible while keeping the talents leverage and bargaining power as low as possible.

"farting through silk" has to be one of my favorite Corny-isms.

This is great. I would to find a website posting wrestling payoffs during the territory days.

"Atta boy, Luthor!"

Absolutely fascinating!!!

Love learning this stuff! The random “whatever the fuck..” makes it even better 😂

Here's the issue: back then, even into the 80s, people had fewer entertainment options. There was no internet. There was no cable or satellite TV. And if you look in places where wrestling was big, like Tulsa for example, there weren't any major league sports. Now all of a sudden, going down to watch wrestling in person on a Tuesday night seemed like a great option. Even if the Vince Russo's of the world didn't come along, even if Vince McMahon doesn't disrupt the system by getting in national cable, the industry was going to change.

Arm drag take down. Hip toss. Bulldog. Leg Drop. I loved Bruno. Plus, I'm a Pittsburgher, too.

Very informative. Thanks for posting. You never get to hear anything like this.

That's the first time I've heard Cornette mention Russo after the Restraining Order

Cornette is right. There is no money In wrestling. Unless your contracted to WWE you have no chance at a decent retirement from wrestling. They can say the Indy scene is "exploding" all they want. Just because there's a alot more indy workers than ever before it doesn't mean their selling tickets. 50 people at the local senior center just doesn't cut it as a legit business. Now it's just for fun and keeping the entertainment around.

Wrestlers made a lot through live events it seems (vs TV)...with ticket prices near the $1 range to boot. People were really into the ongoing stories of their stars live. Ric was legit

Three hundred dollars in the seventies was pretty great money .

Jim,this was a good one.

They threw the money at the ceiling and what stuck the boys got

more of content like this please

Jim makes a solid point. While Cena, Lesnar, excetra make more than top guys then. But a larger number of guys were making enough money to feel like stars.

Jim Cornette sir, you have a brilliant wrestling mind, any possibilities on starting a wrestling organization down in Louisville???

I know the share price of wwe stock has definitely been rallying for a long while now, but that doesn't mean the quality of the product has improved. Corny is right in principle; sports entertainment sucks balls when you look at viewing figures/attendance at live shows etc. Most shareholders don't care about those things. They're just happy the stock price is going up...

"***** hanging from the rafters." Jim Cornette has so many different ways to make me laugh.

damn when your manager's professional name includes the phrase "The Strangler," you probably don't have to worry about anybody fucking you over. except your manager.

It was better. As Flair said he spent more money on spilt liquor in more bars from one side of this country to the other than you (as the fan) could think of!!!

The Corn knows

Sorry Jim but your math is way off here. this is saying that the promoter Bill Watts or whoever else is paying the wrestler every year the exact amount of the inflation rate increasing it every year without fail. think about it like this, the minimum wage doesn't go up every year but minimum wage employees get that same amount for about a decade before it increased by a dollar or so, that's surely the method promoters used, according to the math that you used the minimum wage if we're going by the inflation percentage that you use, minimum wage should be about, I don't know 60 bucks. Minimum wage In 84 was 3.25 its gone up 4 dollars to 7.50. I'd reckon 100k in 84 would be around 250k instead of near a million like you have said

Now I understand why he gets so pissed at the guys who have disrespected or exposed the business. 😂😂 A young persons dream. Living on the road meeting different people. Making a great living. Being able to afford anything you could ever dream of. But through the years people found away to f it up lol

i don't think the inflation calculator necessarily works when it comes to calculating sporting contracts. joe dimaggio made 100k in 1950. the highest paid athlete in baseball today is making 43million. i think we'd have to calculate not from just inflation but really corporate advertising spending and tv rights deals which barely existed in 1950 compared to today

Me too.,...Jim Corny knows his wrestling content!!

Price Von Erick was raking in money during the VonErick/Freebirds feud hay day as well. There are stories of him paying off cops/judges big money when the kids got into trouble with the law.

I remember reading Bob Holly's book (Great read btw arguably the best wrestling autobiography. It's critically acclaimed) and he talked about how his pay early on in the WWF was horrible. Like, barely enough to live on. Apparently lower mid card guys got paid literal peanuts back in the early 90s. And since Bob didn't make it to the upper mid card until 1999, his pay was actually not great for most of the 90s. Didn't help that Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon once screwed him and a bunch of other mid carders out of a WrestleMania payday by going overtime to the point where the 10 man tag had to be cut. Which caused Randy Savage to be pretty pissed backstage. But even in the 2000s, lower mid card guys weren't making enough. Take Super Crazy, who despite being a veteran with a decent fan following due to his exciting ECW run, wasn't paid enough and had to leave WWE in mid 2008 because he couldn't afford to work there anymore due to the bad pay, which wasn't making paying for travel and food very easy. Sadly enough, Super Crazy wouldn't ever get a big gig in America again and kind of faded into the limbo that his contemporaries from ECW also fell into. Such as Steven Richards, Kid Kash, Steve Corino and Simon Diamond to name a few.

