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Jim Cornette Details The Anatomy Of The Montreal Screwjob

Posted: Aug 30th 2011 By: CMBurnham

Jim Cornette is a wrestling purist, old-school almost to a fault. So it makes sense that he?d know plenty about finishes, angles, booking wrestlers, and writing television ? all ages-old staples of the wrestling business. But in the latest edition of the shoot DVD series ?Timeline: The History of WWE?, which has gone onsale today at www.kayfabecommentaries.com, he tackles the year 1997 and deals with yet another old-school promoter?s concept:

The screwjob.

Who better to take us to the turbulent year of 1997 than Cornette? As a member of creative, Cornette was smack in the middle of the Bret/Shawn problem, as writers and executives pondered aloud, ?what to do? What to do?? Cornette may have had the best suggestion of all when he told Vince to book Bret with Shamrock instead of Michaels. ?You?ll get the belt back,? he said.

Cornette is in finest form here in this edition of ?Timeline? as both his valuable and delicious personas are tapped into ? both the historical fundamentalist in him as well as the maniacal town crier. Adding to the intrigue, he has brought along his WWE agent journal to the shoot (yes, the actual book he filled with notes, numbers, and information during writing meetings and while on the road) and the most opinionated mouth in the wrestling business paints the Montreal portrait as a gradual buildup between two difficult wrestlers and a boss caught in the middle. The inmates were certainly in charge of the asylum at this time, and that volatile situation was a major contributor to the crisis in November 1997.

The critically acclaimed DVD series produced by Kayfabe Commentaries released the 1997 volume today and Jim Cornette is the guest taking us all back in time to the year that saw great controversy in Bret, Shawn, and Sable; great sadness in a phone call to Brian Pillman?s hotel; and the start of great success as Austin, Taker, and Rocky were beginning their massive pushes. Of course all of this has been spoken about in the wrestling press, but this series boasts credibility above all the other outlets ? the story is being told by someone who was there?and has nothing to lose in telling the truth.

Kayfabe Commentaries President Sean Oliver says this quality alone sets the ?Timeline? series? credibility high above other releases. ?How will you ever get abject honesty about a company from anyone taking a paycheck from them,? Oliver began. ?The releases coming out of Connecticut are very slickly produced, but unfortunately contains the sanitizing of the information presented. This series was created because we will never get the real story of the WWE, warts and all.? Oliver says they don?t only want the dirt, but rather a true picture, the good and the bad.

?We want to capture the glory and the successes, but the failures and horror stories are just as important to the whole story. And our tour guides for the ?Timeline: History of WWE? episodes are the people who were there. No anecdotes, no historians. And most importantly ? no one on the company tit.?

Cornette takes viewers on a 3+ hour journey through 1997 from the perspective of a writer on the WWE Creative staff. Yes, you?ll be at all the tapings. Yes, you?ll be at the writing meeting, wherein Cornette has to restrain himself from reaching across the table and collaring Kevin Dunn. This would lead to a very awkward ?sitdown? at Vince?s dining room table with he and Dunn.

Russo you ask? Of course. Cornette details the exact moment Russo opened his mouth and was granted power by Vince McMahon. It?s classic Cornette, classic WWE.

The DVD went onsale today at www.KayfabeCommentaries.com and www.ShootInterviews.com.