Jim Ross on Matt Hardy’s One Chance to Make ‘Woken’ Gimmick Work and Vince McMahon

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was a guest on Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast where he spoke at length about Matt Hardy’s use of the ‘Woken’ gimmick and Vince McMahon.

Ross first explained that he used to encourage talent to have a relationship with McMahon because McMahon is more likely to go with creative ideas if he trusts them.

“I used to tell talents this when I’d sign them, ‘here’s what you need to do to come to work here, and stay here, and be great, and make a lot of money, is be the professional that we expect out of you in all phases, but whatever you do, develop a healthy, genuine, not disingenuous ass-kissing, but a healthy relationship with the boss because that will go miles down the road and give you opportunities because he gets to know who you are, he gets to plug into what you’re about as a person. A little bit of that could be converted into creative and then your creative is more organic.'”

Despite the workload current performers have to undertake, Ross believes that a relationship with McMahon would still help them.

“I think Vince would be very adamant by saying ‘yes’. Are those opportunities every day and very, very easy to obtain? Probably not simply because of the workload, but I just don’t believe Vince will ever let go, and he shouldn’t, of his relationship with the talents. Understand most of these kids wanted to get into the business forever. This is their dream job, right? Well, this is the guy that created the dream in that regard. So sometimes, it’s intimidating for them because he is the most omnipotent man in the world that’s in our field.”

Ross continued by explaining that talent that don’t contribute or speak up won’t be as likely to make an impact.

“I can see for some talent who aren’t self-starters and maybe don’t have the confidence in their game yet, [saying] ‘I’ll just stay over here and be quiet – nobody’s going to notice me and I’ll extend my shelf life.’ And I can tell you, nobody likes that. Within the creative portions of the company, if you sit silently, don’t contribute to your character, don’t have an idea, we don’t see growth in all areas as a professional, you lessen your own chances by staying silent and not speaking.”

FInally, Ross says that he likes the gimmick, but Hardy may only have one chance to make it work.

“Matt has been around long enough and is tuned to the business in-depth enough to know where opportunities come and how fleeting they can be. He has one chance to make ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy work and he is in the process of it right now, so it has to work now because it won’t get the second reboot, in my opinion. And I’m not prophesying any failure. I like the persona because of just what [Roberts] said, he’s committed to it and it feels organic. It feels like he has had a metamorphosis of attitude, and theory, and mind, the whole nine yards.”

With H/T to WrestlingInc for the transcription.

You can see and listen to the podcast with Jim Ross and Sam Roberts in full below.

Jim Ross - Woken Matt, Nakamura, Surviving in WWE, etc- Sam Roberts

Do you believe the ‘Woken’ gimmick will work? Do you agree or disagree that talent is afraid to speak up?

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