The Reality of Wrestling: The Firing of Jim Ross
By Phil Clark & J.D. Speich
Note: This column was completed before it was reported that Mike Goldberg turned down the role of RAW announcer. The point’s still the same, just bare with the details and the anti-Goldberg argument
Of all the shakeups in the WWE this year (the major talent cuts, the trademark nightmares, the change in writers) one the biggest may be occurring. Rumors have been circulating for the last week or two that Jim Ross may be getting taken off the RAW announce team and moved to announcing WWE programming online. These rumors originally began when Jonathan Coachman was added to the announce team during this past summer. Since then, the rumors have escalated to the point where UFC’s Mike Goldberg has been pegged by the rumor boards as Ross’ replacement. Whether or not Goldberg will be Ross’ replacement, his firing will no doubt send shockwaves through the industry. Some will be glad, some will be bad, but most of all, everyone will be talking.
P.C. Says: If they must fire Ross, at least replace him with someone more legit than Mike Goldberg
I’m not totally on board with Ross being taken off T.V. at all, but what must be done must be done. I could piss and moan about my respect for Ross (the great deal I have for the man) and how it sucks that he is being fired yadda yadda yadda. However, if the E has proven anything to the IWC and the fans in general this year it’s that they are going to do whatever they want whenever they want with questions being asked later and general logic tossed right out the window. This is a case of both.
If Ross must be exiled to announcing on the Internet, why replace him with Mike Goldberg? The guy has literally, no experience in covering wrestling; he covers UFC for Christ’s sake. What can he possibly bring to the table? Not only that, but because he covers UFC, there is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be a joke of a wrestling announcer (not the good kind of joke announcer like Don West); also, he likely won’t be “feeling it.”
Jim Ross’ wrestling background is more than the basic template for a wrestling announcer. A former referee for Bill Watt’s UWF, announcer for the NWA/WCW and WWE, plus he was the senior talent coordinator for WWE before mentoring Johnny Ace and giving him the position. So, what does that tell us? It tells us that Ross is a guy who is more than qualified for the position he’s had in the E for the last 12 years and should either be replaced by someone at least close to him or should be allowed to pick his own replacement.
If I had to make a choice on whom Ross’ replacement should be, I would pick Mauro Renallo, the host of PRIDE Fighting Championships on Fox Sports Net. First off, Renallo is not only fun to watch as a host, but seems to have his own kind of charisma oozing off of him thus making him fun to watch. Not only that, but he was formerly a wrestling announcer, something that seems to be a good qualification for the job. Since he announced for PRIDEâ€â€Âa MMA fed that seems to be more respected than UFCâ€â€Âthat might just serve to sweeten the deal. Renallo has a total of 20 years experience announcing wrestling and MMA fighting. While he may have lost some of his pro wrestling expertise while announcing PRIDE fights for the last couple of years, I’m sure he has enough smarts left to get the job done. He would be my pick, and I’m sticking with it.
J.D. Says: Why replace Ross, a veteran in this industry.
When hearing the recent events that taken place in the past week with news being that Jim Ross is being removed for a UFC announcer the question that I’m sure is in almost everybody’s mind is, WHY? Why is the WWE making such a random move in the announce booth at this point in time. As a true fan of wrestling I have to admit that I saw this coming as soon as they added the illustrious Coach to the announce team. You could tell that the WWE was trying to spice things up in the announce team, and so far it has proven to be the best move they’ve ever made (sarcasm intended).
It is in my strongest opinion that Ross should not be replaced at all. He is the longest running announcer in the WWE and has stayed on board with the company even after they fired him twice; now that’s loyalty. The truth is that the WWE needs Ross; they need him because, outside of wrestlers, Ross is one of the reasons why people watch wrestling. Ross is one of the only announcers that can verbally put over a wrestler. He has been with the E for 12 years, on and off, and has the most legit credit of any guy in the business. If Raw is looking to get better ratings by dropping Ross, they are very mistaken.
This brings me to my next point, why is the E getting rid of someone like GOOD OLD JR, a man who has stuck with this company for so long? Why would you get rid of someone that the fans are used to and someone that the fans have a connection with? Ross represents everything the fans do: he’s a working class guy, he respects the business and he lives and breathes wrestling. The WWE is replacing Ross with a guy who doesn’t even have an interest in the business, which means that we should see some possible announcing screw-ups during matches. At least with Ross you get a guy who knows about the business and when he announces you get an old school feel of the industry because Ross knows how to announce wrestling. This announcing addition has to be the worst move since Dennis Miller did Monday Night Football. Your bringing in a guy with no interest, no background on the business, and no credibility, I’m sure that he’s going to make a lasting impression in the industry and I’m sure he will be there for years to come.
All I have to say to the WWE is good luck, because you’re going to need it, I wouldn’t be surprised to see GOOD OLD JR back on television by the end of the year.
The Reality is…a lot of people get their truest respect after they’ve been fired in the wrestling business. Go back to 1998 when JR first got the bells palsy whose effects are still visible today. When Cole came in to replace him, the JR chants were every week. Much like the Matt Hardy chants after the Lita/Edge/Hardy angle began. Expect the J.R. chants to begin after his demoting, especially if Goldberg, or whoever they replace him with, tanks with the crowd. This choice seems to be another without reason in a year full of them. It seems that the E is basically shuffling their deck looking for a winning hand. Obviously they are looking for something different, but looking for it in the announce position instead of in the ring further proves the “head up the ass” theory that some (like us) have used to describe the E’s policy towards just about anything this year.
