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Missy's Manor: Missy Reviews The "Guest Booker: Jim Cornette" DVD

Posted: Oct 6th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Recently the great people at www.Kayfabecommentaries.com sent me the Guest Booker: Jim Cornette DVD. Granted they just didn't voluntarily send it to me. It consisted of several threatening emails to Sean Oliver on why I deserve to get the DVD, in exchange that I might review it if it's decent. Crappy DVD's are used by me for beverage coasters. Luckily this DVD was worthy enough for me to save it.

It was rather ironic in the timing that I got the DVD was within the day that it went public that Jim Cornette & TNA parted ways. If one wrestling promotion or aspiring promotion wants a video resume on Jim Cornette's booking philosophy, than I strongly urge them to get the DVD. I suggest this DVD to every arm chair booker or money mark that promotes shows in order to be a booker.

I don't want to bombard people with Cornette's booking philosophy, since this is my article and I write it to get myself over [Cornette never sent me a Midnight Express book, so he can get himself over on his own time]. I don't believe in the concept of television writers writing wrestling. I don't believe a wrestler?s personality & interviews need to be developed solely by a writer.

I believe any writer/booker/match maker/whatever the new politically correct jargon should be able to manipulate personalities & issues in order to create a story line that is compelling and got a long term direction. Crash & burn story lines create the viewer to get immune to too many issues that they never feel will get resolved or not worth emotionally get invested in to it.

How come I remember Ric Flair, Barry Windham, & The Road Warriors turning on Dusty, but yet I forgot that Cody & Legacy turned on Dusty several weeks ago? The answer was the situation was immediately dropped & did not have a long term direction to it. If Cody doesn't care that Randy Orton RKO's Dusty, than why should I care?

My two questions that I always tell a person when they book is to ask themselves, "Why Are We Doing This? & Where Is This Going?? If you can't answer those questions, than how are you going to map out a compelling program? The reason why popular television shows like 24, Sons Of Anarchy, & soap operas are popular are due to character development, long term story lines, and heels that want you to invest the time to see them get beaten by the hero. Unfortunately constant beat downs, baby faces that get out smarted, and personalities that sound like they are reciting somebody else's lines do not captivate every viewer.

The reason why I think Chris Jericho & CM Punk are the best heels in the business is due to their great promos & personalities. Nobody can say CM Punk being the self righteous-straight edge punk was something that somebody just recently came up with as their own idea. Punk developed the persona, look, and promos for over 7 years. He didn't wait for somebody to hand him a script to tell him to throw alcohol & drug use in people's faces when he initially developed the character in IWA, ROH & MLW.

Chris Jericho being the self righteous heel makes him the best heel in years. He isn't reciting somebody else's lines. His monotone voice allows him to control the people's reactions in his hand and he demonstrates the lost art in developing one's promo skill & material.

It used to be the wrestlers job to develop their own personality that would be used by the booker in order to match them up in to a feud, program, chase for the title, etc. If your promo & personality did not draw money, you would eventually be jobbed out or fired. I don't understand how many current wrestlers on the indys are just waiting for somebody to create them a personality, character, and what to say. I'm sorry, but that's wrong. You can't use a formula or writer to create a Jerry Lawler, Terry Funk, Michael Hayes, or Ric Flair promo. Those wrestlers displayed their personalities at full blast with the volume on loud. The only bullet point anybody should need in a wrestling promo is to tell the viewer the date of the show & make sure you talk people in to buying a ticket or the Pay Per View.

I see too many wrestlers that are mechanically sound in the ring. But they lack personalities and emotion. My advice is for any wrestler to start cutting promos in a mirror or tape themselves with a camcorder. Discover your personality and not wait for a writer to hopefully have an idea for them. Do you think Steve Austin or The Rock waited for a bunch of writers to taken an interest in salvaging their early WWE runs in 1996?

When I listened to Jim Cornette on the DVD, I realized how if no major company could take advantage of Corny's knowledge, booking skills, and knack for helping wrestlers develop their personalities is a travesty. Cornette could be a major asset to any wrestling company in cultivating the strengths & talent of new talent.

I saw OVW from 2001. By booking wrestlers like John Cena, Randy Orton, Dave Batista, and others in long term story lines and giving them promo time allowed them to develop a long range of character development. The end result was that they made WWE millions in merchandise, PPV buy rates, and helped elevate other wrestlers by working with them. Just listening to Jim Cornette explaining about his involvement in OVW is worth the price alone for the DVD.

I?m in total agreement with Cornette that too many wrestlers are being used & quickly discarded, due to the lack of ideas that creative have for them. It?s hard to recruit, train, & develop new talent at a rapid pace. Creative needs to be patient in finding ideas for the talent before bringing them up to the main roster. Once the talent is brought up, creative should have some ideas lined up for the wrestler.

Jim Cornette & Gary Hart on the Guest Booking DVD's have shown the lost magic of booking. I strongly recommend their DVD?s. I give this DVD a thumbs up. Keep an eye out for my www.Kayfabecommentaries.com DVD with myself & Lacey Von Erich with special guests that might be released in this life time. Go annoy Sean Oliver on the release date or better yet annoy him about it at the Terry Funk Roast.

Don't forget to stop by @ www.missyhyatt.net. I have tons of reality videos from my wacky wrestling trips, behind the scenes footage, and my life. The reality videos are uncensored, no retakes, and always crazy. I have tons of new pictures of myself and my models added constantly. I have my exclusive no holds barred articles about wrestling, TV & DVD reviews, old school stories, & more. I have weekly chats for web members where we discuss about WWE, TNA, & more. I also have autographed DVD's, trading cards, books, & more that can be purchased @ www.missyhyatt.net

On October 23, 8:00 PM @ Crowne Plaza Hotel-Monroe, NJ, I will be at the Terry Funk Roast.

On November 14, I will be @ the Baltimore Wrestling Expo FanFest ? Best Western BWI 6755 Dorsey Road, Elkridge, MD. This will sort of be an ECW Reunion with some of the original crew with Shane Douglas, Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney, Raven, myself & others.

I'm available for wrestling bookings & autograph signings @ missyhyatt@live.com

Missy Hyatt
1st. Lady Of Wrestling
Jesse Ventura/Missy Hyatt For President 2012
Straight Edge

Woo!, Woo!, Woo!
www.missyhyatt.net

Tags: Missy Hyatt, Jim Cornette, TNA, Midnight Express, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Jerry Lawler, Michael Hayes, Gary Hart, Shane Douglas, ECW