Jim Cornette on Raven In Smoky Mountain 

I think Raven really optimised 90s culture/counterculture better than anyone else at the time.

Raven was a great gimmick for the time and the place. If you were the right age for it, you know what’s up.

The Raven character in ECW was awesome his Feud with Tommy Dreamer in 1995 was fucking amazing and the sandman Feud in 1996 was crazy Paul Heyman was a creative genius in ECW.

At the 8:30 mark …… 😂 I can’t! I love Brian’s reaction and Jim pauses than starts right back up. I would love to know if anyone from Express VPN just laugh at what jim is saying! Sending cold Canadian love to y’all

I saw Raven in the PNW territory as Scotty The Body. You could tell that he was something special even back then. He talked coherently at 100 mph, his in-ring work was almost there, and he got some good heat from the Portland Wrestling crowd.

Scott Levy’s Raven was criminally underrated in ECW, WCW, and WWE.

I remember all this.. In PNW he was a powerlifter type & he briefly went thru North Georgia Wrasslin right before he was even Scotty Flamingo as Buff Bagwell was there as The Handsome Stranger. Then he was Johnny Polo. When he became Raven, it was one of the best character changes to happen in wrasslin at the time. He should've been bigger, but, at the same time, he wasn't what any bigger company wanted at the time. I gave him my wallet chain to win a Streetfight against Saturn one time lol...

Can't believe it never occurred to me that Johnny Polo was inspired by Jim.

ECW Raven was a great breath of fresh air and criminally under-utilized in WCW. It's too bad his demons eventually took over and his work suffered because of it.

Raven was one of the few reasons I watched WCW as a teenager

I know everyone loves to talk about Raven’s promos and character work and justifiably so cause it was amazing, some of the best of the 90’s. But what I’ve always found just as interesting was his in-ring work. Some may thumb their noses at hardcore spot fests but Raven always found creative ways to work within it I feel. Something as simple as setting a chair up in the middle of the ring allowed for so much more with Raven. The drop toe hold into it, a back suplex into it, sitting his opponent on it and clotheslining the fuck out of them, all of which was leading into that Evenflow DDT. Raven never had a million moves and he never needed them. The fact that with such a comparatively basic move set he was able to put on great matches with everyone from AJ Styles, Goldberg, Benoit and DDP to Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno and CM Punk speaks for his caliber as a wrestling worker just as much as his abilities as a character. Maybe it’s cause he got his start as a light-heavyweight/cruiserweight before he moved onto hardcore brawling.

Scott Levy started in Memphis I believe as Scotty the Body, had potential but green as hell and had a fairly embarrassing match with Jerry Lawler, moved here to the Pacific Northwest where he honed his talents then went to WCW as Scotty Flamingo, winning the WCW Light Heavyweight title (before it became the Cruiserweight). Went to USWA after that as Johnny Polo, but got injured and became a manager while he healed up, going to the WWF for a bit managing Adam Bomb and the Quebecers. After healing up he went to ECW where he created his best persona Raven, and the rest is history

It's funny. My Dad hated Raven and called him a whiner. I remember a few years ago, when he was still with us and he was going on about Raven years later, I was like "Dad, Raven was a heel. You were supposed to hate him, he was doing his job..." lol

That's so raven

To think we were one vince thought away from Johnny Polo and Jimmy Tennis

If anyone is interested, I just learned that Raven is next to be inducted into the IMPACT Hall of Fame.

In in tears at the VPN skit😂😂, would love to see Brian's face

That's not Raven, it's *clearly* Corey Feldman.

"Jim, NORD VPN here, ummm, we really need to talk about your ad today....."

"Raven in Smoky Mountain". That sounds so poetic.

"Quote the Raven never more" - Raven

Raven is a character that you either get it or you don’t. If you get it you know Raven is a legit goat. If you don’t get it, you never will. Maybe had to be there back in the day to understand.

Brian refusal to acknowledge his two stolen children is honestly very sad

Jim: That stranger has sold your children to a foreign government Brian: what!? Me: Oh thank god, I thought he was going somewhere else with that.

Jim's rambling on the VPN ad makes more sense than it really should

Always liked his DDT finish, as good as Jake's IMO

Raven would’ve been a great heel for SMW

well I'm sold on Express VPN, thank you Corny for helping me pick a reliable VPN network

Jim's in-video ads are incredible.

