Evolution Schematic 08.01.07: Steve Corino (Part 2)

Writer’s Notes

My apologies for last week. I guess I’m taking my Ron worship too far, but then, since I’m the equivalent of The Undertaker nowadays on here (long term, gimmicky, only works in it’s own internal logic, respected and hated, and somewhat popular, apparently) I suppose I’m allowed to be spotty. But I shouldn’t really. After all, I’m not going to make Street Boss any time soon if I don’t gain back my consistency. And I don’t even know what the difference between Solider and Street Boss is, beyond that fact that it’s above me and therefore I WANT IT.

You’ll be seeing the Notes a bit more often in my column nowadays since in order to not have my wonderful Meehan Header (TM, C, R, EEE) cover the ads to my right which you should be clicking on occasionally, I have to make sure this section is long enough to fill the space, you dig? I mean sure, I could shrink the thing down to fit, but that’s both thoughtful and requires some artistic talent, of which I have 0 Squared. Writing I’m fine (as you can tell), but drawing…nope.

And I apologize to Bayani for my inadvertently racially insensitive question, although he knows I didn’t mean it in any negative way… Although I’ve just sent the forums back into “msiq42 is racist OMGLOL111! Racist Data and Such” mode, despite my winning them back with Mr. Smiley’s ES. Sigh.

That should be enough…

Regardless, we left off two weeks ago here with The King Of Old School and holder of many other assorted nicknames losing to women on a regular basis in ECW, and about to bring in a Rookie Monster.

Let’s get this done right.

Phase 4- R is for Rookie, that’s good enough for me, R is for Rhino, that’s good enough for me, R is for Roughshod, that’s good enough for me, oh Roughshod Rookie Rhino starts with R.

That’s much funnier if you do the Cookie Monster Voice. Try it out, I promise I won’t laugh.

Much.

Anyway, as 1999 was beginning to wind down, Steve Corino was at his wits ends. He and Jack Victory were failing to make the real, intense impact he had to to start the revolution that would change ECW for the ‘better’. So, he scoured the Indy feds that had spawn him, and found a young, hungry powerhouse brute like kid, Rhino Richards. He got to the kid, filling his mind with gold, glory and such, and after shortening his name, Rhino was unleashed onto the ECW battlefield like a small but powerful nuclear bomb. Corino’s Rookie Monster would, despite not winning any titles, still make a powerful impact under Corino’s leadership. The duo tried and failed to rip the ECW Tag Team Titles from the bizarre teaming of Tommy Dreamer and Raven at Anarchy Rulz 99, but Rhino was doing well for himself, under Corino’s leadership.

But then Cyrus The Virus came calling, and Corino saw the perfect way to further his agenda.

Phase 5- The Network Is Not Happy!

He joined The Network, as did Victory and Rhino. The Network was the group of wrestlers the Network wanted highlighted, the wrestlers the Network wanted as champions, the guys TNN wanted front and center. Corino at first took a back seat, focusing on helping Rhino and also Tajiri, guiding them, managing them and helping Cyrus’ goals come to fruition, since they were the same as his, mostly getting rid of the extreme, overly-edgy side of ECW, and getting it back to high rating grabbing wrestling.

So Corino mostly managed, although on one memorable night after ECW’s show finished he crashed a Limp Bizkit concert, since he wasn’t a fan of their stuff either, and got into a confrontation with Fred Durst. But a couple weeks after that, Corino’s career took another big step forward.

Phase 5b- Corino vs. Rhodes: Old School vs. Well, I guess… Old School

Dusty Rhodes had appeared on the scene, an odd fit in the ECW world, but since WCW had kicked him out (for joining the nWo in a bizarre turn of events) and WWF wasn’t interested, a job was a job. He immediately gave the company a sense of tradition and respect it had been lacking, ever since the company was founded on spitting on said tradition. Rhodes took it upon himself to act as a father figure of sorts, to look out for the younger guys coming up.

Of course, Corino didn’t see it that way, seeing it as an affront that a guy who should be on his side, should support his cause to bring ECW back, a guy who should be helping him destroy Hardcore Wrestling, support and mentor and generally be nice to said Hardcore Wrestlers, to him it was Rhodes turning his back on everything he stood for and had done in his time in the industry.

But oddly for Corino, he didn’t stooge his anger off onto someone else, he didn’t use Rhino or Tajiri to attack Rhodes. Instead, at the Guilty As Charged PPV on January 9th, 2000, Corino took the initiative after a few debates/arguments with Rhodes during interviews. On the night, there was a ‘Dream Partner’ match where Corino chose Super Crazy to team with his client Tajiri to fight Paul Heyman’s team of Little Guido and Jerry Lynn, as part of the ongoing Heyman V Network wars. Tajiri pinned Lynn, then Corino, Victory and Rhino hit the ring to further the beat down on Lynn. (And thus proving Animal Instinct, a.k.a Rhyno and Tajiri did not form a brand new team in WWE). While they were doing this, Corino got on the mic and called out Rhodes.

