With only a week until Wrestlemania 26, we still don’t know the status of Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross. Here are highlights from his weekend blog:
on Jerry Lawler and Wrestlemania 26
Jerry Lawler called me yesterday from Poughkeepsie, New York where it was much warmer there than it was here in Norman. King wrestled Tommy Dreamer last night for promoter extraordinare Michael O’Brien at the Mid Hudson Civic Center. WWE HOF’er Roddy Piper also appeared in Piper’s Pit. King said the event was sold out which speaks well for the talent and the promotional ability of Michael O’Brien and his group. The King and I talked about WM26 and the fact that we would see him in Phoenix at the team hotel. We both were very blessed to have broadcast so many ‘Mania’s together and to have developed a rare, wrestling friendship over our years of traveling together.
on the other announcers in WWE, TNA
Some fans don’t understand how difficult it is for me to critique current wrestling announcers. I was asked to “evaluate” Mike Tenay and Taz. I like both guys and both are friends. Same goes for Michael Cole and Todd Grisham. I have great respect for all these men. It really doesn’t matter what I do or don’t think of their work and no matter what I say it will be over analyzed by some and be interpreted as to what “J.R. really means.” Announcing today’s wrestling product is much different than it was when I first started. I worked through multiple trends/changes within the genre and was luckily to be able to modify my game to fit the times and the in ring presentation. Fans often times forget that any announcer can only work with the product that they see in their monitors and follow the mandate and instructions with which they are produced. That’s not just pro wrestling but sports in general. Great games are easier to call than blow outs.
on HBK vs Undertaker
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker at WM26 is arguably the biggest, most significant match, for a variety of reasons, that WWE has ever presented. Yeah…I know…big statement…but I mean every word of what I say. When one thinks about what these two men have meant to the WWE and the business in general over an extended period of time then my remarks may even be an understatement.