Raven Once Used the "Chippendale" Gimmick?!? *HILARIOUS*

raven was the man , I use to quote him to my buddies in elementary class and they thought I was weird

Raven’s promo’s in ECW in the 90’s were second to none. Raven, Crow Sting and Stone Cold were the best re invented gimmicks in the last 30 years.

Man that may have been the best advert segment yet, Jesus Christ I'm howling

😆 Jim totting Express VPN is hilarious!

Cornette’s promo for Express VPN is GOLDEN.. I absolutely love the truthful entertainment believe it or not lol

I heard the guy in Jim's walls. He kept screaming "For the love of God, Montressor!" Nearly put me off my glass of amontillado.

I honestly think Raven, perhaps slightly tweaked to fit SMW a little better, could have been an amazing talent for SMW and a source of incredible heat. Have him be someone who is in SMW to tear down the old traditions and drag the company into the future. You could have him vs Tracy Smothers or one of the Armstrong brothers in a old school territory vs modern grunge style wrestling feud. The SMW originals want to preserve their slice of old school territorial wrestling and Raven represents the new breed that want their time in the spotlight and to retire the old hangers on.

also Raven would probably been killed literally if he hung Sandman on a Cross like he did in ECW

Raven/Sandman was the best feud in ECW history.

6:00 Im rewatching WCW Nitro what I grew up on. And Raven cut a really really good promo on DDP. Saying He had to go to "barbwire city" ECW to make a name for himself

Raven was a terrific character for that time. Wrestling isn’t just about technique and psychology - it’s about being culturally relevant and identifiable to a modern audience. The Attitude Era and ECW were culturally relevant. Wrestling hasn’t been that for 20 years. It’s a business. Unless you’re all of those things together, you’re not selling anything. WWE makes money with half empty arenas and comparably low ratings to the Attitude Era. AEW tries, but they’re mostly indie nonsense. WWE doesn’t even try because they can make record profits without trying. Raven was a huge part of making wrestling relevant in the 90s. Like Pillman and Austin. And Flair in the 70s and 80s.

Oooooo...... Jim was slightly wrong. Scott Levy's stripper character was "Scotty the Body". "Scotty Flamingo" was his "flamboyant" character. He was doing Scotty the Body for a couple of years in Portland and a couple of other territories back then.

So... that's why that brown Ford has been parked across from my house so often lately.

" flock off" quote the Raven nevermore.

Ed Leslie had a million and one gimmicks, so did Scott Levy. The only difference is Bruti had the right friends, Raven burned his bridges with the wrong people.

There was never a better 90s counterculture representation in wrestling than Scott Levy as Raven. The angry grunge kid.

whether he intended to or not, Travis drew the most accurate cartoon of Dream Theater's James Labrie ever.

Raven worked as a gimmick because he had the perfect face and look for it. His face just looked grunge and with the piercings it just looked right.

I liked Raven in ECW and WCW.

Raven cut some of the best promos of all time in the 90s. He was so verbose

Why would Vince see this young 20-something body builder like Scotty Flamingo and decide we'll hire him to be a manager? I mean they're doing something similar with LA Knight, but Raven was some 15+ years younger.

The reinvention of Raven from Scotty the Body/Johnny Polo worked because Scott Levy was that brooding outcast. He also disappeared, no one saw him until he showed up on ECW television after Stevie Richard's hyped up Johnny Polo coming in. He showed up looking like Eddy Vedder and Layne Staley's love child, 20lbs heavier than we last saw him speaking above everyone else but it wasn't non sensible.

I'm just waiting for Jim to do the "Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrell" line from Homerpalooza

The Raven character in his initial ECW run is my personal all time favorite gimmick

The Theme Song Raven had in WCW is one of the most Underrated to Me …..

Listening to Jim's Express VPN spot after watching a video about Daniel LaPlante. Oh, the irony.

This ad read is almost up there with Bill Burr's Sherry's Berries ad read.

Steve Borden nixed the WCW push of Raven. Scotty got hot and headed to ECW to cool off. He even tried to get Page Falkinburg to join him.

[Wow. After 8 minutes or so, I found out where the Twilight Zone is. That was weirdo territory. Corny's Handler must've taken a head break.]

Too bad WCW just tossed em to the side.. Eric didn't understand his character even though a lot of fans liked him..

