Jim Cornette's Historical Wrestling Tidbits
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- From Episode 390 of the Jim Cornette Experience
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
Send in your question for the Drive-Thru to: CornyDriveThru@gmail.com
Follow Jim and Brian on Twitter: @TheJimCornette @GreatBrianLast
Join Jim Cornette's College Of Wrestling Knowledge on Patreon to access the archives & more! / cornette
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You can listen to Brian each week on the 6:05 Superpodcast at 605pod.com.
Jim Cornette might as well just teach a course of professional wrestling history at Harvard.
I'd finally go back to college after 15 years
Harvard is Illuminati Liberal 🗑
@@akhenatenamarna484 Please, introduce me to your dealer.
When it comes to wrestling hes the goat probably a doctor
@@akhenatenamarna484
You know this how?
Q told u?
Most football players had jobs in the offseason as the pay for football was so low. Even Jim Brown worked for Pepsi as a marketing rep. This carried over to the 70's when Roger Staubach joined a prestigious real estate firm as a broker when he started out. Thru this he became worth over $600 million. His salary in the early years was about $25,000 even after winning 1971 league MVP.
In fact, KC HOF LB Bobby Bell considered football his side job and continued to work his shift for GM during the season.
Don Fleming had an offseason job as a construction worker when he played for the 1961 Cleveland Browns. He was killed in a construction accident.😔B.W.
As a Graduate of The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis wouldn't Roger Staubach have had to wait five years to begin his NFL Career? Or was the rule in place at the time?🤔🏈🚢B.W.
@@madbrowniac7871 I know Staubach didn’t play for a few seasons after being drafted by Dallas.
I love that my 79 year old father and Jim both refer to it as “Google Machine”.
Haha. My dad was the most antiquated person alive. He refused forever to get a cellphone, then finally got a smart phone. Then when he finally got one he was checking his stocks, the weather, the news, paying his bills.
Cornettes refusal to get with the times is very entertaining haha. He's barely 60, you'd think he's 90 years old. Hey, whatever works for ya
Lol I can relate, my elderly aunt calls text messages emails. Got used to it but at first I just had to check to be sure she meant email or text message lol. She has no tech even today. No tv, no computer, no smartphone, nothing. She has a radio she listens to, she read books, do crosswords and such. She knows how to use a computer cause she used them at work but she just isnt interested in tech lol.
@@madamefeast4824 Corny's got NFTs ahahaha
That's the same term for a lecherous old man!
@@madamefeast4824 Its fantastic 👏 to get apps like banking , Amazon, radio , sports ect . But otherwise while I'm on TH-cam a wee bit more in the pandemic , social media is complete rat 🐀 💀☠ poison
Thanks Jim. I love these historical tidbits. I can’t look up your questions fast enough.
I couldn’t find any good lists on nfl or afl salaries from the 50’s and 60’s but I did find info stating this: in 1970 Terry Bradshaw was the number 1 draft pick, and he had to get a second job selling insurance to make ends meet. Hope that might help.
Best Travis artwork yet, even accurate down to Big Cat and Wahoo’s AFL numbers.
Well Jim Brown On The Height Of His Carreer Made $60,000 In 1965
My Dad was born in Chicagoland in 1943 and grew up watching all that awesome TV and going to shows when he could. Of course I was a hardcore AWA fan growing up.
I was looking up NFL salaries from that time and Brian is right that it is hard to find concrete information. The closest information I could find was that Sammy Baugh-one of the best early quarterbacks- was making $8000 in the mid 40s and he was making almost double of the next highest paid member of his team. Also Joe Schmidt-one of the best defensive players of the 50s was making $12000 in 1956. That leads me to believe that the highest paid player in 1952 couldn’t be making more than $15000.(actually $10000 seems more likely.)
Remember, Pro Football was seen as a second rate sport compared to baseball. College football was also much bigger attraction. The NFL didn't really begin to compare until the 1958 season, with it's legendary sudden death Colts/Giants championship game. The AFL came soon after and by it's by the latter part of the 60s that the money first started getting to get serious.
