Jim Ross is a veteran in the pro wrestling world, as he made a name for himself as a commentator in WWE. He has delivered some of the most iconic moments in the history of pro wrestling. Michael Cole also talked about his relationship with Jim Ross recently.
Ross worked in WWE for several years, due to which he is aware of the inner workings of the company. He had extensively worked with Vince McMahon and it didn’t always turn out in his favor as he had been the subject of ridicule numerous times.
While speaking with The Press Box podcast, Michael Cole opened up about his relationship with Jim ross. Cole also stated that he thinks Jim Ross felt threatened by him when he first joined WWE.
“Jim and I have had a rocky relationship over the years. It’s grown to one of mutual respect. You know, Jim at the time, listen, the late 1990s in sports entertainment in general, were an awfully competitive time, not only in WWE, but obviously with WCW and ECW as well. People like Jim, and a lot of wrestlers, whether it be John Layfield or Booker T, or Shawn Michaels, or Steve Austin, these were old school guys. These were guys who were brought up in the territories. Jim Ross learned how to be a wrestling announcer. He started off as a referee and did some managing, of course, in the territories. So he fought and he clawed to get his spot in WWE to be at the top of the pinnacle the mountain.
Now you have this guy coming from the news and knows nothing about sports entertainment. I think Jim felt a bit threatened at the time, and he shouldn’t have been. Jim was a greatest of all time. So there was a little bit of competition between us in the beginning. But it flattened out rather quickly, and Jim really helped me understand what it meant to be an announcer in WWE. The little things you had to do, the intangibles, to become a much better announcer, that’s what Jim helped me with.
To me, Jim Ross is the greatest wrestling commentator of all time because Jim understood and was able to convey emotion. In order to be successful as an announcer in this business, you have to be able to feel the product. Since I didn’t come from the wrestling world, it took me years and years and years to understand how to feel WWE. When I was able to feel the product, it took me 10 years, that is when I think I was ready to make the next step in my career. Jim is the best ever when it comes to emotion. There’s no doubt about it. Even today, at his age, Jim is able to make you feel something that no one else can make you feel about a particular move or a spot or a story. Jim is so awesome at that. That is what I think I learned more from Jim than anything else is how to become so attached to this product that it oozes out of you when you talk about it.”
Jim Ross worked in WWE for 22 years and now Michael Cole has established himself as one of the pillars of WWE’s commentary team. Regardless, there will always be mutual respect between the two.
h/t Wrestling News
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