Rhodes obliged, and took out all the Network members with Elbows until Rhino took him down. The next week a similar thing happened on TNN, Corino and his buddies cost Dreamer a match, Rhodes came out, cleared house, got taken down by Rhino, and this time Sandman took Rhino out. A week later, Corino tricked Dreamer by getting him a tag partner that was in Corino’s back pocket, Josh Wilcox, he turned on Dreamer mid-match, and Corino and Rhino won, and then called Rhodes out and again got beat down by Rhodes he then took Wilcox out. The next week a tag match was signed, Corino/Rhino vs. Dreamer/Rhodes. Rhodes and Corino’s time in the ring was short and uneventful, Corino having called for Rhodes to get in, and when he finally did…he locked on a headlock.

Well he is old school.

This then lead (after Corino took some time out to attack Erik Watts and a ref) to Corino and Rhodes having a match at the next ECW PPV, Living Dangerously, but not just any match, a Bull rope match. And unlike the match at the GAB recently, this one was brutal and memorable and Dusty won, for the ref Corino had attacked somehow magically drew this match to ref, and at a crucial moment he taped a second cowbell to Corino’s head, then Rhodes smacked it with a chair.

This is, in the business, what we call ‘Really Painful’.

But this feud, despite turning out badly on the face of it for Corino, got him some much needed exposure, raised his stock with other wrestlers since he took Dusty to the limit and needed a hell of a move to finish him off, and finally and most importantly showed to himself an important fact.

He could bleed buckets and still fight with no ill effects.

Phase 6- Steve Corino, Actually Respected Wrestler/Manager

Corino would eventually defeat Dusty a few weeks later, as well as win a bull rope match against Kid Kash, but while it did help, he didn’t need it, ironically, as his rep had already been made. He continued to work for the Network and fight against Hardcore wrestling, wrestling in a few of 6 man tag matches with Victory and Tajiri against Dreamer, Sandman and New Jack.

And then Tajiri turned his back on The Network and Corino, so Corino began wrestling in tag matches with Rhino against Tajiri and mostly Sandman. The two had a match at Hardcore Heaven that Corino would end up losing, both the match and a large quantity of blood.

He continued to wrestle for ECW, slowly working his way up the card, working the occasional singles match as he wrestled in mostly tag matches with Rhino, Victory and/or new recruit Scotty Anton. His last major match as part of the Network as a loss to Jerry Lynn at Heat Wave in July.

This finally made Corino snap, as he was sick and tired of losing and thus not being able to destroy hardcore wrestling, as was his plan. And so, on August the 4th, Steve Corino cut ties with the Network. Although he did it in such a way as to not piss them off, or rather, did it in such a way that the fans still hated his guts.

Phase 7- The Rise

Corino still had Victory on his side, and immediately rose up the ranks, wrestling in a few matches with ECW World Champ Justin Credible and Top Contender Jerry Lynn. He tended to be the one pinned second, thus proving his worth, even if he lost to Credible.

So, his stock still rose and thus at Anarchy Rulz, he had a #1 contender’s match against future tag partner C.W Anderson. And with an Old School Expulsion, Corino was the #1 Contender to the ECW World Title.

Corino seemed to have a date with destiny, and a match with Jerry Lynn after Lynn won the World title later in the same night Corino won his #1 Contender status. But Credible had his rematch clause, and The Sandman was sniffing around, what with his many ECW World Title Reigns in the books and so on. Since all 3 challengers had a fairly strong case (Corino’s improved by taking on Dawn Marie to stick it to Credible), an ECW Invention was pulled out, the Double Jeopardy Match. In it, 2 matches would be going on at the same time in the same ring, in this case Lynn vs. Credible (thus granting him his rematch) and Sandman vs. Corino (to settle the #1 contender). The winners of the two matches would then immediately fight for the title, with the losers acting as lumberjacks.

So Corino had a tough road ahead of him. But he put his head down and worked his ass off, pinning Sandman with his own White Russian Leg Sweep as Credible pinned Lynn, then fought through tables, superkicks, Francine’s interference, Dawn’s attempt to turn on him, plenty of cane shots and eventually nailed Credible with the superkick to get the 123 and win the ECW World Title, despite Credible’s incredulous attitude.

Phase 8- The Reign

Corino then proved that he deserved the belt, retaining the belt with wins over Lynn, Sandman, Anderson, then at the last ECW PPV of the yeah, Massacre on 34th Street in a three way dance over Credible and Lynn, Credible pinning Lynn then Corino pinning Credible. Although Sandman then stole the belt.

So, naturally, Corino then went after Sandman as 2001 began, getting a shot at Sandman and, alas, Justin Credible at Guilty As Charged 01, in a Three-Way Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Canes match. He looked forward to it, as it would take his mind off Francine rejecting his marriage proposal (after he had courted her for a few months, mostly as some people suspected to get into Credible’s head) and Missy Hyatt’s clueless asking if they had had sex or not.

It’s ECW, don’t ask.

But alas, his reign came to an end that night when an unknown hand raised the belt up out of the reach of both he and Credible, and thus allowing Sandman to come back and win the belt (and then get immediately destroyed and pinned by Rhino).

