While WWE’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view took place in Detroit this Sunday, it seems like the real hell took place out on the concourse of a Detroit convention center the day prior. Local independent wrestling company XICW was hosting a live event and convention at Cobo Hall in which the top two billed guests were Jim Cornette and Santino Marella.
To anyone who knows their pro-graps drama, this should’ve been a huge red flag, as Cornette and Marella have bad blood dating back to 2005 in OVW, when the Boogeyman debuted and Marella was caught on-camera laughing at his character (seen at the end of this video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvxrALnnsoM
In response, Cornette got in Marella’s face backstage, eventually slapping him, which resulted in WWE firing him. Since then, each man has had less-than-pleasant things to say about one another through a variety of shoot interviews. So yeah, these two guys are not fans of each other. And when they ran into one another in the hallway of Cobo Hall, things got pretty heated.
Facebook user Shaun Sisk recorded the confrontation between the two former WWE employees. In the first video, you can see Marella (carrying a shoulder bag and a coffee) and Cornette (dressed in track pants and a T-shirt with his face on it, because of course) get face to face, and while it’s tough to make out what Marella is saying, Cornette’s voice is plain as day.
Some of Cornette’s many vitriolic remarks include “I’ve never had respect for you to begin with,” “I ain’t gonna fight with you, get the fuck out of my way,” “You’re a goddamn joke. You became a joke,” and “Hey, look at this guy, he’s trying to start a fight with me and I’m trying to walk away from you. Motherfucker, I don’t have a goddamn thing to say to you.”
In a follow-up video, also shot by Sisk, Cornette continues to lob insults at Marella as venue security separates the two. Cornette is then ejected from the building by security, as he pleads his case: “He came up to me, I was ignoring him… He can go fuck himself.”
At the end of the second video, someone who appears to be the promoter starts talking to security, saying, “Is Cobo going to reimburse me for the money I had to pay this fuckin’ guy? I need him here. I paid him money to be here. He cannot leave. I don’t give a fuck about what any of you people say.” Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t get security to change their minds, as shortly thereafter, Cornette was no longer on the property. However, he claims via Twitter that he chose to leave on his own:
Sorry to anyone I missed at Cobo, some comedy midget wanted me to slap him AGAIN so he could sue since he's unemployed. Walked out instead. https://t.co/ezgCj7mqLV
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) October 7, 2017
HA! Moron, I was being thrown IN–going back to get my stuff they wouldn't let me in room w/Midget w/out escort. I left–they took him out. https://t.co/Zm5xZrXLkM
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) October 9, 2017
As of right now, Marella has not responded — maybe because he’s too busy celebrating his recent bronze-medal win in a judo tournament.
