Jim Cornette has stepped away from Ring of Honor for what it being termed as a "sabbatical" within the company. This actually went down a few weeks ago following the final TV taping of the year in Pittsburgh, but since there were no shows scheduled until the 12/16 Final Battle iPPV, no one was completely sure.
ROH officials noted earlier today that Cornette was taking a break from wrestling and there was no time table for him to return to his duties as Executive Producer of the ROH TV series. While there have been rumors for several weeks that he was done with the company, there has been absolutely no official indication that is the case from ROH management.
The Cornette issues, believed to have been fueled partially by his frustration with how he was being viewed by fans for the ROH product, manifested themselves at the Pittsburgh tapings as Cornette was said to have gone on a number of loud rants backstage over the course of the taping.
The rants were said to have ranged from Cornette being unhappy that fans might be able to see inside the building during pre-show production run-throughs to an angle with "security" not going right. It finally culminated with a huge rant after Steve Corino was injured, as Cornette, at the end of his rope, was loudly screaming about Corino having to go to the hospital and not having anyone from ROH ownership around to "pay for it" or go with Corino to the hospital.
Cornette's final rant reportedly included claims of threatening bodily harm on some members of ROH management (who were not present) as he was angry they had already left the venue when the injury happened. Cornette reportedly told one person to repeat what he had said to ROH ownership. The incident was described to me by one wrestler as the usual Cornette "flip out over something going wrong times 50. He was beyond pissed off, even for Jimmy."
Word did get back to ROH management almost immediately. Cornette spoke with management (I believe Joe Koff) several days later and both sides agreed that Cornette needed a break. The company had been trying to keep that quiet as they didn't want any negative fallout.
The reality is that Cornette losing it the way he did wouldn't have been all that unusual in the era he broke into the business under the likes of Ole Anderson, Jerry Jarrett and Bill Watts. Most likely, he was simply blowing off his frustrations in a colorful fashion and would have been fine afterward, but in 2012, it's just not acceptable behavior, even in the world of pro wrestling.
While both sides left everything on good terms, the word today was that Cornette had not communicated with much of anyone in recent weeks. A call to Cornette's home today by PWInsider.com led to an answering machine message that stated his voicemail was full.
The Pittsburgh taping was the first one under Hunter "Delirious" Johnston following he and Cornette switching places in the creative hierarchy. Cornette, who was already written out of ROH storylines, was still taking an active management role at the tapings, although the scripts and the show were 100% booked by Johnston.
It should be noted that despite the Cornette incident, several ROH wrestlers considered locker room morale to be up overall after the TV taping and were happy with the new direction the company was moving towards. There are a lot of wrestlers looking forward to the PPV in NYC.
