Jim Ross was the voice of WWE for many years. He's often regarded as the best wrestling commentator of all time. In his lifetime, Ross has worked for many wrestling promotions and has interacted with countless talents. He's also famous for his JR's BBQ sauce and his weekly podcast, Grilling JR.
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JR started his podcasting journey in 2014 with The Ross Report. In 2019, Ross partnered with Conrad Thompson and debuted Grilling JR, where he often talks about the past and sometimes even tells great wrestling stories. There's a lot to learn from Good 'Ol JR, and here's just a sample of what fans found out from his podcast.
Dream matches are often used to set up pay-per-view main events. Back in the day, there were tons of great wrestlers people wanted to see fight each other. One of the biggest wrestling dream matches was between Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan, which didn't happen.
On the Grilling Jr podcast, Jim Ross revealed why Austin refused to face Hogan. Ross indicated that The Texas Rattlesnake didn't want to have a match that resembled Hogan's battle against The Undertaker at Judgement Day 2002.
Vince McMahon is a man of routine. He's laid out a framework for meetings that everyone follows. This includes not sneezing or coughing. It also includes paying attention and just being prepared. According to JR, there's absolutely zero tolerance for sneezing or coughing. Arn Anderson once said that if someone sneezed or coughed in front of Vince, "he would look at these people like he wanted them dead."
Randy Orton has now become a staple of WWE programming. The Viper kicked off his wrestling career with WWE and quickly became a top star. But his past almost cost him this opportunity, as per Jim Ross.
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Ross once told Orton's recruitment story and how Vince McMahon refused to sign him due to his past. Many fans know that Orton received a bad conduct discharge in the US Marines and Vince being patriotic didn't want to hire Randy for this. It took some time, but Jim convinced McMahon to give Orton a second chance.
The Montreal Screwjob was one of the most controversial nights in wrestling history. It happened at Survivor Series 1997, and very few people knew about it in advance. Jim Ross was the Head of Talent Relations at that time, and that was the main reason why McMahon hid the changed finish from him.
McMahon's reasoning was that he didn't want the locker room to doubt JR. If Vince had told JR and Ross didn't tell anyone about it, wrestlers would think he was supporting this move.
When Raven joined WWE, people had high hopes for him. He was successful in ECW and Jim Ross hired him to recreate his success in WWE. Unfortunately, Raven faced his biggest obstacle in WWE that he couldn't overcome: Vince McMahon.
Most fans know about the infamous "Who the f*** hired Raven?" question McMahon asked during a meeting. Raven had support from many people in WWE, but after seeing McMahon's reaction, they turned their back on him.
In August 2019, Jim Ross talked about the time he heard NWA promoters plotting Vince McMahon's assassination. He and Bill Watts went to Kansas City for a meeting with one of the promoters. When Jim was in the men's restroom, some people walked in and they started talking about Vince. At that time, McMahon was expanding WWE and promoters were mad at him for it.
Suddenly, one of the promoters said that he could get McMahon killed for $700. Ross tried to be as discreet as possible and later told Watts about it, but he didn't take it seriously.
Talking about the October 10, 2005 episode of Monday Night Raw, Jim Ross once said on his podcast that at some point, Vince McMahon stopped respecting his work. He wanted to get someone younger to replace JR, and he felt there was some personal animosity involved.
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This was the episode where Ross was fired on-screen and in real life from his commentary position. Ross also said on his podcast that he wasn't ready to leave wrestling just yet.
In 2019, WWE attempted to boost Raw's rating with a special Raw Reunion episode in Tampa. Several legends such as Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and John Cena showed up during this episode. Jim Ross was one of the people WWE invited, but he turned down the offer.
On the Grilling JR podcast, Ross said that he didn't show up on Raw because he didn't want to send a wrong message to the AEW roster. At that time, AEW was still new and it hadn't even made its television debut. Jim didn't want the younger wrestlers to think he was bailing out on AEW. He also listed WWE Creative as one of the reasons he didn't go back.
Owen Hart was a notorious prankster. On an episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross recalled a prank Owen pulled on Vince McMahon. During In Your House: Seasons Beatings, Triple H and Henry Godwinn had a Hog Pen match.
When the truck full of barn animals arrived, Owen directed the driver to Vince's office. McMahon was furious about it, and while everyone knew who was behind this, nobody spoke up.
Vince McMahon prefers to micromanage everything, including the commentators. When Jim Ross used to work for WWE, McMahon would often yell at commentators through the headset. Ross wasn't the only one who didn't like it.
Earlier this year, Ross talked about this on his podcast. He showed his appreciation to Tony Khan for allowing him to do things his way and not yelling at him.