Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Jim Ross: Why AEW can't compete with WWE, 'slobberknocker' origin, Vince McMahon, Chris Benoit

Episode Date: July 13, 2019

Jim Ross sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Jacksonville, FL before AEW's Fight For The Fallen. JR talks about how it's "ludicrous" that AEW could compete with WWE, he gives us the origin to the word slobberknocker, his favorite matches, details his new role as senior advisor for AEW, his thoughts on Chris Benoit going in the WWE Hall of Fame, who is speaking in his ear in AEW and much more! Audio equipment provided by Samson Technologies: bit.ly/CVVSamson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you. man with the powerful questions this is the chris van vleet show chris van bleat show ladies and gentlemen chris

well here we go welcome to another download of the chris van fleets show I'm chris van fleet that's why the show's name the chris van fleets show thank you for the lovely introduction there from Justin Roberts and man what a conversation we have with this one I say to the interview

but Jim Ross was the soundtrack to my formidable years growing up. I mean, when I really dove into wrestling and really became obsessed with it during the attitude era, and it's amazing now hearing his voice 20-something years later for me on AEW.

This was such a privilege and an honor to sit at the learning tree that is Jim Ross, and hear his very open and honest takes about everything, and hear these great stories. So a big thanks to him for that. And also thanks to his podcast co-host Conrad Thompson, who coordinated

this interview and made it happen. So thank you, Conrad. And if you haven't heard their podcast yet, actually, if you haven't heard their podcast yet, I'm very surprised because it's very, very good. Grilling JR is a must listen. I highly recommend it. It's a five-star podcast.

And apparently, according to you guys, so is mine. So thank you for the awesome five-star reviews that you guys have been leaving on Apple Podcasts. I've said it to, well, the last couple weeks, I guess. Although the show's only three weeks old. So I guess I've been saying the last week and a half that I will read a five-star review on every single episode. So, you know, is my way of saying thank you and also a way of saying, hey, keep those five-star reviews rolling in because it really helps us a lot on Apple Podcasts. ECQ92 writes, my inspiration.

Wow, what a title. Thank you. Chris, I don't remember how I stumbled across your YouTube channel, but I'm so glad that I did. You are truly an inspiration of me. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in mass media communications. By the way, so did I. And I aspire to be an entertainment journalist and reporter such as yourself. I'm also a huge wrestling fan such as yourself.

Your style of interview is such a breath of fresh air with regards to what we're used to seeing, and I really love it. I enjoy your work, your content, your talent, your drive, and ambition. Thank you for being someone that I can proudly look up to. Wow. that's a humbling review to read. So thank you for leaving the great review. I'm super glad that doing what I do in the conversations that I have with these wrestlers can inspire you in some sort of small way.

And I will say this to you. Keep after it. There's no reason that you can't achieve whatever it is that you want to do. I mean, I'm living proof of that. So keep those five-star reviews coming, and I will keep reading them on the show. We will get to the chat with JR in just a second, but I got to let you know that Chris Van Vleach shows brought to you by Green Roads. And I say that because not all CBD products are created equal.

I mean, we've heard a lot about CBD over the last year or so. A lot of companies popping up out of nowhere pretending they have great CBD products. A lot of them don't even have CBD in them. But Green Roads is a pharmacist founded company dedicated to improving the lives of people who take it. I take it frequently. It's really helped a lot with their CBD oil, just a couple of drops under the tongue. But all their products are awesome. It's just the, you know, the CBD oil for me has been the best.

And it tastes surprisingly better than you would think. And people say, well, what's it like? What's it feel like? Well, first of all, it doesn't really feel like anything. That'd be like saying, like, what's an aspirin feel like? It just feels like your headache went away after like 20 or 30 minutes. Kind of hear like your brain's going like a thousand miles an hour. Some CBD oil brings it down, you know, slows it down.

Not instantly, but over the course of, you know, 20, 30 minutes, you think back and you go, huh, I am feeling a lot more calm than I was feeling. Use my code, Chris 15 to get 15% off your order at greenroadsworld.com. 15% off with Chris 15 at greenroadsworld.com. The CVV show also brought to you by the microphone that I'm holding and speaking into right now from Samson Technologies. Their podcast equipment has made the show sound as good as it does, just however many episodes we're in right now. I think it's 17 episodes in. 17 episodes in less than three.

weeks. Yeah, we were just pumping these things out. Go to samsontech.com to check out their full lineup. I can't emphasize enough how great this conversation with Jim Ross was. He is such a living legend. It's amazing. He talks about it here. He's 67 years old. He says he still has a lot more in the tank.

I personally can't wait to hear what that is, especially as they head into weekly television this fall on TNT with AEW. But enough about me and enough about me talking about this interview. Let's just get to it. Please enjoy my incredible, amazing conversation with the one the only. J.R. Jim Ross. It's such a pleasure to sit down with you. Thank you so much for your time.

My pleasure. Good to be with you. Before you got hired by AEW, were you looking for, you know, to get back into the wrestling business or do this full time? Oh, I'm still in the wrestling business. The new Japan? WWE. Yeah, okay.

My WWE contract ended at the end of March this year. And then I knew I wasn't going to renew. knew it because I was inactive. You know, players want to play. Sure. And so I wasn't being utilized. For example, in 2018, I worked twice. I went to Saudi Arabia for about eight hours. And I went, then I went to New York City to do raw 25. So I wasn't being utilized. And the handwriting was on the wall that apparently, some of the powers would be there perceived I was too old or couldn't get my job done any longer. So I knew that I didn't have a home there in that respect.

