Jim Cornette has responded to Jim Ross’ tale of WCW being forced to cancel an event due to forgetting the ring, with a story of his own. The legendary manager took to social media to recall a time in which the company were forced to close their doors and send fans away, due to the arena having no seats.
Both Jim Cornette and Jim Ross are synonymous with professional wrestling. Perhaps best known for their time with WWF/E, the two icons have each made their way through many legendary companies and territories respectively. It would be more than fair to say that both Cornette and Ross have seen some wrestlings most famous, and perhaps infamous moments live and in person.
During a recent episode of ‘Grilling JR’, Jim Ross would recall a time in which WCW forgot to send a ring to a live event:
“It was embarrassing as hell. But that again shows the lack of organisation and communication. It’s funny how we come back to that quite often when talking about WCW. Communication there was not good. Obviously, it’s embarrassing. So yeah, I can remember that happening and I couldn’t even believe it, ‘aw bullsh*t, come on’. No, there’s no ring and no show.
I don’t know how many people were in Rockhill that night but everybody had to go home. It’s disappointing, it hurts the town. It hurts the brand. It affected all of us that worked there however many that worked there, they just didn’t give a sh*t if it didn’t affect their area directly. If I was booking that I’d be embarrassed as hell, it’s just terrible.”
Taking to Twitter Jim Cornette, who acted as a booker for WCW’s creative team during the companies formative years, would retweet Inside The Ropes’ article on the ring blunder with a story of his own:
An even better story from the same time period in WCW–they booked Center Stage for a TV taping, we all got there and found out the building was being renovated and there were NO SEATS in the arena, and fans would have to sit on bare concrete ledges. They cancelled it. https://t.co/AO9l1rD77W
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) May 12, 2021
Center Stage is a venue in Atlanta, GA that was often used by WCW for taped shows and live events in the early 90’s, particularly ‘WCW Saturday Night’. The smaller, television studio feel of the building is a far cry from the arenas and domes the company would sell out during their peak popularity, during the infamous ‘Monday Night Wars’. The venue remains open today, and has hosted NXT a number of times.
Though remembered as one of the most dominant companies in professional wrestling history, WCW is also fondly remembered for some of its more infamous moments during its lifetime. From aforementioned blunders such as missing rings and lack of seats to the infamous ‘Finger poke of Doom’ and, perhaps most memorable of all, the debut of The Shockmaster at WCW’s Clash of Champions XXIV.