Robert: Joe Schmidt did all that as a player for The Detroit Lions who were serious business as a team back then. Which is nearly incomprehensible today sadly.🤔😔🦁🏈B.W.
Heck, Dinah Washington had a popular R&B song in honor of Defensive Ace Dick "Night Train" Lane!🤔🦁🎼🎸🎷🏈B.W.
I’d pay Cornett good money just for shows like this.
I think it's worth noting that of course in modern day American sports, basketball, baseball and especially football are the most popular sports.
But back in the 1940s and 50s, it was horse racing, baseball and boxing that dominated American sports. The NFL and NBA were both in their infancy so comparing basketball or football players to wrestlers would be a bit inaccurate.
Did they take the summer off to do the normal carny tours of all the fairgrounds doing traveling carnivals?
And wrestled elephants
Jim's inflation calculator sux. Because this type of cslc uses increases of prices for a select few commodities and ignored capital gains, ie ignores house prices, rents, etc, and also ignored services.
The $34 calc for eg, could've been more the the rent for a whole house in Chicago at the time.
I prefer the new Cadillac system... how many caddys could you get for x amount of dollars. Eg $10 000 in 1970 might get you 5 caddys. How much would you need to earn today to afford 5 Cadillacs?
Jim your off a little in 1952 NFL players did make decent money, but, the injury parameters were different, if you got hurt bad, there was no guaranteed insurance then so you risked alot playing pro football back then.and wrestling then probably did make more because they were paid per show, not annually.
Way to go !!! For the sober guy 🖤🖤
No 30k at most for MLB in 40's. I would imagine! 100k seems High As I Am! Lol ✊🏾👊🏽 ok I thought we were talking averages!
@J Palliser okay q giy,guy, else you got.im speaking on Average!!!??????
The price isn't fair, u had 5 match cards vs entire team budget of course the main event would get nore
And now NFL, NBA and MLB stars make $50 million per year...tell me wrestling hasn't fallen
John Elway became first NFL player to ever make $1 million a year when he signed his first contract with Denver in 1983
Perfect!
That A.W.A. DVD is like the bible of wrestling, that's were I gained a lot of my wrestling history and also the history of the World Heavyweight Champion DVD were wrestling had to be staged because one match would last for hrs with just boring holds.
I love reading about the history of pro wrestling transitioning from a legit fight to a worked match. There isn’t a lot there because nobody wrote it down. They were probably breaking laws in the transition.
The football player-pro wrestler relationship has existed for 100 years. Bronko Nagurski, a collegiate & pro football HOF'er from the early days of the NFL transitioned to wrestling in the 1930's. He played for George Halas (A notorious cheapskate) Bears and realized far more money could be made in wrestling. At some point in the late 30's, I think Bronko beat a young Lou Thesz to become World Champion.
Best as I could find the average NFL player was making around 6 grand a year back in the 50s.
But probably for a 12 week or less season. And "free time" out of season.
5 hour matches????
10 minutes before first fact 😂
Brian isn't a stupid guy, but c'mon. I googled "average NFL salary in 1950" and came up with a TON of results instantly
Football salaries with very much in line with hockey and most hockey players barely broke near 20,000 up until the mid 70s
Then those flipped in for the longest time from the $77 made 2000 football players are making the most now it's basketball players in the US
The big bad for person making 35 to 40 million a year only a few players make over 30 a year
CORNETTE RULES
Hammond Civic Center had a Raw house show a few years ago, but I don't think any major promotion has been to Gary in the last few decades.
I was in Gary recently and could easily see why.
@@CarlosMedina-vj7ot It may look shitty now, thanks to Trump and other speculators, but that just means fewer people to fight over the largest freshwater source in North America with in a couple decades. And the local baseball team wins enough to keep us entertained.
Hello Jim CORNETE! I appreciate you. If Vince offers you wk please take it and make um better. And the same for AEW
Aew already offered him. Why would he go to a place that doesn't listen? As for wwe why go there if Vince is gonna change it?
@@scrappy93 I didn't know AEW offered him a position. Your're %100 right! on everything. Thank you @Scrapoy!
