Legendary commentator Jim Ross reflected on the time WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was “irate” with him.
Ross and McMahon worked with each other for years. At one point, Ross was in charge of Talent Relations. Eventually, things went south as McMahon fired JR over a WWE 2K video game panel that got out of hand due to Ric Flair’s drinking issues. McMahon used Ross as a scapegoat since he was hosting the panel.
Jim Ross Gets An Earful From Vince McMahon
Taking to his Grilling JR podcast, Jim Ross said that there was never a time when McMahon was more furious with him than when he announced the death of Chief Jay Strongbow back in 2012.
“I tweeted out the death of Jay Strongbow and Vince got extremely irate about that because Strongbow and Vince were long-time buddies, very close and he wanted to be the one to do it. My phone rang after, I remember where I was in Tampa at the gym there and you look at your phone and the name ‘VKM’ and you go ‘oh s–t.’ He gave me no chance to say I’m sorry, he was very hurt and I felt very badly that I did that, I didn’t know it was going to have that kind of impact. That was the strongest I ever got, I got chewed out more on the air than live television. On that one he was emotional and angry and I don’t blame him. I made a mistake, it doesn’t hurt us folks when we make a mistake to admit it, understand from it and admit it, learn from it and move on.”
Today, JR serves as the lead play-by-play voice of AEW Dynamite. Ross has said that he and McMahon will still exchange plesantries from time to time if there’s a birthday or it’s the holiday season.
Ross is currently battling skin cancer. He has given a positive update, saying that he doesn’t anticipate to miss any time on AEW TV and that his greatest struggle will simply be getting through all the treatments in the timeframe that the doctors want him to.
When it comes to ventures outside of wrestling, Ross is in the process of opening a cannabis farm in Oklahoma.
H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes
