At JRsbarbq.com, Ross said the following:
On WCW: We got a run of questions over the past few days for some reason on whether I missed the old days with WCW. I loved living in Atlanta and multi tasking with Ted Turner’s organization, WSB radio and the Atlanta Falcons. Living in Atlanta was especially fun as I miss the city as we always lived inside the loop including living for a long while in Buckhead and then near Emory University. The restaurants in Atlanta are 2nd to none.
Many wonderful friendships were forged in Atlanta which remain today and which, at the end of the day, is the best part of the entire WCW experience. However, when I look back at the inept infrastructure and the multitude of management blunders at WCW those days don’t make me long for them again. Some periods of time in WCW were among the most frustrating of my career as too many cooks in the kitchen simply can’t make the ‘soup’ taste better.
No company can succeed without having a clear cut boss who throughly understands the product in which they are involved. WCW rarely had that. Bill Watts knew the product, by and large, specifically the fundamental aspects of it, but his corporate communication skills were not his forte. Plus, Bill had become disconnected from the genre over the years after stepping away from it. Many of the other head honchos of WCW simply had little or no product knowledge. Wrestling, not unlike other businesses, demands that the primary decision maker have keen product knowledge so that they can’t be erroneously influenced by individuals with their own, personal agendas. Pro Wrestling has been notorious for these types of shenanigans for years. The genre, in general, is very subjective on many fronts and viable reasons can always be provided/created to make a specific argument sound logical.
On The Arrest Of Jim Neidhart: The recent arrest of Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart came as a surprise. The 55 year old Neidhart was arrested in Tampa for alleged possession and conspiracy to distribute pain meds, as I understand it, not to mention alleged burglary of said items. It certainly sounds to me that Jim may well have a n obvious drug issue that needs addressing in the form of a long term stay in a rehabilitation center. If my assumption is accurate, then 30 days likely won’t do the trick but be that as it may one thing is for sure and that is that recovery always starts with the individual truly wanting to want to stay clean and sober.
I can’t see Jim Neidhart being a ‘burglar’ but I can see him having drug and alcohol issues that may have manifested themselves to the point that Jim needs to seek help and, more importantly, truly want to stay clean and sober.
I’ve known Jim for years and years and first met him in Mid South Wrestling back in the 80’s when Jim’s father in law, the late Stu hart, sent Jim to Bill Watts’ territory to wrestle full time. Jim Neidhart is not a bad person whatsoever but like many people he apparently has issues that he needs to address. Jim was a world class shot putter in his collegiate days and even won the anvil toss at the Calgary Stampede many, many years ago. I actually think that we gave him the ‘Anvil’ nickname one he arrived in Mid South.
Jim teamed with Hacksaw Butch Reed for a time in Mid South and they were a rugged, imposing duo that was hard for any team to handle. Seems like I recall some Neidhart/Reed vs. Murdoch/Killer Karl Kox bouts at one point.
Certainly, I wish Jim Neidhart my best on this unfortunate matter and hope that he takes the necessary steps to correct any issues that he may have and begin to live his life one day at a time with the daily goal of staying clean and sober. Addiction is a sickness and certainly not a sign of physical weakness or being ‘less of a man’ and for the sake of Jim and his family, let’s keep him in our thoughts and prayers that he seeks and responds to the help that is needed.
