Jim Ross has worked as closely with Vince McMahon as anyone else in the wrestling business during his legendary career.
On the latest installment of his “Grilling J.R.” podcast, the WWE Hall of Fame legend and current AEW commentator reflected on his working relationship with the longtime WWE Chairman.
“I took so much off his plate and I don’t want to say he took it for granted, but it was just a really cool thing,” he said. “Honestly, we had a lot of talks one-on-one, and some were very stern, some were very real, some were funny, and some were poignant. But he trusted me and he trusted me with his most valuable asset. The talent. Yeah. So, you know, I was very grateful for all my opportunities in WWE, and assistance is ongoing now and I’ve been a very lucky guy in this business. You know, here, no fat okie with a southern accent and can’t smile because of three bouts of facial paralysis. You know, J.R. never smiled. He’s never happy. I’m happy all the time. I just can’t smile. It’s still paralysis around my mouth. Vince was always I knew where. I always really knew where I stood with him.”
Ross continued, “Sometimes, the last guy to talk to him could sway him in a different way. But for me, he was just a man’s man. And I think that’s what he liked about me when we were alone and just the two of us in a meeting. The meetings were very succinct. They were real. And I just had a great, believe it or not. I had a great time working with Vince, working for him, learning under him and all those things. But did we always get along? No, we didn’t have the same basic philosophy. Sometimes, he liked to sizzle. I like steak. There are many. One of us is wrong. He just meant that we like different things. And I think that comes into play in a good way more often than not. But, you know, he struck onto a chord where the audience gave a damn about J.R. and that a lot of that was because of Vince, Vince’s actions, whether it be kissing his ass or getting punched out by somebody, or he alluded to Bischoff on the cinder block or whatever. It was just that we had a great relationship in that regard that nobody’s going to really believe how good it was. And he liked that he used me, as I don’t know what the word muse was or something. Yeah. He was just really, really good at picking things out that the audience was going to respond to. And one of those things was having some fun with good old J.R. TV personality.”
Check out the complete episode of the “Grilling J.R.” podcast via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to WrestlingHeadlines.com for transcribing the above quotes.