NFL pay off we’re less than 6k in 1950
Corny!!!!!!!!
More of this, less aew pls
Successful baseball team can you get 4 million ticket for the home game
81 home games to get 4 to 4 and a half million tickets sold
Between all the top of my shows in Little House shows they do have WWE mask put on wet 150 200 shows a year only get 1.5 million
Early for once
lol the "atheist" putting himself in the hospital 2 times in a year from drinking lol. get a grip guy
@Youtosux is your brain broken? you know you dont have to comment right?
Waiting on MITB reviews… 😃
It was a surprisingly good show
Rather hear them rip raw apart ..
@@SpaceGhost92 Apart from the women's MITB match with Alexa Bliss's "psychic powers".
Shove it
Wahoo and Ernie Ladd both played in the old AFL, then an upstart rival to the NFL.
"Back than you could get away with so much shit, I'm telling ya" - Jim Cornette
In the 50s, a gentleman from my high school chose medical school instead of the NFL.
I believe it! Pro Football wasn't on the solid financial ground back then compared to what we know today. Plus how many of those players worked regular jobs during the off-season really backs that up!! A doctor would be a better long-term goal than being a pro football player.
John Frank left the Niners after SB23 (1989) to start med school. Go Bucks.
@@colonelrobertsjr.7882 Considering post career issues, it might still be.
This is the current state of affairs happening in india where education was more important than cricket..in last 10 years ,this has bit changed ...
They got paid a pittance back then.
Imagine "Mean" Joe Green as a wrestler in the off season
Imagine him in a shoot fight... God help the other person.
mean joe green vs the cat ernie ladd would have been box office
This is the good stuff. I wish Jim would do more of these shows instead of the indi rant's.
Mickey Mantle's first contract in 1951 was $7500. His last contract in 1963 was for $100,000.
A wrestler from my little home town was in the first match on Wrestling From The Chase. He was at best a mid card guy or even a jobber. When asked in an interview why he went into wresting instead of a position at a Ithaca university he said "I will make more wrestling there than I will teaching here." He wrestled for 8 or so years then became a science teacher and phys ed teacher.
Relistening to this awesome segment because Drive-Thru isn't out yet. I just got home from work and need to unwind.
Best way to unwind brother.
These are my favorite parts of the podcasts.
Amen Brother
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jim Cornette might be the best oral historian in the USA today
Also, as great as the wrestling stories, the story from John from Murphysboro at the end was amazing to hear
Took until 1960’s for guys in baseball to be paid $100,000 (except Teddy and DiM)
In 1958 Jonny Unitas was the highest paid football player 25,000 a year
To my dad he was a god in my time it was bert Jones
Wow Makes Me Wonder How Mickey Mantle Or Even Willie Mays
I must say, this is refreshing instead of the constant exposing of the AEW horror show. Was fun at first but for me personally, I usually skip most AEW related videos now. I stopped watching wrestling like 5 years ago and I stumbled onto this channel maybe a year ago and was hooked at everything about Jim, be it his rants, promos, inside knowledge etc etc. Still wont watch wrestling but seems I stopped watching before the circus fully took over the business. But will still listen to anything else Jim and Brian put out.
Yea but the great think about listening to him rants is it's always going to crack you up and he's always going have some quotable that's good and different even if it's about the same things.
The podcast used to be more like this all the time before AEW came along. The AEW/NXT commentary was fun at first, but it's getting old for me too.
@@skyblaze1134 Agreed! Even though the AEW rants are constant and I don’t watch that crap and sometimes never even heard of who they’re burying but I still listen to all the clips because of the entertaining comments from Jim & Brian. Just hearing Jim sigh before he’s about to vent about something cracks me up every time. Jim sighs then it’s “Oh shit, here he goes…..”.
@@skyblaze1134 I agree, but still can get repetitive since you know hes gonna roast them most of the time and you can only do it so many ways before you start repeating yourself. Like at first when Jim went : "Lazy Booking", the way he said it was funny to me. But now since AEW and WWE are so repetitive themselves with their mistakes, botches, boring storylines that I heard that line so often that it kinda lost its appeal now.
