Jim Cornette reveals that his plan for Chris Jericho and Lance Storm in Smoky Mountain Wrestling was to send them to the WWE years before either man would debut.
In 1994, Chris Jericho and Lance Storm debuted in America as The Thrillseekers tag team in Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling territory. Their match with Dr. Tom Prichard and Jimmy Del Ray, The Heavenly Bodies at the 1994 Night of Legends event is one of the most talked-about matches in the short history of SMW.
On his Drive-Thru Podcast, Jim Cornette reveals that Chris Jericho breaking his arm and preparation for this match halted plans Jim had to debut the future breakout stars in WWE during the rise of the Monday Night War.
“If Chris Jericho had not broken his arm before this match, The Thrillseekers would have stayed as a team in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. We had a relationship with Vince McMahon and the WWF. The very next year after this happened, this is August 94, in 1995, they had already taken The Heavenly Bodies, that’s why they sent me Well Dunn,” Cornette recalled. “In 95, They would get Chris Candido, they’d get Tammy Sytch, they’d get Al Snow. They’d get Glenn Jacobs, [WWE] had Brian Lee for a second. Shortly after we closed down, they’d get The Headbangers, The Harris Boys, they got some time in 1995 as well. The point is, I was pointing all of our talent to the WWF and in 1994, nobody wanted to go to WCW. It was a fucking train wreck. It was a disaster area. Pretty much, chances are if Chris had not gotten hurt, they would have gone straight to the WWF, both of them, probably as a team in 1995/1996, and then, wrestling history would have changed quite considerably. Maybe now [Chris Jericho is] not as upset he broke his arm.”
Of course, both men would go to WWE and find major success. Chris Jericho debuted in 1999 and Storm debuted following the purchase of WCW in 2001.
Should you use any portion of the quotes above, transcription credit should go to Robert DeFelice for WrestleZone.
