WWE News: Jim Cornette's hilarious account of the Gimmick Battle Royal

What's the story

WrestleMania X-7 featured a rather unusual match that boasted of several names from pro wrestling's past. The Gimmick Battle Royal was a nice addition to the card scheduled between a TLC match and The Undertaker vs Triple H. But as Jim Cornette recently discussed on Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru, The Gimmick Battle Royal was more fun to watch than to participate in.

In case you didn't know

Jim Cornette spent a good amount of time in WWE managing plenty of notable heels. After he left the company, Cornette spent some time in OVW where he was influential in shaping the early careers of WWE Superstars like Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, John Cena and more.

WrestleMania X-7 rolled around while Jim Cornette was in OVW. At the time, he was in Houston, Texas for his meetings and used his proximity to the event as a way to get on the show.

The heart of the matter

JWhen asked about The Gimmick Battle Royal on Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru, he explained he didn't have any plans of being in the Gimmick Battle Royal until it came up in conversation with Bruce Prichard.

Corney explained how he had initially called Prichard in order to talk about some Talent Relations business as Prichard was over that department at the time. Bruce told Cornette about the Gimmick Battle Royal and mentioned he was taking part in it as Brother Love.

Cornette offered to be in the Gimmick Battle Royal as well and just keep himself in the corner with Prichard as a means of staying safe during the match. Thanks to Still Real To Us for the transcription.

"I talked to Bruce and he told me about the Gimmick Battle Royal he said Brother Love was gonna be in it. I said, 'well ya oughta put me in it and we'll go over in the corner and keep ourselves busy so nobody will potato us. He says, 'you wanna be in it?' -- I said, 'well does it pay? -- Yes? Okay, I'm gonna be there anyway.' That's how hard it was for me to get booked to wrestle at WrestleMania."

But as it turns out the joke was on Prichard and Cornette. The two found a corner to hide in and that was about as far as it went according to plan. Because when Cornette hit Prichard with his tennis racquet, Brother Love folded over and smashed Cornette in the lip.

Then Cornette accidentally stomped on Bruce Prichard's toes while selling another shot. It turned out heir plan to leave the Gimmick Battle Royal unscathed went the opposite direction for the two.

"So as a rib [Bruce and I] basically beat each other up in the corner and hurt each other and we're all marked up and everything and nobody else hurt us. So it was a rib on ourselves."

What's next

WrestleMania hasn't seen another Gimmick Battle Royal since and they're about due. It might be interesting to see what names they could bring in for another instalment if they decided to bring back this concept.

Of course with the annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is already taking up a slot on WrestleMania's card they might not have room for another over-the-top-rope match.

Author's take

I remember watching this event live and finding it hilarious how the entrances were twice as long as the match itself. It was also incredibly cool to have Bobby Heenan and Mean Gene Okerlund on commentary.

But as I watch it years later the Gimmick Battle Royal provides a snapshot of professional wrestling as it continued to evolve but never found itself too big to acknowledge the past.