Jim Ross had plenty to say as always in his latest blog post:
Ross on the upcoming Top 50 Finishers in wrestling DVD:
Several individuals did interviews in OKC for the upcoming ‘Top 50 Finishers’ in wrestling DVD also scheduled for a 2012 release. There were some interesting candidates from a multitude of generations. Some will surprise you and, as always, the Top 50 type lists will invariably leave off someone’s favorite and controversy ensues. The conspiracy theorists will come out of the woodwork without fail.
Ross on The Rock vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 28:
Was I BS’ing or putting the hype machine in motion when I recently wrote that @TheRock and @JohnCena did not particularly like each other? Absolutely not. Let’s just say that the two stars have philosophical differences, to say the least. It’s the classic confrontation of a former offensive lineman (Cena) vs. a former defensive lineman (Rock) who will both bust a gut trying to one up the other at WM28 in a match that I expect to be stiffly physical.
Ross on the toughest wrestler he’s ever worked with:
“Who’s the toughest wrestler I ever worked with over the years?” Another tough one and I am biased but if you ask many of the wrestlers themselves many will agree….Steve ‘Dr. Death’ Williams. Physically and mentally tough beyond compare and he had the athleticism and amateur wrestling background to back it up PLUS he was a skilled and willing street fighter with freakish natural strength and a destructive mean streak. We signed Doc past his prime, which I take responsibility for, but I was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and get one or two viable runs out of him. His body was beat to hell from his Japanese experiences and his lifestyle but make no mistake about it, in Doc’s day, bare knuckles/barroom brawling no one could handle him, again in my view, and that includes noted amateurs like Angle and Lesnar. Again, that’s my opinion and, yes, I’m very biased and I’m not dissing Brock or Kurt, both of who I signed and have immense respect for. For those that only judge Doc by the ill conceived Brawl for it All, I suggest that you take a closer look at his career. Oh, how I loved Doc/Terry Gordy vs. the Steiner Brothers in WCW back in the day. Check him out on You Tube.
Ross on “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig:
“Thoughts on the late, Curt Hennig?” Obviously, he died too soon. I loved being around him. He was the life of the party and made everyone laugh. Loved his approach to life as in making every day fun and, granted, some days he had too much fun. I’ve never worked with anyone more ‘natural’ than Curt Hennig as he had ‘it’ early on and just got better until a bad back curtailed his magnificent career. I’ve been around very few, as in one hand, that could wrestle as well as Curt, hero or villain, talk/promo as well as he could, manage, AND broadcast at the level he did without little training or preparation. Only Bobby Heenan comes to mind. Taking Mr. Perfect’s total skill set into consideration, I’d confidently say that Curt Hennig was one of the top 5 all around talents ever in the business taking into consideration the aforementioned areas of expertise.
When I broadcast with Curt, he wanted to learn and rarely made the same mistake twice. He simply ‘got it’ and was extremely competitive. Plus, we never had a cross word and laughed much more than any thing. I loved the days that we did voice over work in Stamford and regaled in his stories of the ‘boys’ and the practical jokes that he played on them. I’m honored to have been able to spend time with the 2007 WWE HOFer.
Ross on choosing between Trish Stratus and Lita:
“Can I choose between Trish and Lita?” Boy, that’s a loaded question. I vividly remember meeting them both for the first time in my WWE office when I managed talent relations. Two, totally different women in many ways but with many similar traits as well. I wouldn’t pick one over the other out of respect but I can say that no two women ever contributed more to the WWE at crunch time than Trish Stratus and Lita aka Amy Dumas. We had some outstanding ‘Divas’ during that period which helped the Diva division have vitality and significance. Lisa Marie, Jackie Moore, Ivory, Jazz, Molly Holly, Terri Runnels, Terri Poch, Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wislon, Sable, Chyna and many others that I’m inadvertently leaving out all contributed because they all were willing to get physical and raise the bar for their gender.
Ross on HBK coming back to WWE TV during the Road to WrestleMania:
“Why does it seem that HBK is coming back to WWE just in time for WrestleMania?” Easy…to sell PPVs. @ShawnMichaels is Mr Wrestlemania so why wouldn’t one have the WWE HOF’er involved at this time of the year? HBK has more than a vested interest in the seemingly pending HHH vs. Undertaker issue. Who better to address both men than Shawn Michaels? Plus, he adds star power to Raw and he’s still one of the biggest stars WWE to which has access. HBK is a natural born Show Stealer….remember that as time goes on. That’s all I’m gonna say on that topic for now but ‘stay tuned’ to Monday Night Raw.
In this blog entry, Ross also comments on whether or not we will ever see Kurt Angle or Sting in a WWE ring ever again, shares his thoughts on Twitter and discusses why he cant’ pick one greatest match he’s ever called.
