Birthdate: 10/26/1978 (age 36) Height: 6'2" Weight: 218 Ib He was titled in the WWE as "the longest-reigni... Jim Ross spoke with The Mirror promoting the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 show. Check out the highlights:
On Jeff Jarrett contacting him to work GFW: “Jeff made the inroads, he and my business manager worked out the deal, it was a win-win for both of us, so I said ‘I’m in.’ I’m excited about it. I’ve been in this business for 40 years, so when you get a chance to do something new after being around that long, it’s pretty motivating. I look at this as a new adventure, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
On if he’ll do more shows: “I don’t know if I’ll do any more, I don’t know that I want to do any more. If there’s anything after that it’ll be a bonus. But I’m going to do this show, I’m preparing to do this show, like it’s my last major pay-per-view lead play-by-play.”
On his preparation for the show: “I’m not going to phone anything in. I’m going to be prepared. It may not be as smooth as with the WWE guys, because a lot of those guys, in one period in time, I hired, so obviously I knew them well. These are guys I’ve never watched wrestle in person ever. I’m going to let my instincts take over. I think it has the chance to be a good broadcast. People say, ‘Do you know what’s going to happen in the matches?’ Well, yeah, generally, but the less I know the better my performance is.”
On his WWE departure: “I had 21 years there – it wasn’t like I had a brief little run and everything was over. I had a great run in WWE, I went into the Hall of Fame, there were a lot more good days than bad ones. Was it the ideal way to exit? Probably not. I assumed a level of responsibility in that SummerSlam symposium, I was driving the train and the train got off the tracks, so the decision was made that it wasn’t a good thing and I moved on.”
On if he would go back to WWE: “There’s an old expression in wrestling that says ‘never say never’, when you are in my stage of my life, where I’ve been so blessed with this career, I’m not going to tell you that I’d never go [back] but it’d strictly depend on my role and how much time away from home it would demand. I leave the door open. Would I say definitively no, I would never work for WWE again? Absolutely not. It would necessitate me to give it some thought and it would depend on what the job description was and what they wanted me to do. I’m 62, I’ll be 63 in January, I have to be conscious of jobs.”
On the presence of social media in wrestling: “Social media has become a member of the family, whether you want them to move in or not, they’re there. With WWE or any wrestling organisation, you didn’t want to reveal the outcomes of things … it’s like people that review a movie, they’ll do a review with a thumbs up or thumbs down, but I’ve never read a movie review that revealed the end of the movie. In the wrestling world, the spoilers are a big deal, people love to get the news ahead of time, they rush to their computer to get the scoop, and then they give away the ending of the movie. I don’t find that to be the least bit entertaining or necessary information for me. I’d rather not know the ending of the movie until I see it.”
On if TNA has tried to lure him over since he left WWE: “No. They know I don’t have any desire to get back in the weekly grind of that. Dixie and no-one else has asked about me coming back full-time and that’s why this opportunity [with GFW] was so fit really – it was a one-time deal, a one-off. I like knowing I don’t have any pressure on me beyond that, I can focus on this one big event, really try to nail it without any pressure that I’ve got to do something tomorrow, or next week, or next month.”
On John Cena: “Since we signed John Cena, no-one has outworked John Cena. John Cena’s work ethic is beyond reproach. It’s been phenomenal to see what he does and he’s made himself a brand. John was willing to do things that had not been done, he was willing to take a chance – his wrestling attire was non-traditional, he was a Caucasian rapper and that was unique for wrestling, that was bold. Vince made a good point, Cena did all he could to become the guy. Has anyone else since John Cena...
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