Al Snow Discusses Likelihood Of AEW Signing Jim Cornette
Pro wrestling veteran, Al Snow, was the guest on a recent episode of James Tunstall's That 90's Wrestling Podcast. During the interview, Al was asked whether or not it would be wise to bring Jim Cornette into AEW and capitalize on his heat with pro wrestling fans.
Al believes this could benefit AEW, but more importantly, he focuses on the bigger picture. He questions if hiring Cornette would be good for the casual fans that don't know much about pro wrestling's past.
"You've got to understand that as a wrestling company, think of it like this: running a wrestling company is same as making a comic book movie," Al said. "Why do I say that? Because you're making a product that has a fan base that already knows the character and knows their strengths, their weaknesses, knows their wants, their needs, their hopes, their dreams, their desires. They know all of the story.
"But there's an even broader, bigger audience that doesn't know any of that because they don't read comic books. Right? So do we just make a comic book movie that only appeals to the comic book fans? Do we spend millions, literally millions of dollars producing this movie?" Al asked. "Or do we try our best to make one that now bridges the gap and then appeals to both sections so that we can have a successful product? You know, we can make a profit and make it as profitable as possible.
"The idea is great, but how many people in that broader audience knows that Jim Cornette is so hated by this fan base? And would it serve to that broader audience? And is there a way to bring Jim Cornette in to where now you can educate that broader audience once he arrives to it? Now they join in that hate of Jim Cornette as well. Or are you now just simply pandering to that small portion of the audience?"
Al went on to reiterate his point that approaching pro wrestling storylines like a comic book movie is wise. In that belief, he's not certain if a character like Jim Cornette would be a good addition to AEW.
"They did the same thing in ECW at one point, you know, with Cornette coming in there. It was short lived," Al explained. "I mean, it was a very short run. But, you know, for that small percentage of the audience, that was awesome. And I'm sure there's a way that you could have Jim come in and be an on-air character. And again, much like what they do with comic book movies, if they bridge that gap to where an audience that's never read a comic book, or never read that particular comic book about that particular character, can come in, sit down, and get engrossed in the movie, and care enough to think, my god, that was a really good film and I got my money's worth for paying to see it."