And I'm not the kind of guy that's, okay, I'll set home and take my money. That's just not my style. That's just the next step of, you know, that's the aging process or getting out of the game process. And that's just not me. So I wasn't looking, but, you know, I met Tony Khan a couple years ago. So we got a good relationship already established, but I didn't have any idea at that time when we met in Long Beach, he came out with the New Japan shows, he and Alex

Mervez, that we would be working together. So it just worked out. Fate was a good thing for me. I say that Tony Kahn saved my wrestling life, and I believe that, because I got back in the game. I'm doing what I love to do. And so that's kind of the thing in a nutshell, but there's a lot of side stories to all that stuff. But it's been a really a good blessing for me, quite frankly. Do you feel like your announcing style is different now that you're in AEW? Well, announcing style should always be predicated by the product you see on the monitor. So I'm going to announce in the most realistic way that I can to help to suspend disbelief as best I can, no matter who I'm working for or working with.

Some products are just more conducive to a sports-oriented, not sports entertainment, oriented entity. So that's kind of, I don't think I'm going to change it a lot. The orders from headquarters there with Tony Conn and his group, or they want an athletic presentation. So, you know, there's two sides of that issue. I love that concept. Let's go an athletic presentation, but I got to have a canvas. You know, you got to have, that's what you're going to be seeing in the ring is athletic competition. Right. And so it's a two-way street, but nonetheless, my style is not going to change the hell of a lot. It probably, as a matter of fact, it might be a little bit retro in some areas.

But the pace, the tenor, the feel, that doesn't go away. That doesn't change. But a lot of what's going on in WWE is they're not even calling what's in the ring. They're not calling what's on the model. I think it's a real tune-out for the viewer that if you're seeing action, you're seeing movement, and your eyes are watching this movement, and your brain is processing. processing what you're seeing, then it becomes a massive disconnect when the announcers are telling backstory while action is ongoing. Yeah. That'd be nothing different than Joe Buck on Fox Sports

talking about a backstory or what round a guy got drafted in or what his birthday is or how many brothers and sisters he has while the ball's in play. Yeah. It's so ludicrous to even say that because that would never happen. But why does it have, why have we allowed that to happen? in wrestling is beyond me. The words have got to support the audio. The audio is going to support the video, quite frankly. And sometimes in TV wrestling, in a lot of companies, that doesn't happen. So I don't think it's a good thing.

It's a bad trend, I believe, quite frankly. Did you need to reach out to WWE when your contract was done and say, I just want to let you guys know, I'm planning to go to AEW? Yeah, I didn't know. I didn't know where I was going. Okay. I knew I wasn't going to return. I wasn't going to have enough.

the year of inactivity. At my age, these are moments that are fleeting, in my view, without sounding, you know, too melancholy. I just felt like that I had to find other things to do. And I had, you know, podcasting is a big thing. I'm writing a second book. You know, I'm a member now, the sign a contract recently with the Simon & Schuster's Speakers Bureau. Wow. So I had plenty of things on the table to do. Sure. But the wrestling part of getting back in a wrestling company was not really a high priority. I thought my wrestling ship had sailed, unfortunately, and I wasn't happy about it, but what else they're going to go do, right? And then Tony Conn and AEW came along, and that's been a blessing because now I'm back in the hunt, as I said,

and I'm happy. Yeah. And I get a chance to contribute. I get a chance to play it forward for some these young kids who, when I get to the arena, anytime we do TV, it's a, I feel like I feel like Morgan Freeman in Shawshank of Redemption, teaching Andy how to get out of prison. But these kids are dying for information. Sure. And because I had some luck was recruiting some good talent, good guys, they want to know what traits I saw sometimes,

or what made you like the rock the first time you met him or whatever. So it's just a, it's a fun thing. It's like coaching. I like coaching. That's probably what I would have done if I had not got into broadcasting in the wrestling business. With helping out this young talent, you were the guy who came up with these amazing nicknames that really helped talent get over. Lucky. The bionic redneck, the game, or what are some of your other favorites?

Gosh, the Texas Rattlesnake. Oh, yeah. I did Austin's podcast this week. Yeah. I did Austin's podcast. It aired this week, yeah. It aired this week. Yeah.

He said, I got to thank you for. Yeah. Texas rattlesnock. I said, you did sell a lot of shirts for that one. He said, yeah, brought a few. So, you know, it's good. You know, the great one was the name that Rock thought about and not fit out there, and it worked. He got approval, though, I think, for Muhammad Ali or Muhammad Ali's family, didn't he?

The great one was Gretzky. Oh, that's right. And so, Muhammad Ali was everybody's, no athlete that I've ever met was not in all, Muhammad Ali sure quite frankly so and I had my experience with him so it's all great I spent three days with him one time in New Orleans we shared a sweet

and he came down for a mid-south wrestling event down in the Superdome so we got to be buddies to the extent you can be buddies yeah like that he's a legend you know just it's hard to believe you're talking to him sometimes it's pretty cool so I don't I don't feel like in the era of WWE right now you could just throw out a nickname without someone's approval oh he couldn't

yeah a lot of myself is very organic Yeah. And the field, you know, the Texas rattlesnake was, I even said then I said later on that rattlesnakes don't make good corporate pets. And, you know, things like that. It's a field deal. You know, Steve asked you about that. You know, I didn't write anything down to say because that's like the wrestlers today spending endless hours seemingly on going over a five-minute match or an eight-minute match or a ten-minute match or whatever a match. It's that memorization of your act.

not knowing that what you're committing to memory, by the way, may not work. If that doesn't work, you get the crowd flipped, then what do you do? Well, you've got to go to plan B. So then the question is, do you have a plan B? And that's kind of what I think about that deal. I just, it's got to be a field thing for me. And, you know, like, I felt I got in my rhythm, my best rhythm with this company, I think, in the middle of the

All-in in Vegas this year. Double or nothing. Double or nothing. I'm sorry. Double or nothing. Yeah. And because we had the

Cody match and Dustin match, which is off the charts. It might have been a little graphic for some people could be, but nonetheless, it was an amazing performance. Yeah, told a great story. Yeah.

