Jim Ross has detailed the busiest time of his career as he juggled the responsibilities of his corporate role with those of a wrestling announcer.
On March 26th, 2001, WCW Nitro aired for the very last time. Vince McMahon and WWE had swooped to buy the ailing company ending the ‘Monday Night Wars’ that took the late nineties by storm.
This just so happened to be six days before WWE’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania. Held in Houston, Texas at the Reliant Astrodome in 2001, WrestleMania X-7 is one of the most revered wrestling shows of all time.
Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, former head of talent relations Jim Ross detailed why for him, that time was anything but plain sailing.
Ross explained:
“For me in my role as head of talent relations that was probably one of the busiest and tumultuous times of my career. Because of the new influx of talent from buying WCW. New talents were coming in, what are we gonna do with everybody? It was really daunting. It was one of those 24/7 deals for a while.”
JR continued noting that his one regret from the time was having to spin too many plates at the one time:
“That’s the only regret I have, I’d have like to have been able to go to Houston with one thing on my mind and that’s calling the matches at WrestleMania seventeen. But I had a lot of other things on my plate that had to be addressed. They couldn’t be pushed aside. Very timely and delicate issues. Negotiating contracts, talents wanting to know what you’re gonna do with them. The only thing I could help them with is ‘here’s what you’re gonna make’.”
“So I wish we’d had a little bit clearer path from my perspective because there was a lot of stuff on my mind, and other people’s minds as well. But through all that stuff, we came up with a hell of a show. The one thing that was exciting about it was we’re gonna go in a dome for the first time since 1992. It’d been a long time. So that was a new adventure, to do a dome show and it just go crazy. We could’ve sold a lot more tickets if we had the room. It was a legit sell-out and one of the hottest tickets I’ve ever been around as far as pro wrestling is concerned.”
The 1992 event Ross alludes to was WrestleMania VIII which emanated from the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. Official attendance figures show that over 5000 more fans crammed into WrestleMania X-7 than its 1992 counterpart. The attendance for WrestleMania X-7 was announced as 67,925.
Ross at the beginning of his podcast sought to clear up any confusion surrounding his recent comments on Andrade. Jim Ross called the recently released ex-WWE star a very talented wrestler.
If you use any quotes from this article please h/t and link back to Inside The Ropes.