Since joining AEW as a commentator, Jim Ross has had several blunders on call, referring to Jon Moxley as the WWE Champion while he was holding the AEW belt, as well as calling Paul Wight “The Big Show.”
You would assume after spending almost 40 years in wrestling, being the voice of the hottest era in wrestling and recruiting countless first ballot Hall of Fame talents like John Cena and Edge, that Ross would get a pass from people online. Although that hasn’t been the case, Ross spoke on the latest episode of the Grilling JR Podcast about how during AEW Dynamite Grand Slam, the illustrious commentator paused when naming Malakai Black to make sure he was saying his name correctly.
“I did overreact,” Ross said, referring to his moment of silence after saying Malakai’s name. “I think it’s because I care too much sometimes. I really do. If I’m going to be called down by some geek on Twitter, have at it, folks. Think about everything, think about the big picture, think about my motivation for saying that was one of the most special nights in my career. It’s just a pleasure to be there, and I’m getting better.
“I hope working with these two announcers I had never worked with before, you’ve got three play-by-play guys at one table and somebody’s got to lead. It’s inevitable, it’s what you do, so all I can do is work my ass off and try to improve my game. I’ll never stop trying to improve my game, but you’re exactly right, I think I do care a little more than I need to. That’s a good catch because I caught it too, I stopped mid-f***ing sentence. Just because you hear the barbarians at the gate.”
Ross spent two decades in WWE as the lead commentator during the biggest era in wrestling history, the Attitude Era. After leaving the WWE, Ross has been very vocal about this opportunity he has gotten to work for AEW, saying it’s been the best job he’s had. The WWE Hall of Fame commentator talked about his experiences in AEW as a whole, and how AEW Grand Slam showed him how far AEW has come since its inception.
“For me, it’s a very emotional thing here in AEW,” Ross said. “I’ve had a really good run, I’m very blessed. It would be a hell of a lot better run if Jan [his wife] were here, but she’s not. I never worked in a startup before, and when you come from the big dog in the yard to the start up, there’s a lot of angst and anxiety because you don’t know. I knew that my money was going to be good because it’s guaranteed by the Khans. They pay like a slot machine, it’s on time, never had an issue, never ever had an issue.”
“All those challenges we went through, illness, death, no audience, and I say how proud I was of [AEW Dynamite Grand Slam] because I know how far we’ve come. I knew the uncertain roads we traveled to get to that destination. There’s no way in hell I could say to you I knew that we were going to be great and do a 20,000 people house. No, I didn’t, it exceeded my expectations. That’s why that event was so memorable to me, the sacrifices we all made, the travel, Brodie Lee’s death, a lot of emotional things have happened in the course of life.”
