WWE Hall of Fame play-by-play man Jim Ross is back with another blog entry over at jrsbarbq.com. In this edition, Ross discusses Paige’s controversial promo from “Monday Night Raw,” the return of masked Kane, as well as Eric Bischoff’s comments about him on JBL’s new WWE Network interview program.
Here are some of the highlights:
“Loved Paige’s interview as it did not feel like it was recited from memory and from the pen of some writer who was channeling Paige with what he or she ‘thought’ Paige would say in the situation that she was in. Good stuff…organic and real. Show stealer.”
Kane
“Kane in the mask is good for me. I like that level of nostalgia. Not sure where it’s headed nor do I care. I will stay tuned. When I signed Glenn Jacobs I was only worried if his personality would evolve as he was somewhat quite. It has and he’s become a Hall of Fame talent. I’m not prouder of any one that I’ve signed more than Glenn Jacobs who has become a Hall of Famer in life which is where the “money” is.”
Eric Bischoff
“I can tell you that Eric Bischoff did not fire me. Bill Shaw, a TBS VP/lackey reassigned me to work with Rob Garner, an old friend from my Crockett days, to work in TV Syndication of which I had previous experience with the UWF. I was told I was ‘too Southern’ to be the voice of a national brand. That from a station that aired multiple, Andy Griffith reruns daily. That reassignment directly violated my TBS agreement of which they themselves drew up-. However, my goose was cooked in WCW when my mentor and friend Bill Watts left his bombastic renderings on TBS mgmt when he departed as EVP of WCW and departed Atlanta. I was so closely aligned with Cowboy even though I had no idea he was coming to Atlanta until he arrived and no one from TBS management asked me about him even though I had been in WCW from day one. Good background check for feedback, right? Nonetheless I would not trade Bill being my mentor for a TBS or any other job but I did love living in Atlanta. Yes, I was bitter and angry that TBS never gave me an interview for the job that Eric got even though looking back in hindsight Eric likely would have done a better job than me over the long haul because it was my destiny was to take Vince McMahon’s offer and join WWE in 1993, a run that lasted officially 21 years. My family’s financial future was secured after enduring the dark days of near bankruptcy for WWE in the mid 90’s, taking a large cut in pay, seeing office executives jump ship like scared rats, by the way this does not include my dear friend JJ Dillon who also left because he could not afford to care for his family on what he would be earning after the pay reductions. My department was able to assemble, arguably, the best talent roster in the history of the business that helped provide WWE with the ammo to have a $160M Initial Stock Offering (IPO) to go from a not so long ago near bankrupt public company to a thriving, healthy, public company that it is today. So, in hindsight, going to WWE and not staying in WCW was the best professional move that I ever made in my 40 year professional career.”
To read the blog in its entirety, click here.