But as the PPV closed, Corino and Credible decided to form a new team, The New Impact Players, and take over ECW.

Phase 9- The New Impact Players

ECW then died, and thus the New Impact Players disbanded without having a single match.

Phase 10- Back to the Indys.

Corino once again began wrestling for many smaller companies as WWF and/or he chose not to come to an agreement. His dates tended to fall into three main camps, NWA Companies and other assorted minor leagues, Japan, and Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, Dusty Rhodes’ company. His NWA dates were sporadic and fairly random, with no real rhyme or reason, he turned up, he wrestled, he won, he got paid, he left. As 2001 wound down, he started touring Japan with Zero-One wrestling. But in TCW, he once again began to attack and feud with Dusty Rhodes, as well as this time around Dustin Rhodes. He also formed another stable…

Phase 10b- The Xtreme Horsemen

In his feuding and fighting with the Rhodes, he formed the X Horsemen to mock and insult the Rhodes, his partners ‘The Enforcer’ CW Anderson and Barry Windham. The trio would fight with the Rhodes on practically every show, fighting all around the Georgia area.

After a brief flirtation with retirement, he instead decided to start touring Japan more often, the X Horsemen eventually dying with the TCW company, although those Horsemen would ride again.

But in mid 2002, Corino took on a new role, apart from his reign as the Indy God.

Phase 11- Steve Corino, Color Commentator?

As this upstart little company called Ring Of Honor began, Corino did color commentating for them, while still wrestling in Japan and America, although the Zero One tours were getting more and more numerous. Then TNA started up, and so he started working for them as well.

Phase 12- The Juggling Act

Corino was, for a man not in the ‘big leagues’, very busy in 2002.

He was involved with TNA’s upstart, wrestling on their early shows with admittedly little success.

He had reformed the Xtreme Horsemen in MLW, Court Bauer’s company, this time with both CW Anderson and Barry Windham back (although Barry’s appearances were slightly erratic), but also Justin Credible and Simon Diamond AND JJ Dillon as their manager.

He was touring with Zero One in Japan more and more.

AND, on top of all this, he was starting to wrestle in ROH, forming ‘The Group’ (not the most original name, but with a group like Simply Luscious, Michael Shane, CW Anderson & Samoa Joe you don’t need clever names) and on one occasion starting a riot with the fans at one show on February 9th, 2003 after defeating Homicide, his main rival in ROH.

He was tossing all these balls around. It was inevitable it would all come crashing down, and it did.

He tried pulling back, he cut his TNA commitments, but after Homicide busted his eardrum and he lost his hearing in his left side, things had to change. Luckily, MLW folded, and thus that saved him some time, and he could focus on ROH and Japan with the occasional indy date.

Corino was a strong name in ROH for many months, giving the young company a connection to, well, the old school, a sense of tradition that it wouldn’t otherwise have had. He still had his healthy dislike of hardcore wrestling, although this was not as pronounced as before, as he was fighting with the best ROH had and often coming out on top, but then left the company in late 03 for a while to rest slightly and focus on his Japan commitments.

He eventually came back to ROH and in an odd twist came back to save CM Punk from a beat down, Punk a man Corino had fought a few times when he left. He was an unofficial member of the Second City Saints, he was fighting with Generation Next, and then he got into a disagreement with ROH’s front office and quit in March 2005.

A few months later…

Phase 13- Corino, AWA World Champ

Corino became AWA World Champ, beating Takao Omori in a rematch of the tournament final to award the vacant title earlier in the year. Corino defended the title all around the world, although mostly in Japan and America. He held a few other titles as well, still working hard throughout 2005 and 2006, eventually coming back for short runs with ROH as he did, occasionally teaming with CW Anderson and Jack Victory, also touring Australia with the AWF, where he resorted to getting rid of some paperwork to void his loss of the AWA Title to AWF Champion TNT.

Today- End Of The Road 1 Tour

Today, in 2007, Corino is making his ‘last’ appearances. He has decided to retire at the end of the year. It’s hard to blame him, what with his hectic schedule and the lack of a major company supporting him, plus his son is growing up, and has already made a few appearances at wrestling shows, so it’s easy to see why, despite his young age, he is considering hanging up the boots. After all, every King eventually vacates the throne for their offspring…

Conclusion

Steve Corino’s career has been wildly successful and wildly unsuccessful, depending on your viewpoint.

He’s held so many titles even he is at risk of losing count.

Yet he’s never held a truly globally respected belt at a time the belt was recognized by a truly global company (arguably).

He’s had lots of wins.

He’s lost to women.

He’s come through with few injuries.

He’s never broken through to the main stream.

He’s fought some of the greats.

He’s not remembered as one by the vast majority of fans.

He’s made a comfortable living…

Out of running around like mad.

He’s fought to uphold the old school traditions…

By fighting in hardcore blood filled brawls.

But above all, regardless of if you think he’s done well or badly, however you judge his accomplishments, one thing remains true.

He’s done it on his terms, and his terms alone. And that’s very, VERY rare in this industry.