Jim Ross has been around the pro wrestling business as a commentator for a long time.
He knows the gig.
During a recent installment of his Grilling J.R. podcast, the WWE Hall of Fame legend and AEW commentator spoke about a habit he has noticed wrestling commentators doing lately that he feels is lazy.
“I got hooked on these f**king pronouns in the last couple of weeks in all kinds of sports about people,” a fired up J.R. said. “Announcers, big-time announcers who make a good living relying on pronouns. It takes away from your work. Don’t use pronouns if you’re a broadcaster. Use names, use cliches. He’s the champ, he’s the tough guy, he’s this. But there are all kinds of ways to describe somebody instead of saying, ‘He. He did this.’ All right, what’s he doing? ‘He’s going to hit him.’ Okay, who’s he and who’s him?”
Ross continued, “Could he have said that, ‘Tully Blanchard, one-half of the tag champions is attacking so and so?’ That’s more tangible. I’m gonna come out of the kitchen and quit making my sandwich if I hear names. If I hear pronouns, you don’t move the needle. It’s just lazy, it’s freaking lazy. If any announcers are listening… don’t use pronouns as you can keep from it. Sometimes you can’t help it, I get it. But if you can, avoid them and you’ll have a better broadcast.”
Check out more from the episode via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to WrestlingInc.com for transcribing the above quotes.