"Hillbillies, red necks, and regular people in east Tennessee" As someone from Chattanooga....I identify with that remark lmao

Jim said the SMW fans wouldn't have understood Raven's gimmick, but you could have made the same argument for The Gooii{angsters

Raven would have been a great feud with the undertaker during the American badass era when taker was hardcore champion he would have also been a great main event guy if given the right storyline and push

Raven in ECW was a superstar. I used to love that character when he was there. Then in WCW he was also great but he had a ceiling on him because that place was one of the most difficult places to break into the main event because the main eventers quite literally ran the place. I always remember WCW was a 3 hour show that was broken down into 3 shows. 3 commentary teams. They'd tell you when hour 2 and hour 3 were beginning and ending. The Luchadores dominated hour 1. Then you had Harlem Heat, The Steiners, DDP and Raven guys like that on hour 2 and then the main event hour was hour 3. But Raven was one the best parts about hour 2. Then Raven came back to WWE and... He looked like shit. In ECW he was still in Scotty the Body shape. He was a jacked good looking guy. He had a main event look. He was like grunge Jim Morrison. When he came back to WWE he looked like a homeless guy. He looked like he'd aged 20 years in 6 years. The drugs and partying had obviously hit him very hard. So of course he was never going to rise above lower mid card status.

The prevailing logic about the best gimmicks being a reflection of the actual talent may have been a little too on the nose with Raven.

raven is actually Dax Harwoods father

What I love is how people who brag about having a VPN and insist that everybody get one also have no problem with installing "security" cameras in almost every room of their house so literally their every move is recorded, as well as thinking it's awesome to have Siri or Alexa to record everything they say. But they're suddenly about "muh privacy!" when it comes to the internet.

Jim saying Raven wouldn't have worked in SMW.... what timeline are they talking? Because if its a heel thing, Raven could have gotten major heat from Tennessee, with that character, I'd imagine. They would have HATED him, not an "I don't get it" reponse.

Corny booked NEW Jack in SMW; so, Raven could've worked as an instant heel in that market.

did somebody say REVAMPED?

Raven ruled by Raven's rules!

He demolished the 90s vibe in 3 sentences.

Raven came across as extremely intelligent and he was a great talker.

I always had allot of respect especially after he went to WCW was jobbed out to Goldberg right after winning the US title and eventually popping back up in ECW and becoming tag champs with Dreamer. I didn't know the details then but instead of being paid allot of money and doing nothing he went back to ECW where he was used and appreciated by fans even if they booed him

If The Headbangers worked as Heels can't a grunge gimmick work the same way?

Hey Jim, didn't you come up with the headbangers?

"Quote the Raven nevermore"

Damn JC got dark with the express VPN pitch that shit went a little far

The flock was so underrated in WCW. ONLY if Vince ever could of done something with them instead of bum ass factions

Scott Levy is a very intelligent guy far beyond the wrestling industry and he could have excelled at a number of careers.

Ya gotta keep em’ separated…….

I can't get enough publicity from Cornette 😂

Raven would have been fine in Smoky Mountain, he would have adapted. But he might have been redundant. Was there a particular need for another heel unaffiliated with Jim Cornette? He couldn't really be with Cornette if he didn't understand what Raven was about after all.

Thanks Raven

One time I was talking on my twitch stream some random story where I got left out. So without thinking about it, I say "What about me? *Long pause* What about Raven?" Lol. Exactly one person got it but we made a connection that will stand the test of time haha. Gg 90's WCW fans.

Raven was over in WCW. They fucked it all up by jobbing him out to Goldberg. They should've kept.that separate from Goldberg and kept building it

Jhonny Polo was an outlaw version of Jim Cornette?

Raven and Punk.

Congrats to Raven for finally being inducted into the TNA HOF........

Raven wasn't on smw wrestling promotions

These ISP's must be stopped. I WILL STRIKE DOWN WITH GREAT VENGEANCE WHOEVER IT WAS THAT SOLD YOUR 2 CHILDREN ON THE DARK WEB, BRIAN LAST!

Raven was so under-utilized in WWE when he came back in 2000.

Whoa… it got really weird at the end there.

if you're gonna have a mid-video ad break, put it between the content and your ad read FFS.

Hmm, Raven as the spokesperson for the House Of Black?

I was a big raven. Guy. Loved him and his flock. 🦅. Wwe definitely dropped the ball with him….. he could have been great in wwe. But vince always fuked up. Wcw guys

Get the guy outta your fuckin wall

In the 90s flannel not black lol

What abou Raisin?!

What about me? What about Raven?