WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently spoke on his podcast, “Grilling JR,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics.
During the podcast, Ross discussed whether Owen Hart was ever considered for a World Title match at the 1998 Royal Rumble, the Mr. McMahon heel character and whether it was a WCW knockoff, and other topics.
The highlights from the podcast are included below:
Whether Owen Hart was ever in the mix for a title match at the ’98 Royal Rumble:
“I think he (Vince) had already committed to Undertaker for that match to be honest with you. Anytime you get near WrestleMania season you’re always thinking about what are we doing with Taker and how does that fit with the presentation and what other talents does it affect.
How could you not have confidence in Owen’s ability to make anybody he’s wrestling better because he made everybody better. That’s a great mark of a pro to make your adversaries or your dancing partner better than they truly are and Owen could do that with anybody. But, I think the Taker thing was already in play. It got Owen back on TV in a pretty spectacular way and that was a good move in that respect.”
If Mr. McMahon as a heel character was copying WCW:
“Didn’t even cross my mind. Couldn’t care less. Eric was a great on-screen character there’s no doubt about that. To me it’s comparing apples and oranges. I thought from the beginning because I knew how much Vince enjoyed being the bad guy and now he could be the bad guy on TV. He could get physical.
He trained like a trojan so he was in good shape. If that meant something down the road and it did. I thought it was perfect. The timing was good. I said this before and I truly believe it and I mean it. During the height of the Attitude Era, I say that Vince McMahon was the number one heel in WWE.
I also say in that same conversation on who the best heels were that Stephanie has to be given some consideration because she was just a tremendous villain. She learned that from the old man. Vince was the top heel in the Attitude Era and I would debate anybody on that topic.”
Whether Kurrgan was doomed from the start:
“He didn’t connect with the audience that’s one thing. He didn’t have a natural allotment of charisma. He was a wonderful human being. I mean if it was up to me he’d always have a job there as a wrestler. He was a real good singer. He’s probably the king of karaoke. A lot of people don’t know that. Kurrgan the king of karaoke.”
If McMahon would ever settle on Cactus Jack being Mick Foley’s character:
“I haven’t really thought of it in that regard. I think it was probably the most versatile of the three characters. The Dude Love character was entertainment for Vince. Vince was always entertained by Dude Love as were a lot of people. Mick had fun dong it. It kind of lit me up for a second.
He was a sympathetic beloved character in all those incarnations. He had a great fanbase. He sold lots of merch. He sold books. He was popular. They used Mick in the New Age Outlaws illustration, for example, as a way to get heat on heels. Then of course you got down the road as you alluded to here comes Terry Funk Chainsaw Charlie to give Mick a hand.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