But I gotta admit, I have my favs like every time Jim talks about Jericho I just have to listen cause I used to like Jericho back in the day, where Brian didnt like him, I loved the bits with Kevin Owens. But hearing how he devolved since then, his personal choices and how he goes after Jim, I mean, Jericho was a great promo, doubt he is anymore.
No wonder why they took the summer off in Stl. The humidity is atrocious and the heat is real
Well the median salary in the us in 1952 was $2,300
Damn, I sure wish my cousin Jason had found Better Help. I just found out that he basically drank himself to death. I didn't know him that well, but he is still family and I am still in shock. I hope he has found peace.
Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns was the highest paid player in the NFL, and he won five MVP awards and seven world championships and his salary at his peak was about $25,000 a year.
Ernie Ladd vs Kenny Omega in a pluck them feathers match.
I grew up in Ukrainian Village and now live in the South Burbs. I love Chicago. The history is wide and varying
According to a quick google, the median US income in 1952 was $2300. So the top baseball players earned 40 times the average person.
Gagne having a falling out with the NWA is kind of fitting, in that Gagne was making his name on Chicago wrestling, and NWA was focused in St. Louis. It's like the Chicago-St. Louis sports rivalry bleeding through.
Even though both Chicago and St. Louis had The Football Cardinals in the team's history. And as woeful as the Chicago Cards were they still had Ernie Nevers who set a one game record never likely to be met let alone surpassed. He scored ALL 40 of his team's points in a Chicago Cardinals victory over The Chicago Bears Thanksgiving Day 1929! And in 1947 they captured The NFL Championship with a "Four Horsemanesque" named "Million Dollar Backfield" of Quarterback Paul Christman, Halfback Charley Trippi, Halfback Elmer Angsman, and Fullback Pat Harder, amassing 282 yards as The Cardinals defeated The Philadelphia Eagles 28 to 21. Speaking of The Horsemen, at one time The Cardinal Owner was Ole Haugsrud.😏😂🤔🎤🏈🤼♂️B.W.
It goes even further than that. St. Louis stole the 1904 Olympics from Chicago.
@@madbrowniac7871 for a long time, there were a lot of Football Cardinals fans in Chicago after the team left. More the south side of Chicago, who weren't going to root for the Bears (who they saw as the Cubs fans team), chose to stick with their south side NFL team. I like that principle.
So Bears and Cubs (North Side) and Cardinals and Chisox (South Side)?🤔🎤🏈⚾️🤼♂️B.W.
Verne Gagne was the first guy to hold The United States Heavyweight Championship defended on National TV by various Champs at Chicago's legendary Marigold Arena throughout the late Fifties. Delectably ironic that Verne Gagne rose to fame as a Green Bay native wrestling in Chicago. Compounding the ironies: In 1981 in San Francisco's Cow Palace NWA prime mover Dusty Rhodes (who started his career long ago in The AWA) defended the Championship for the very last time in a showdown with bitter rival Ole Anderson.🤔🎤🐴💎🤼♂️B.W.
Teach your sons how to hit or throw a baseball. Tatis Jr just got payed 340 mil.
Easier said then done. Gotta have the genetics to throw a ball 90 mph
@@SpaceGhost92 you will never find out if you don’t try. Plus there’s all these advanced pitching academies and weighted ball exercises that can add 10 Mph to your fastball. You’ll blow your arm out eventually but still
Really interesting stuff, great history lesson that only Jim has the right combination of knowledge and popularity to give!
Just want to point out, just because less tickets are sold now doesn't mean a company/wrestling is less popular. There's a lot of ancillary and internet-based income now, along with TV deals. TH-cam, website ad revenue, national broadcasters deals, merchandising, touring, etc., all contribute, along with, as Jim has pointed out, the higher ticket prices now (even including inflation).
Still, very intriguing stuff.
I think you're conflating revenue and popularity. They have more forms of revenue now, but with lower TV ratings and less ticket sales it is less popular.
@@NoMercy888 Ah, touche, fair point I'd say.