I'm stuck in the 80s and I hear about it alot but It does necessarily bother me because in my opinion we got the best of everything in that decade. And I feel lucky to have grown up then. I'm a huge horror movie collector and the 80s was it plus the music the wrestling was just as over the top as the colorful and çrazy styles of clothing that was popular then.

I've always wondered, why was the KC territory so bad?

Wait... People buy old cheques? There really is no thing , you can't collect, apparently 🤣🤣

I don't have to look.. I remember, gas was 99cents

Cornette has enough memorabilia to keep him wealthy for his entire life. If he ever needed it

no one does it better!!!!!!!!!!except me....and you will know me by the scars i share....

Jimmy you need to be elected official wrestling historian.

It is ironic that Lawler made that comment to Corny. Corny is probably worth as much as Lawler.

I love this shit!

Funny, they show a St. Louis Wrestling Club check. I've had canceled checks from there that were great ones. It wasn't until Sam Muchnick retired that the checks turned into crap.

Muchnick paid 32%. Main event got 16. Mid carder got 4 and prelim 2%. No skimming no rounding down

Bruno had a good gig going on back then and as he got older he wanted Vince to pay him millions...The thing about wrestling is that very few wrestlers can still draw amazing crowds as they get older. Flair is one of the only guys that comes to mind. Alot of these wrestlers come off as very greedy.

But Jim, What do you think of Russo?

17:20 so lawler made 9 grand for half an hours work impressive

Jake "The Milkman" Mi!liman!!!!!

Depending on the promoter, travel, and venue! I had to jerk off the dog to feed the cat! unless u r a top star and can indy contract out there is no money!!!!

Just curious. Is the way Corny says Louisville the way it's supposed to be pronounced?

With all of his mother's money,Jim Cornette should start a wrestling federation. Just the money off Skandar Akbars oil dealings should have cash enough for five years commercial free.

Classic stuff here

Khamala gets a mere 13 grand for Wrestlemania.

I wonder how much Austin made in 1998.

Terry Garvin's Check, smh

Mexico city good money

How is a inflation calculator calculated? The price of beer?

There's a reason that Vinnie Mac is a billionaire...

I have listen to Jim say this time and time again. This is why i always say Vince McMahon is NOT the epidomy of professional wrestling. Today even you will make more money working territorial than you will working for WWF/WWE. Nick Aldis the current NWA Champion has a net worth of $104 Million in 15 years if pro wrestling. Nick's wife works for WWE and has a net worth if $5 Million which is a $94 Million Dollar difference of territorial independant vs major conglomerate. Tim Storm has a net worth of $50/$60 Million. Big Show only makes in the mid six figures after 15-20 years of working with WWE. Do the math.

ric flair could have been very rich today

9hundred and 24THOUSOND dollars year hahaha word liked the way Jim said it😂😂

Who the hell buys other people's checks?

So you're comparing top guys from the past, to midcarders and independent people? Top WWE guys earn way more than the old guys did.

Ricky Morton has said that the most he ever made in a year was $120,000

It's like this guy lives in the 80s LOL

Cornette is a historian of wrestling.. why is he not in wrestling as a consultant or something?

Whatever Corny's got you casuals believe don't ever forget that the top bill of that time including the inflation is still less than the top and low buck today. The current WWE jobbers earn more than those guys.

So in 1952 u could buy a house a cupple off cars buy you a nice boat all that in just 1 freakin year nice ass clothing hell and for the next 5years save up like ya broke any1 ask I'M BROKE DAWG sorry hahaha

well guys like Cena and Lesnar get 10 million a year Rollins Reigns and others probably 3/4 million a year so still with inflation guys make more now. Shit Hulk in the 80's was pulling in 25 million a year.

Generations got smarter & Vince & his cartoonist presentation killed wrestling. The gift & the curse was Hogan leaving AWA because had he stayed yeah he'd probably have a small title run but his opponents were a aging Bockwinkle, and who else the next few years. Martel was too small, Kurt the same so him going to WWF was better for him in the long run. Yes it was done under devious planning but " if you don't treat your employees well they move on " Dusty's booking, Flair's same match routine, Magnum's injury, drugs killing off the WCCW just so many things that happen. It's sad because ppl like Jim love wrestling & it has become a joke 85% of any show. Nick Aldis is a credible guy but he works for a company without enough talent & face value for him to get any credit. AEW 👎 WWE has 5 credible guys and talent development but when they go to the main roster they cool off in 2 to 3 months or less. It's a shame Cornette's drive thru is more entertaining than the actual wrestling shows.

JC for president.

Money Poop

If only we could get people to stop driving all these cars, we could rebuild the once lucrative horsewhip industry.

Yet most died broke, interesting.

The young bucks and cody Rhodes said they are making 7 figures a year that means they making more then most guys back in the day

😂

Does Cornette think rattling off numbers for an hour is an entertaining podcast?

Trump 2020 🇺🇸

Jim wants to be Vince McMahon but can't so now he wants to be mad.

Marciano vs joe walcott in 1953 made 2.4miion

He was close. It was $19,800 for 60% of $33,000

Ppv didnt exist though...a finished Ali vs Larry Holmes made 7.3 miilion