And then you have two of the best tag teams in the entire world, and arguably the best tag team in the world, and the young bucks. and the Lutton brothers they have brick chemistry

it's almost seamless it's a little bit like watching flared a steamboat there's no scenes there's no it's just a continual smooth flow that's so real and you get lost in the story

and then we close the show with the Jericho and Omega which was amazing and then you have John Moxley sonner in and I didn't know John Moxley was even in the building no sort of got So when he came out, it was one of those real cool moments for a guy in my role that you can really get into something because you're not, you have not preconditioned yourself.

Okay, now how I'm going to act when John Moxia comes out? Where am I going to say? What am I going to do? All that time is waste of time because you're going to do what, at least I'm going to do, what it feels right, without sounding arrogant. It's a moment. I'm a fan. So as long as I'm still a fan, and I can retrieve that emotion, then, uh, we're going to, uh, We're good to go.

That's why they hired you. Well, I hope. For some reason, you know, maybe they had to fulfill their AARP commitments. I'm not real sure. But nonetheless, I'm sure as I'm glad they did. Do you not know the finishes to matches? Sometimes I hear them in passing in a conversation. But everybody there knows, including Cody,

knowing I meet with every hour and a half, two hours before every show. During the week, he knows I don't. want to know them. Wow. Because I'd rather react organically. I'd rather react in a real way. And that might not be the way you want to do it with some broadcasters who have less experience.

You may not trust their judgment. Pardon me. You may not trust their judgment yet. And I think in my situation, at least you can, I think you could trust me. Well, I would think so with 45 years experience. Yeah, really, isn't that right? There was all these stories in WWE of Vince being in your ear or someone, being in your ear, commentator's ears, telling you guys what to say.

Who's in your ear in AEW? Nobody. At all. No. The Keith Mitchell is in my ear to count me in and out of the segment. Sure. That's pretty common in TV. Normal stuff.

Yeah. After that, if there's, if he has a suggestion, can you mention, mention Chicago, mention Memorial or Labor Day weekend, mention something. He may do that, but that's how quick it is. mention Chicago, but hardly nothing. And it allows us, I told these other guys this. You know, you guys have not worked in a system as have I, where your alpha male in your life is telling you what to say.

And sometimes, you know, we all make mistakes in judgment, but I don't work well that way. I can't be creative and enlighten and enthrined and entreeks. and all the things you want to add if you're yelling at me. Because then this, now I have to process this information. Do I process this most powerful men in my business life, and maybe my personal life, yelling and screaming at me on occasion, does it take you out of your game?

Of course. Of course it does. And, you know, TAS didn't like it, McFoley didn't like it, and they couldn't handle it. This wasn't for them. And I can understand that. I just grew up with a father that was much like Vince, very demanding, very alpha-maleish.

Then I worked for cowboy Bill Watts, who may be the most alpha male of the whole damn crew, you know, he's 6-3, 300 pounds, and he was a accomplished street fighter. He liked to push him. He was a bully. And then when I said, when I got to Vince, going through Dusty, who was really easy to work with, and Oly Anderson, who wasn't, the time I got to Vince, I was battle-tested, man. You can't say much that's going to piss me off. It'll piss me off a little bit, but nonetheless, it's not going to affect my work. We did a show one time where I can't remember where it was.

It was on Raw. Lawler and I were out there broadcasting. And Vince says to me to say something, and it was ridiculous. And I didn't say it. And during the time, he told me to say it, and I was holding out on him, he was screaming like crazy. And you're still trying to call the match. Oh, yeah. I'm on live television. I listen to my ear.

You know, God damn, and I said this. Okay. All right. So, bottom line is I didn't say it. And then we go to commercial break, and he comes on my headset. And it's real hush tones like he's doing golf. You know, hey, J.R. Yeah.

Did you hear me to tell you to say it? Yes, sir. Well, it's a goddamn good thing he didn't because it had been wrong. Wow. Well, I knew it was wrong. We already talked about this. He forgot we already talked about this matter. and we weren't going to go there.

Yeah. But he'd forgotten because all the hubbub and the traffic around him, he's like he's like the honey and there. And a lot of the guys that work there are the bees. They swarm him because they want to be seen. They want to FaceTime with the Chief. So I didn't say it. And we laughed about after the show.

You know, I tell him you're slipping and, you know, you forgot this and that. But our relationship was much better than people perceive it to be. You know, I didn't like some of this taste and creative that affected me, to be honest with you. There's some of it I thought was a waste of time. And I didn't care to be involved in skits and get beat up. It wasn't a getting beat up part. I didn't like, well, would you have liked it if you were winning? Well, no, I wouldn't like that either.

You used to do what are you doing? I'm not good at it. Like when you were in the Kiss My Ass Club, the look on your face told the whole story. Well, it got over. It was disgusting. It was disgusting. It was a heel move and it was disgusting. Of course, the strategic thing for Vince was he picked Oklahoma City where my family was there in attendance, not having no any idea that tonight dad's going to kiss Mr. McMahon's ass. Yeah. And his face is going to be driven into his glutes. So, but I thought some of those opportunities I just didn't like, and a lot of that is ego driven, be honest with you. I thought that,

You know, I thought that we were getting beyond that and who were getting over. So if I, when I got the, I remember getting, I got, I got nailed by the Undertaker. That's cool. Kurt Angle did something to me. Vince, I kissed his ass. Bischoff broke a cinder block over my head. I had to put Michael Cole over. I can't remember.

I don't know, Jack Swire got me an ankle lot. That's right. Got a little carried away. It's like they would pick on you for easy heat. Well, I was over. Yeah, of course. They're always over. That's the deal.

Without sounding egocentric, the character, JR, was over to the audience. So a villain, a heel, doing something nefarious to JR was not going to be well accepted, which is the exact emotion you want to solicit from a villain. Yeah. But I just got, my deal was, you know, and I tell creative this, you know, you guys spent so much time trying to figure out what Vince is going to like so you can write something he likes and you know he likes bathroom humor and he likes JR being made a fool off or utilizing these storylines if you didn't have if you had your head out of your ass which they told me I have my head

in my ass and a doctor honey skit you would have talent that were over you know you would have you would have talents that were over on their own that didn't need me to be their rub yeah and it's It's a fragile dynamic when your TV announcer is one of the key components to give the heels a rub. Yeah. And that's what it was. So I didn't feel like we were helping the other talents. All those guys and gals sitting in the back, they weren't doing a damn thing.

They're going to go on the road and try to sell tickets and make more money, provide for their families, all the good stuff that we talk about. They're sitting there. And my fat ass is in the ring. It made no sense to me. Yeah. I didn't need the ego rush. need the love. I didn't need the rub. I didn't need any of that. Yeah. I could,

let me sit there and describe it and be your soundtrack. And so that was my disconnect there. So are you saying that you don't want to be part of storylines in AED? No, I don't. I have no. I'm going to do a, I'm going to do some interviews. Sure. Some sit downs, which I love doing, and it'll help get the talent over. Yeah, like the Sean Spears interview. Right. Yeah. And there'll be more coming down the road, but I don't have any desire at this stage. There's no reason for it. What do you go with it? What do you do with it? Every angle on television has got to lead to something. My angle with me involved is leading to anything. We're not going to have a match. I'm not doing it. I'm 67 years old. I kind of done this stuff.

So let somebody else do it. So with all that said, you still have a whole bunch of more wrestling left in you. How long do you think you can do this for? Oh, I can do this for. I can do this for I follow the principles of the great broadcasters that, you know, Keith Jackson became a friend of mine. And, you know, he worked until he called his shots. He got out when he wanted to get out. Somebody asked you this question the other day and said, what are you going to do in your three-year contracts up? You'll be 70. I said, well, if I'm smart, I'm going to try to get a renewal.

I'm going to try to keep working. in our in my role as long as I can continue to recognize situations and scenarios in my experience my refraff I know the game it's like being the skinniest kid at fat camp I know the game of pro wrestling yeah and so I hope I can contribute for years to come because I'm not buying into well you got to retire you know you know they used to be the old day days where you get your social security at 62 or they could get Medicare at And all of them is terrible. Really, there's no, there's no, really no great reward to get to draw your social security in our country these days.

The government's done a real good job of screwing up the common guys living and existence. Maybe the only good thing about that is that people like you are becoming entrepreneurs and going on their own and doing their stuff. And that's kind of where we are right now in this country. So I like that quite frankly, Chris. But, golly, it's challenging. So my goal is to do a good enough job in the next three years and see this company grow from a franchise or I guess you would say a expansion team to a Super Bowl contender.

But the issue that a lot of folks are saying, are you going to put, you know, I mean it's headlines is AEW to put WW out of business. I'm thinking, are you crazy? Yeah. That's a ludicrous. that's not even remotely feasible. That's like saying the XFL is going to supplant the NFL as America's Football League. They are not, but they don't have to to make a profit.

Sure. The AEW brand doesn't have to do anything with WWE, be affected by it one way or the other. All we've got to worry about is ourselves. We've got to get better. We've got to get better at everything we do, and that has nothing to do. paying attention with the other guys across the street are doing with the big yard the big dog. Well, I think people don't realize that you can be fans of both. We could watch Raw and then we can watch AEW and we can watch Smackdown and enjoy it all.

I agree. I think people seem to think like you're either with us or you're against us. Yeah, no, silly. Wrestling fans should band together and promote wrestling. Because for years, we've all had this uphill pull of being a wrestling fan. Oh, you watch that stuff? Yeah. When I was a little kid, I got teased about it all time.

Of course. Now, luckily, I was a decent athlete, and I was, I had, you know, I was a bigger kid than a lot of my buddies, small Oklahoma high school. So a lot of them give me a pass because I was on the football team, the basketball team, you know, president of student body, blah, blah, blah. So they accepted me because I wasn't a nerd, but because they looked at wrestling as being a product for people with too much time on their hands, quite frankly. Yeah. And so I got a pass on that. But I've had, anybody that's watching wrestling, have ever watched wrestling, and their family, sometimes our families are the ones are the worst because my dad would say,

well, you watch that stuff. Oh, my parents said the same thing. I think everybody's parents said the same thing. But what's, so the deal is, but what's it going to hurt him? I also watch John Wayne movies knowing he's not a real cowboy. I really do. But I get lost in the character of his presentation. Yeah.

Wrestling's not, doesn't drive you to drinking, it doesn't drive you to drugs. It doesn't make it be an, you know, abuser. Nothing. Yeah. It's a fictional entity unlike any other television episodic fictional show. It's just that these guys are real athletes. They do their own stunts, and they have no all season. Yeah.

There's a lot of amazing things that these gentlemen and ladies do that makes me proud to still be affiliated with it. So it's a labor of love for me, Chris, quite frankly. I think people will think your most famous call is Mick Foley going off to sell. But what's your favorite call? Well, it would be hard to say. That's like to say, what's your daughters are your favorite? The older one or the younger one? Do you have maybe a few?

Oh, yeah, you know, sure. There's matches that I called a, I'm trying to think. There was a match back at WCW, Dr. Death, and Terry Gordy against the Steiner's. I thought it was amazing. And I love that match. Hard hitting, logical, mono and mono. The guys knew that they were in for an interesting night, and they look forward to that because most tag teams that dealt with Doc and Gordy in the Steiner's

always had the reservations that they're going to work very far. firm, very stiff, very physical. This is not going to be an easy night at the office. And so that's kind of what we see what I saw with that deal. I love that one.

I loved Rustimedia 13, Austin and Brett. I thought it was outstanding. Still do. I love that one. I love there was a Sean, when Sean came back from his hiatus, you know, we finally

convinced him to come back. I wanted to come back in the locker room and be a role model even if he didn't want to wrestle. Because we were paying him a lot of money at that time, like $7.50 a year. And he was healing from his back injury and his ruffle feathers and all kinds of things. So that was Sean, and when Sean came back,

he was amazing to me that he didn't miss a beat. Yeah. He had a bad haircut. I remember that. I remember that too. A Dutch boy looking haircut or whatever. hell it was. But he showed his greatness. Yeah.

He didn't miss a beat. And he and Hunter had an amazing match. I thought it was one of my favorite matches to call. You know, the Foley Undertaker match was another one I didn't know the finish. I had no idea he was going to be thrown off the cell. What if he landed on you? I don't know.

But what if? He died. That's another thing. So, yeah, it wasn't good. It was, it was the,

the WWE, and we all dodged a bullet that night. If somebody had asked me before the show, if this is your call, would you approve this deal for Mick? I would say no. Yeah. Because they didn't see any margin for error. Yeah.

There's no precedent for this move. And, you know, you got a table, and then the floor, the concrete floor is what breaks your fall. Yeah. It's a pretty sudden stop. Yeah. So that was another one that was a good, that was memorable. Obviously, we had to change, law or not changed on the fly with our psychology when Rock and Hogan have fought at rest of the 18.

That's my favorite match of all time. I was there and your call on it. I loved it because it was so evident that the crowd had turned on rock and were cheering Hogan. Yeah. You know, when they were exchanging blows and it's booze for the rock and cheers for Hogan. Yeah, it takes you out of your game too because that's not the road you were traveling. Yeah.

As a broadcaster. And so we called an audible and went right on about our business seamlessly. Yeah. And it was a really amazing experience. So I also thought that the undertaker Sean Michael's match at the first hellness cell they had was really terrific and memorable. It's funny how a lot of these gimmick matches, they call them, are being utilized, but the wrinkles added to them are limited.

So what I'm saying basically is you go back and look, go all the way back to the first hell in the cell. it's hard to say that any other hell in the cell was better than the first one. Maybe it was because it was new, I don't know, but also it was because you had two Hall of Fame guys in there doing their thing. So I think that some of these, we needed some freshening up, quite frankly, but I enjoyed all those matches. The attitude era was amazing too, because we had a lot of real good talents that a lot of them I had recruited, you know, We had that one class. I love to talk about this class because it's like a Hall of Fame class. We signed in one class, John Cena.

We signed Randy Orton. We signed a big old country boy from South Dakota named Brock Lesnar. We signed Dave Batista. He's now a major movie star. God bless him. He's a good dude. And then the best athlete of the group was Shelton Benjamin. Wow.

Yeah. What a group. So that was our, and that was the deal, and they all got to work. They all earned the ring crew. Brock Lesnar became the foreman of the ring crew because he could drive a pickup truck better than anybody else. I don't think people can picture Brock Lesnar building a ring. No, he did. He did.

Wow. Oh, yeah. They all did. And they swept, they cleaned up, they paid their dues. And not that they weren't being haste. These are chores that we had to do that we didn't have the budget to hire a janitor. Yeah. So you guys are going to do this.

Yeah. And if you the collaborative effort, you're going to be out of here in no time. And they were. But it would give them some responsibility. Let them know that this is still a free ride. You're not on scholarship here.

You know, and Lesnar is making, I paid Lesnar more money than any rookie that we ever signed. And because if anybody could see, he was obviously can't miss. Sure. One of those guys. Unless he imploded,

we weren't going to have any issues with him getting over. Oh, yeah. Unless he just was, if his social skills, were not evolved to some degree where he could get along with people. And that was an issue. He didn't like traveling. So I used to talk about it.

There's a tradeoff here, pal. We can get your ass on the farm, and you can farm all the rest of your life, but you're not going to make this kind of money. If you want this kind of money, there's got to be some sacrifices made along the way, including time invested. When I tweeted out that I was going to be interviewing you, I got a barrage of, by gods. How do you feel that that's like always going to be attached to your name?

It's all right. something. Yeah. It's something to, you know, it's either that or slobner knocker or, you know, you got beat like a government mule or restaurant quality ass whipping, all that stuff, you know, just that's just, that was my. Tougher than a $2 steak. Oh, yeah, tougher than a $2 steak.

So, and hey, I'll say, I used to that on TV toward the end of my end of my run when these little gifts are coming out. Yeah, yeah. And there's all kind, I get all kinds of little ugly steak pictures and gifts and burnt and charred little thin ones, a big old thick ones or whatever. So people enjoy that. And, you know, one of my best-selling t-shirts at Pro Wrestling Teas.com is, they killed him.

Yes. On that McPholy shirt. I got a buddy of mine, Orlando Brown plays right tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. He's right or left tackle. He's a starter. Oh, you kid. Great kid. And Orlando wears that t-shirt under his pads during the games.

Wow. They killed him. His mind said he was the killer. He's an offensive lineman. You're not going to get my quarterback, no matter what happened. So those are fun deals. But the Slovinocker is part of the most. Of course.

That's part of the most, whatever. Where did you come up with that? It's an old southern football term that was applicable. And when the games were covered by the newspaper, it was a print game before radio got him in. big time and these players didn't wear face masks on their helmets so their faces were unprotected and they slobber was the liquid spit spit spittle and uh so if you got hit the face hard enough there it would go the spittle would fly wow so slobber a knocker and that's where so that it's just an old term this you know i heard this when i was in

like a junior high. You know, are you guys ready for this week? It would be a slower knocker. I don't know what the hell of that. What does that mean? So I figured it out. Yeah. And started to, then when I got to broadcast you, I started using it.

And also all those things just became my little handles, a little, it made me different. Yeah. And, you know, to my different, being different was a blessing and a curse. I always thought that my accent cut me, cut me from the herd. I sounded different. When I got the Bill's palsy, which people can see, I can't smile, and I have no, I can't whistle,

because I can't pucker. And that was a blessing, in some ways, because it made me, it even gave my diction a little bit more of a uniqueness. But for television executives, it wasn't my friend. You know, the fact that, you know,

like a round-faced guy, chubby guy with a southern accent, can't smile, he doesn't belong on television. Says who? Says who? Says you. Says somebody that is looking at a, you're not looking at a focus group because there's no focus group in the country is going to say that J.R. doesn't belong in the wrestling business. Of course. It's just not going to happen. I sound egocentric for me to say. That's just a damn fact. Our fans are that way.

Yeah. They give a damn. They care. You know, we did a show here in Jacksonville. I got another one coming up in Philadelphia, Rochester. We're going to book a lot of these little days. These are the live podcast. Yeah, I love them. Yeah, Grilling, JR.

What's the one question people always want to ask you when you do that? Like you did, what's my favorite match? Or who's your favorite wrestler? Sometimes they ask more profound questions. I enjoy getting into, like we just had a podcast regarding Vengeance 04, the paper of Vengeance, 2004. And that was a big, big show for Chris Benoit. And most people in the last few years have been reluctant to even mention his name because of how he lived the last 48 hours of his life.

And I'm not underscoring that as something beautiful. It's not. It's horrible. Worst thing I've ever encountered in my career, you know, other than Owen Hart dying in front of my very eyes in front of me. was the Chris Van Waugh thing, because I just never saw that coming. I consider him a good friend, and I helped him with his neck injury,

and we got into great surgery, paid him while he was off, took care of his needs, his family's needs, he got all his money, even though he couldn't work. It's the right thing to do for us, and we did the right thing. And so then I don't know what happened.

You know, I don't know if it was CTE. There's a million stories. Sure. Well, we'll never. No. They're not going to know. All we know is that my friend Nancy, his wife, was dead, the little boy Daniel's dead, and then Chris, of course, committed suicide.

And to have him to even remotely think of a father of murdering his son, you know, it's bad enough to think of a husband murdering his wife. That's bad enough, obviously. But to take the life of your only son, your little son with this lady, it was just unfathable. I couldn't get my head around it. So we talked about that, and that was a good show. Yeah. But the questions that you're, after your question,

I have somebody to ask about every other show at least. Should Chris Van Wend belong in the Hall of Fame? And I say no. Because, and if he were here, he would say no. And here's why. The reason why is because Chris Van Wals going to the Hall of Fame would be a major, major distraction. Yes.

It would not be about the great matches he had. in Japan or Mexico or in Calgary or in WW or WCW anywhere else. It would be about murder-suicide. So that becomes a focal point again. And I just don't think that would. And I know, I believe Chris, I could talk to him right now. He'd say, J.R. you're right. Yeah.

I don't know. He's that kind of guy. We don't know what set him off that day. But that was a, that was two days in the life of 40, and the guy that's 40-something years old. It's just not his demeanor. Yeah. We don't know why he did it.

We talked about that, and so the Van Wael question comes up every now and then in various forms. But there's just, there's just a, the audiences are so smart, they're so in tune that their questions have become better and better. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's so much more information flow. There's content like you're creating. There's all these guys, the Meltzers, and the shows. the Kellers and all these guys got their businesses where they cover wrestling.

And Mike Johnson at Pro Wrestling Insider does a great job. Jason Powell. All these guys do really good stuff. So now the fans have more content to sample. Yeah. So, you know, you can take a flight and you can, you know, if you've got Wi-Fi, you can catch up with all the wrestling business on a decent flight, right? Yeah, I do it all the time.

Yeah, me too, me too. And you can follow your Twitter, your social media stuff. Yeah. And that's another thing that's a big deal. You know, I saw you're getting questions about this discussion. Yeah. And I'm curious about it too. What are people going to ask? What are new questions I haven't been, haven't had yet?