To Jim's point about football player salaries... I own a business card from the 1960s when Bart Starr was an insurance salesman in the offesason. Bart Starr played in his first NFL Championship in 1960 and won his first championship in 1961.
Enjoyed the history Jim and Brian. This video was insightful. Not only interesting for history but after hearing Jim refer to DiMaggio as “That other fella”. And not knowing Ted Williams, I realize why Jim goes bonkers about the new wrestling. ALL SPORTS, and yes I’m including Professional Wrestling as a sport have changed a great deal since the 50’s. Jim’s just not aware how much the other sports have changed,because he’s not a fan of other sports. I’m not saying you have to like today’s wrestling or any sport today. But they’ve all changed drastically. And if you’re only aware of how one sport you’re passionate about and contributed to has changed,it’s obvious why the difference between 1951 and 2021 bother you so much.
Yea but you also got to put into perspective that the cost of living in 1952 was a lot less too. I mean you could get a house for under $10,000 and a gallon of gas was 20 cents.
Baseball pay started shooting up in the 60s.
Avg football was 6k per season around the 50s.
I do laugh though because Jim has mentioned dudes getting crap pay a week. lol. The avg pay for wrestlers was crap back then.
He's talking about top guys.
@@natebaxter9551 he also mention low end baseball players. Brian brought up top mlb players not Jim. Jim was before that was clearly gonna compare top wrestlers to avg nfl and mlb salaries when he said not the top player and mentioned the bench second baseball.
@Youtosux actually I did mark not my problem you have bad comprehension. Jim was clearly trying to compare top wrestlers with not top players. Brian mentioned the top 2 mlb guys. Even Jim said not the top nfl players.
Marks always taking L's
Great history lesson Jim it would be quite interesting if a documentary or movie was based of your life in wrestling
More of these please
johnny unitas had to have a job in the off season and he was one of the best qbs in the league.
I wonder what happened the Korean war years, just for comparison?
That could be interesting to find out.
I’ve been wanting a throwback Ernie Ladd Jersey.
Chiefs or Chargers?
Go on NFL Shop.
Custom jersey with his name and number.
Like I did with OJ Simpson
@@natebaxter9551 iI’d really love his Oilers one but I don’t think I could get that. So I’d get the Chargers one.
@@waldorfsalad2307 tremendous! 🤣
@@waldorfsalad2307 🤣✊
Yes I am ready for the historical segment Jim I always like those more than hearing about modern crap along with the indie shit show...
I do sometimes enjoy some modern pro wrestling but not much
17:32 Ted Williams or was it that other fella you talked about? Joe DiMaggio? LOL
haha...love corny..."that other guy you were talking about" .... that other guy being Joe DiMaggio. That's a true wrestling fan. Joe-D is "another guy"
I've been meaning to ask: why does Travis Heckel always make Ernie Ladd's skin that color? He is as fair skinned as Jim Cornette is in real life, lol.
Love chicago getting recognition!Bob luce the ultimate carny.p.s.im no prude but nice not every word is a swear word.
As someone who is much more of a football fan than baseball myself, it SHOCKS me that Brian Last doesn't know that Babe Ruth was making at least 80 grand a year in 1930. I've also heard reports that when he signed a new contract with the Yankees in 1921, it was for 100 grand a year but I was unable to confirm that
Little does John from Tennessee know, he may have "scientifically" 😵💫 beat his alcoholism, but his hostility towards God will bring him continued disappointment. And I don't mean that "better than" I just mean that sorrowfully😔
For what it's worth all these years later. Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns received a $10,000 raise and topped out at $50k a year, making him the highest paid player in the league in 1964.
Baseball players not making money had nothing to do with how many people are going to see baseball and everything to do with the owners not paying them enough the owners are making money hand over fist and they weren’t paying the players nearly a high enough percentage. It wasn’t until the 70s that Kurt flood broke the reserve clause and baseball players became free agents and were able to demand what they want to be paid
More than inring style, which in the 40's and 50's was pretty fast paced, the crowds are more diffetent than anything. Every man was in a suit or at a minimum shirt and tie, all the women wore dresses often with a fancy hat. I'd like to see how ticket prices compared to other entertainment of the time. How much were wrestling tickets compared to a baseball game or movie and what did Thesz and Gorgeous George make in comparrison to Bob Hope or Jackie Gleason or Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant.
