Jim Cornette is an American wrestling writer, promoter, manager and producer best known for his stints in the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action. In 1982 Cornette was collaborating with many wrestling magazines by writing articles and providing them with photos, most of all he worked for the Championship Wrestling Magazine. In August, he traveled to Memphis to watch a match between Jerry Lawler and Ric Flair.

At the end of the show, he was offered the manager position by promoter Jerry Jarrett. Prior to his inception as manager, Cornette decided to adopt the ring name James E. Cornette in homage to legendary wrestling promoter James E. Barnett. Cornette made her debut on September 25, 1982, managing Sherri Martel. Journalist Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated wrote in 2019 that Cornette remains one of the most controversial personalities in the world of wrestling, even if his ideas are based on more than forty years of experience in the business.

Calling himself a purist, Cornette has often criticized other ways of understanding wrestling different from his own, such as the hardcore style of Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling, which he dismissed as hardcore bullshit. Furthermore, he has never spared criticism of the physical appearance of some wrestlers; for example by mocking the short height of Marko Stunt or the weight of Kevin Owens and Joey Janela.

Cornette received the support and sympathy of some personalities in the wrestling world, such as NWA Champion Nick Aldis, who wrote an article for Flagged Sports defending Cornette and his views as an NWA commentator, when requests came to the federation leadership to fire him for his controversial claims.