AEW announcer and Senior Advisor “Good Ole’ J.R.” Jim Ross took to an episode of his “Grilling Jr” podcast to talk about a number of topics, including pro wrestling veteran Matt Hardy spoiling the finish to his WWE SummerSlam 2004 match by revealing it would be last match for a while.
Ross said, “Well it was certainly a teachable moment [for the roster], because they learned what to do or what not to do. Yeah, but Matt s**t the bed on that decision, on that deal. I think the world of the Hardys. God Almighty, I hired them, and their little homemade outfits that they made on their late Mama’s sewing machine. You know, I’ve told that story on television many times. So yeah, it just made common sense. He’s trying to get a scoop, trying to get hits or whatever, whatever you call those damn things. But it was the wrong place, wrong time to provide that information. It may have been good for a few minutes on his website. But all in all, it was a mistake to reveal that info. Just think about it, it just didn’t make any sense. Like you said Conrad, he’s revealing the finish of the match.”
On the winner of Matt Hardy vs. Kane marrying Lita stipulation:
“Yes, it is a little silly. The more I could see Lita, the better off I liked it personally as a red-blooded American man. But it was soap opera at its best in that respect. If you liked it, if you like soap opera and you like sensationalism, then you probably accepted the angle and the storyline more than others. If you’re looking for violence and all this stuff, might not have been your cup of tea. But we’re just trying to find something that people could connect to, and I don’t know how the ratings this thing did, but it got a lot of TV time.”
On WWE needing to erase the storyline:
“I know one thing: if I saw what the results of the ratings were or anything else, I would have got my eraser out and we have not really finished that storyline quickly. That’s what you do. That’s why the TV ratings tells a variety of stories that we should pay attention to, because I think it directly affects the booking. If the booking’s — it’s going to tell you right there, that people are not interested in this deal. You mentioned something earlier about how much audience we lost on something, well that tells you that they’re not interested in seeing it in its current form. Doesn’t it mean you got to s**t on it or get rid of it, or does it? That’s a judgment decision.”
“So I didn’t hate it, because all those guys are my hires. And I wanted to see them do well and make all the money that they could. And I thought the upside for Lita was unlimited, and I think that was proven true. She had it. She connected for whatever reason with her audience and the TV audience. Her persona in the ring was liked, and it kept the audience tuned in because she was such a unique female wrestler.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