Joltin’ Joe was asked before he died about the salaries sky rocketing and what he would ask for negotiating a contract today. He replied I’d walk in put my feet on the desk and say hi partner. I always loved that line.
So the top wrestlers of today make 5x what the old timers made. Even the scrubs like Zayn make more than the old timers top guys.
Is there a book, a substantive book (300 plus pages), on the history of the territories?
No. Not ONE book. But Hornbaker's books (Death of the Territories, NWA) are really good. He also has a good history book om Captiol/WWF (Capitol Revolution). Really good historian
Go chargers
Every one gives Billie Jean King credit as the first woman to make 100k in a year but Mildred Burke did it back in the 30s
THE CFL players was paid more than an NFL player a that period of time.
How does Hannibal fit into all of this?
You the man Jim.
❤️🏆🍿
Also now it's all content, the live shows especially for WWE mean nothing. So comparing times makes as little sense as comparing any sports from different eras.
Yessssss , this is why I live .. I mean .. listen , this is why I listen 👂🏽.. I have reasons to life (nervous laughs)
You talk about trivia tidbits let me ask you Jim do you remember Don and Al Green I know you remember Eddie Marlin Tommy Gilbert you remember saw winegrove Carl and Kurt von broner sir Clemens Sputnik Monroe Sweet Daddy watts I can go on about buzz Benson in Paducah cowboy Fraser I remember the diamond ring angle that him and Jerry Lawler played but Lawler took the ring back from him and made plowboy cry on TV and of course they never get away with Sweet Daddy Watts stuttering like he did that would be like a unpolitically correct right now just going on and on about some old stuff that I remember and I you probably remember too I mean I can remember that Roy Welch Nick Lewis when they were the announcers of slickback hair Nick gulis
Crap sorry about all the errors in that this talk text kind of sucks
Bill: The enthusiasm shines through and just the names alone are Pro Wrestling History in and of themselves.🤔🎤🤼♂️B.W.
I watched a GOOD independent wrestling show today. But Cornette's tidbits were still better.
Ladd is gonna pluck them feathers.
I love the great wrestling history stories!!
Minus the stupid plugs 🤦
Well, perhaps you’d like to pay Jim’s bills yourself?
I could listen to jim talk about this kind of thing forever.
Who else is waiting for Jim to review the Money In The Bank PPV?
How do these guys not have a tv show? Put this podcast on tv and joe Rogan's show would have legit competition, and enthusiasm for pro wrestling would probably come back.
They should have wrestling seasons nowadays, to give the workers time to rest injuries, to prevent overexposure, and to gin up excitement for season finales and premieres.
Edit: Wow, some of you guys take this shit _way_ too seriously. You come off like a bunch of marks. Again, I don’t really care enough to argue an offhand comment with a bunch of strangers on the internet, so all I’ll add is this: Professional wrestlers the world over (other than Mexico, who already have one) deserve their own union so they can bargain collectively for fair wages, a healthy work environment _and_ a paid off-season. Because their health and well-being is more important than your personal entertainment and Vince McMahon’s-or any indie promoter’s-bank account.
And so, as they say in Canada, _peace oot!_
So is this for all of wrestling. Do promoters world wide have to stop putting on shows. How will independent workers survive during "off season". How do independent wrestlers improve without performing for paying audiences.
If you just mean the WWE, why are independents exempt. Easier way to prevent injury is to work smarter. Nothing is going to prevent injury in athletics, when you make your living using your body injury is a necessary evil.
@@maceomaceo11 I don’t really care enough to argue with you.
@@lovecraftianleviathan8918
You bring something up then don't want to have a discussion.
GTFOHWTBS
Good stats but you forgot the other top boxers besides the champion that were making more then any wrestlers and should belong in that top 5 list of yours!
The guy saying every therapist he went to used religion. Sorry champ your church run AA meeting doesn't count as seeing a therapist.
Finally the first one....Love ya Jim!!!