“So far Bobby is out of the hospital,” Cornette said. “He is going to be out for a couple of weeks and then they are going to be putting a pacemaker in to try to regulate his heartbeat. He hasn’t been having heart attacks, but he has a combination irregular heartbeat and that congestive heart failure where fluid builds up because he is diabetic. Being a single guy who doesn’t take care of himself and takes medicine regularly like he should, and I’m not trying to browbeat him in print, but he is definitely planning on making it.

“Dennis will be there. Stan wanted to be there. Stan, for the past 8-10 years, has been doing powerboat racing commentary and producing the television for the American Powerboat racing people. Their annual biggest race is always the first weekend of every August. That’s why he hasn’t been at the Fan Fest every year. He tells Greg [Price] (Fanfest organizer) it’s the one weekend he can’t do anything. He is going to be sending in a video.”

Cornette takes great pride in his incoming induction into the Hall of Heroes and ranks it high among his accomplishments over his stellar career.

“Something like that, at least to me, means more than the WWE Hall of Fame,” Cornette said. “This isn’t about who Vince [McMahon] likes this year or who’s dead, and he wants to honor because they are in his hometown or selling a DVD on them. Much like the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in Amsterdam, [New York] I got voted in. People vote and/or it’s from fans that generally enjoyed your performances and enjoyed seeing you and want to honor you. This is rather than just a marketing thing.

“So it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be my first wrestling-related appearance since last November and the only one I’m doing this year. It’s like having a taste when you’re on a diet. I’m going to have a cheat day that weekend...”

A highlight of the Fanfest in the past and this year is Cornette’s “Unplugged and Uncensored”. There is nothing ‘PG’ about the very opinionated performer’s session. Nothing is off limits.

“That’s a mainstay and staple when I’m there,” Cornette said. “Greg said we are going to start it early and cut it off for the benefit for folks who are a little older…I usually don’t prepare anything. So if the crowd is boring and sucks, then the whole experience is boring and sucks. So if we got a good crowd and they got some good things to talk about, then I’ll talk about it with them.

“I’m sure I will have a few amusing anecdotes about when I tried to get out of wrestling for my mental and physical health and sanity. That’s the biggest project I’ve been working on all year over the winter and spring. I have been organizing my wrestling collection and comic collection and magazine collection and movie poster collection and horror movie collection.”

Cornette was last seen working for Ring of Honor. His experiences toward the end of his run there coupled with a series of other events influenced his decision to bow out of wrestling.

“After Jerry Lawler basically died of a heart attack on live television and the weekend I was going to do my last TV taping for Ring of Honor is when Brad Armstrong passed away in his sleep younger than me,” Cornette said. “That day or so I was in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, and you know where that is? Exactly, that is my point. Nobody in the $%^&*&, even the people that live there, know where that is.”