Ross opens today’s show by congratulating Ric Flair on his recent marriage. He notes that Flair’s wife, Wendy, has legitimately saved his life. Ross has never seen Flair this happy, and during Flair’s recent health scares Wendy was there for every single minute of it. It’s great to see The Nature Boy so happy, and Ross wishes both of them the best moving forward.
Ross also congratulates Mick Foley and WWE on the fantastic “20 Years of Hell” WWE Network special. He thanks Foley for speaking truthfully about the events surrounding the Hell in A Cell match in 1998, as well as the events that brought Foley into the company in 1996. Ross says he always believed in Mick Foley, and that’s still the case today.
Ross says he enjoyed last weekend’s Hell In A Cell PPV, but he wasn’t particularly fond of the way the finish of the main event was booked. He wouldn’t have booked the finish of the match like that because he thought there was a lot going on with a lot of moving pieces, and we still didn’t get a legitimate finish to the match.
He thought The Undertaker’s promo was the highlight of RAW last week and he thinks the build to Undertaker’s match with Triple H in Australia has been great. Ross also says that Lio Rush looks to have something special, noting that he has everything necessary to be a keeper for WWE. He thinks it was a great idea to pair Rush with Bobby Lashley.
Ross says he loves the Becky Lynch/Charlotte program because it comes off as a very believable feud. He says he’d love to see Asuka built back up into a devastating babyface who could chase Lynch for the Smackdown Live Women’s Title.
A listener writes into the show and asks Ross for his thoughts on Elias. Ross admits that he didn’t like the Elias persona initially because he was thrown off by the guitar. However, now he’s grown to enjoy Elias’ performances, and he thinks the future’s bright for him. He hasn’t seen Elias in enough serious matches yet, but he notes that Elias has all the tools to be a success in the wrestling business.
Another listener writes into the show and asks Ross if he would get rid of “gimmick” PPVs like HIAC or TLC if he could. Ross says that those types of matches and PPVs are necessary for certain storylines and certain matches. He also points out that WWE is an attraction-driven business, and he’s a firm believer in giving the audiences what they want. So to answer the question, he wouldn’t get rid of those PPVs.
Ross welcomes Renee Young to the show.
Ross says he enjoyed working with Michael Cole and still enjoys Cole’s work to this day, but he feels that Cole is overexposed on WWE programming right now. He adds that Graves needs to be concerned about that as well moving forward. Ross thinks someone needs to step up and take some pressure off of those guys at the commentary booth. Young says that Graves is a natural at the commentary booth and she calls Cole an unsung hero, adding that he’s amazing at what he does. He’s also been a great resource to her since she’s moved into a full-time role at the commentary booth.
Young admits that when she first did commentary she wasn’t sure if it was something she wanted to do. Over the last year or so it became evident to her that she wanted to get back to the commentary booth, and she really wanted to put the time in to get really good at it. She also points out that she’d be interested in becoming WWE’s first female play-by-play commentator at some point in the future as well.
Ross asks her if she’d be able to fulfill the play-by-play commentary role for Evolution if she was asked to. She says she’s always up for a challenge, but she can’t honestly say whether she’d be able to do that or not. She doesn’t think she’d be ready to do that at this point in time, but she’d certainly give it her all if that’s what it came to.
Ross doesn’t think Evolution will be the last all-female WWE PPV. Young agrees, noting that there’s a plethora of female talent and she became aware of this when calling the Mae Young Classic. Ross thinks it’s only a matter of time before women main event WrestleMania, and Young agrees. She adds that it’s probably not that far away either.
Young says it was very difficult to see her Husband, Dean Ambrose go through a recent health scare. After having shoulder surgery he had to go back to get a second surgery to clean up an infection that had set in. She says that it was a very scary situation and Ambrose was on antibiotics for months, but luckily everything cleared up and he was able to make a successful return.
Ross asks Young how she has adapted to Vince McMahon producing her on commentary. She points out that everything is so new for everyone right now and they’re all still figuring out how this will work. It’s been great for her to build her relationship with McMahon, and she was excited to start getting produced by him. Ross notes that not everyone has handled having McMahon in their ear well, but he dealt with it for years because he knew where McMahon was coming from. Young agrees, noting that since she’s been around the business for a while she understands how everything works now and has developed think skin.
That sums up this week’s episode of The Jim Ross Report. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