Yeah. Well, in your backstage role as a senior advisor, are you still scouting talent for AEW? I, I, uh, I'm, yes, I make, I make recommendations. I see talents that I, I am, I've become inquisement. of. Okay. And I make suggestions to Cody and his team about talents. You know, there's talents I like that I would like to see work there and not just because I've perceived of being good in-ring performers, but the fact that they're going to enter the locker room with no poison. Sure. You know, that's important. That's one of the reasons I worked so hard

to hire Mick Foley's. I knew that when McFoly got in, he'd be a positive influence to our locker room. He'd be a good role model. You know, he's not a big, he's not a drug guy when a drunk, you know, he abuses. The only thing he ever views is his own body, you know, the Bumsey Tug. But, you know, you get a guy like that in, he's patient enough to take time with the younger guys who's seen him on TV and think, you know, and they look up to him as they should. And so he was the kind of guy that could come in there and, and contribute to that locker room morale. But that's, to me, is a big component here. I don't care how many, you can do how much high flying you can do and you know you can do a 450 and you can do this

you can do that but can he work can you perform can you make me want to watch you more other than those indiscriminate moments on the high trapezee or flying trapeas whatever yeah you know so but this so i think that there's guys i'd like to see here because a they're great athletes and they can perform but also because they'll fit very much uh compatibly into our locker room community which has a lot of diverse personalities in it a lot of young guys you know i was talking to joey janella he came to be on our show last uh on friday night here in jacksonville and uh i didn't realize he'd be in the indies for 14 years yeah 14 years it's a testament to him how i've dedicated it and how much he loves to wrestling.

Do you think he's one of the breakout stars of AEW? It could be. Who do you think? Who's on your radar as being a breakout star? MJF, part of the top of the list. Yes, people are familiar with the interview I did with him. He's quite the character.

Yeah, yeah. He loves it. He loves being a villain. Yeah. And he's sharp-witted, and he's a tough old guy too. I told, I said this on the air a couple weeks ago in Orlando, or not or not only in Daytona, that he reminded me of a young Paul Heyman. And I work with a young Paul Heyman.

I gave young Paul Heyman his break to get him on national television as my broadcast partner. And the WCW booking committee thought I was crazy. But they were celebrating because I took him off their hands. They had no longer had to book him or manage him. He'll be my guy. And I don't regret that whatsoever. He was a great partner. And he's still doing good now with his new role.

Yeah. So we'll see how that works. Well, I want to be respectful of your time, so I have just one more question for you as we wrap things up. If someone comes to you and says, I want to do what you're doing, I want to have the career that Jim Ross had, what's the advice you have for an up-and-coming play-by-play commentator? Practice, get reps, get a microphone in your hand or a headset on your head, volunteer, don't look at these broadcasting gigs as paydays because there's likely not going to be any. any pay days in them, to any degree, maybe lunch.

And I told me, I got, we ran Fort Smith, Arkansas, every Wednesday night at the Jimmy Lot Sports Arena on Towson Avenue. I did enough for almost of that to remember that the rest of my life. But I was refereeing down there, house is really bad. And the other town on Wednesday night was Baton Rouge. So Baton Rouge got the big stars, and Fort Smith got the leftovers. And I got paid that night in hot dogs. I got two hot dogs.

Two of them. Yeah, I was the only referee there. Help put the ring up, take the ring down, paying my dues, and I got two hot dogs. And so then I said, well, could I get a Coke? He said, yeah, that would be 50 cents. So I would have lost 50 cents on my pay that night by buying a Coke. And on the principal of the things, I said, hell with that.

I'll find something else. I had a friend of mine that said, sent you some stuff and asked for some advice. And I'll never forget this as a fan. You said to him, make sure every near fall counts. And I will never forget that. Now when I watch matches, you'll interrupt whatever you're saying to go, oh, in a near fall, oh, we almost got him there.

Oh, you don't know that's going to be the hit. Right. And I love that. Yeah. And a lot of guys, that's the story we talked earlier about announcers doing backstory. Yeah. While action is ongoing. Yeah.

That Joe Buck illustration earlier. Yeah. You just, you hear it all the time. all the time. Backstory. And in a WCW's, a WVE's case, it's not working. It's great. I understand that they've got all this money,

and it's great. I'm happy for them. The better W.W.E does, the trickle-down theory will make it mean better results for all of us. Yeah. And when Andre and Hogan fought in the Russelmanian 3, the Mid-South business picked up. because the awareness of the product became paramount.

Every local network affiliate wanted to do a wrestling story, especially the NBC affiliates, because NBC was sold gangbusters on promoting Saturday Night's main event and wrestling in general in WW wrestling. So we just tagged along, and it worked. We had one of the better years because of the success WWU was having. It's a trend. that's all it is. So wrestling was trending, thanks to WWE's promotional machine

and what they have booked with Andre and Hogan, the fact they're going to run a huge stadium at WrestleMania 3, all these firsts, and it became a topic of discussion. And so we took advantage of that. So all of a sudden, now we got all of our guys on all of our local TVs in Mid-South doing interviews and showing their personality, and so all of a sudden then I started getting more personal appearances for them and all these things that started coming about and our business picked up

then you would have radio stations contact us to say hey we'd like to do a promotion with you for this is the live event of course yeah so it helped us so the better WWE does and don't they do great don't they have record years the better all the rest of us or in the rest of the minutes will do it's important that that I as say in my role what WW does or does not do what they say or they don't say is irrelevant to me in the standpoint that I'm not going to mention it on the air

anyway I'm not going to mention WWE on the air in a negative way a positive way no way no reason to yeah so and I just think I don't think we should engage in that stuff you know there's all every now you'll get a little banner

little hang grenade here and there guys just can't resist themselves sure but it's just it's a it's a It's a wasted effort. We need to focus, we in AWE need to focus on what AWE is doing. Nothing more, nothing less.

That should be our entire focus to make this brand great as we can. Some of these young kids are going to be there, you know, Chris, and they're going to be good. But we don't know how good they're going to be. They don't know how good they're going to be. And matches like a show in Jacksonville, the one in Daytona, are important measuring sticks to see what some of these guys have got. Yeah. And now we're starting to see our heel and babyface roster

starting to slowly evolve. And once we get the right jersey on everybody, it'll be a lot easier to watch. But you know who you want to cheer or don't, do or don't. And everybody has a role. You've got to have a role. It's like my broadcast team with Excalibur and Alex Marvez. You know, Alex is the Jay Glazier kind of guy,

giving you information, the backstory of things along those lines. And Excalibur is a very brilliant wrestling mind. He does a great job. I really enjoy it. It sounds great too. Oh, yeah, he sounds terrific. So he's our wrestling expert because he was a former wrestler. Sure.

So he'll be talking strategy and holes and while this works and things of that nature. And then I'm going to do what I do. So if we can all find our role and stay in our lane, so to speak, we're going to get better. Our goal is to be point on in Chicago. and August 31st, and then take that momentum right into October when we premiere on TNT. And that's the difference maker. That's the deal where nobody's really talking about it. They're talking about census things like you're going to put WW out of business stuff.

It's so stupid. I'm embarrassing people to say that. And I've been interviewed by guys. I said, you know, how much of a debt you think you put their business? Not a damn bed. Are you kidding? you think the XFL team in Dallas, coached my friend Bob Stoops, is going to put a dent in the NFL?

Not one bit, but he doesn't have to. That's not his job. His job is to make his team competitive and entertaining and sell tickets and TV ratings. So it's not a hard formula. Well, once again, I want to be respectful of your time. I know you have a hard out. Thank you for this. On behalf of wrestling fans everywhere,

thank you for the memories over the years. You're the soundtrack to my childhood, and now you're the soundtrack to whatever age I am now. Well, appreciate it. Thanks for being good listener today. I had too much coffee, I think, this morning. Oh, my God. This was incredible.

We got a lot of information. We could honestly talk all day, but you've got a job to do. I'm going to be talking to them all day. So, yeah, you're right. It's going to be a good night. It's really a unique venue, as the fans will see, doing it from an amphitheater. Yeah.

And I know they worked all night. getting that site ready because there were four when I last talked over there the production meeting Friday night we were four hours behind schedule because it's just going to have to be revamped to do the ring and and well because there's a stage here yeah which is different yeah and some people thought we're going to put the ring on the stage and they're not that's what the announcers are going to be okay uh the rings will be in that pit down there okay cool so we'll see it's it should look really cool also yesterday in the line of, you know, ticket sales.

I think we have less than 200 tickets are available. Wow. And a lot of them just sprinkled here, there, and yon kind of a smattering. So the ticket sales are good. It'll look great. And, of course, the show in Chicago is already sold out. Of course, yeah. You know, we're looking good.

And they'll soon be announcing their, the TVs are booked for pretty much the rest of 2019. Wow. So those venues will be released. It becomes a strategic thing. It's like, isn't ironic that WWE decided to put their Evol show on their network alive against us? Coincidental? Of course not. We know it's not coincidental, folks.

So you say, well, why would they do that? Because they're the big dog in the yard and they can't. And that's a bully mentality. You take liberties. And so, and Francis has to decide which one of them. want to watch and thank God through all the ways of replays and streaming this and that you can you can watch both of yeah on the same night that's true so i don't know what they expected how they wouldn't hurt us with that deal but they obviously didn't do it because of oh we had nothing to do with AEW come on

that's where you get offended when you know you're being zoomed yeah come on man come on so what are you afraid of our little operation oh or not it's a pissant company i believe you know i heard it's a pissing Yeah, yeah. Well, that fish out money, sure good. That's a great way to end to Jim. Thank you again. Okay, bud. I really appreciate it.

All right, Chris. Well, there you have it, my friends. What a chat with good old J.R. Jim Ross. A big thank you to him for almost 50 minutes there of just knowledge and insight and awesomeness. So thank you to him for that. Thank you to his podcast co-host. Conrad Thompson for coordinating this and making this happen. grilling JR is the name of their podcast. You can check that out. You can check that out wherever

you're listening to this podcast. And I appreciate you listen to this podcast as well. I love that JR is not only the voice of A.E.W. And the voice of our childhood, but also a senior advisor for A.E.W. pulling some strings behind the scenes and really affecting what it is that we see on these paper views and what we will be seeing on television when TNT starts up this fall with AEW television. A big thank you to Greenroads for sponsoring the show. Use my code Chris 15 at greenroadsworld.com to get 15% off your order of CBD products. Also, thank you to Samson Technologies for making us sound as good as we do.

And I mean, in the podcasting world, it's really just all about sound. You don't know what I look like right now. Although I could look great. I could. Maybe I do. Maybe I'm not wearing anything at all. I don't know. But if you watch the YouTube video, you'll see what Jim Ross and I are wearing.

Is he wearing? his famous hat in this interview. Hmm. Does it sound like he's wearing the hat? Just watch the video. You'll see. Of course he's wearing the hat. It's Jim Ross. We're doing a bunch of interviews. I'm in Jacksonville right now as I sit here. And once again, you can't see this because it's just a podcast. But I'm sitting here in my hotel room here in downtown Jacksonville.

We just did an interview today with Kip Sabian. Also did an interview with Darby Allen. Of course, this interview with Jim Ross. And we're doing many more to fight for the Fallen Tonight. So keep an eye out for those. Thank you so much for making this all possible. I'm absolutely loving doing these podcasts. Of course I'm loving doing the YouTube channel.

So the more you listen, the more you watch, the more we can do this. So to you, I say thank you. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you love.

like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.