Jim Cornette On Having Doubts About Kevin Owens In WWE, Why Sami Zayn Got Mad At Him, Sinclair - ROH
On Episode 37 of Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, Roberts welcomed Jim Cornette to the show. Among other topics, Cornette spoke about Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, the former Kevin Steen and El Generico, finding success in the WWE.
"[Owens] is fulfilling his potential now because he has changed the way he thought about being told to do things by his employer," Cornette said. "I always knew he had the talent to [be successful in the WWE]. Christ, we made him the Ring of Honor World Champion for a year. He was undefeated. But the problem is, I didn't think he had the attitude to do it. When we asked him to lose weight, when we asked him to take time off and come back with a different look and a different push, when we asked him to do a match a certain way or anything a certain way, there was so much argument and push back and refusal and not producing any of those things, et cetera, that I thought, basically, when he went to Florida [NXT], either he, the WWE, or both, would need a psychiatrist within 90 days. But, he, apparently, he is never going to be svelte, and we didn't want that, we wanted him to not be obese, to lose a little weight and he [has] done that. His [ring] gear may not look any more professional, but at least it is cleaner. And what's more, he, apparently, is doing what he is asked to do instead of going into business for himself or arguing about anything, whether it be inside of the ring or outside of the ring".
As for Zayn, Cornette commented that the former NXT Champion "was the second biggest pain in the ass next to [Owens]." Cornette continued, "[i]t has something to do with French-Canadians in wrestling. If you ask around, you will find this out: with the exception of Pat Patterson, every French-Canadian in wrestling, [has] pretty much, been in a pain in the ass. Maybe Mad Dog Vachon."
"[Zayn] got mad at me because I always said that his selling was impeccable and he was an amazing athlete, he was very strong for his frame, and he was a wonderful babyface in the ring. I said he needed to ditch the silly mask and the goofy gimmick, he needed to learn to speak and do interviews, and try to get a tan even though his is a red-headed, ginger Muslim from Montreal. I said, 'then you will find mainstream success, my son,' and he thought I was crazy."
Cornette claimed that Owens and Zayn are cooperating with WWE brass in a way that they never cooperated with ROH because "there wasn't as much money at stake" in ROH.
Cornette stated that he knew that the likes of Owens, Zayn, Cesaro, and Daniel Bryan would be top stars in professional wrestling, but he did not know whether they would be in WWE: "at that point, [WWE] had not actually admitted publicly, or just by their actions, that they had been making a mistake by recruiting the wrong people and they hadn't been signing up the top independent guys."
When asked whether the professional wrestling business has changed for the worse or whether Cornette is just out of touch with modern professional wrestling, he replied, "both. I know there [are] some things I do not agree with with modern day wrestling that are probably good developments, but at the same point, it has, you know, become an entirely different industry. And, as I mentioned [during the Jim Cornette Experience live show], it is not even predicated on the same kind of logic that it used to be. We used to be simulating a conflict and now we're exhibiting a performance. It is completely different. I'm not real good at that, nor am I interested in that."
On another interesting note, Cornette claimed that ROH is not being paid for its Destination America shows and that ROH is missing out on a huge opportunity to produce new television for the channel, all because Sinclair Broadcast Group is "cheap". "The people who run [Sinclair Broadcast Group] are Republicans and they're very conservative and they are also cheap," Cornette said. "As a matter of fact, they are tighter than skin on a hotdog."
You can check out the entire podcast here.