Jim Ross Admits He Almost Signed With TNA

Jim Ross is a WWE Hall of Famer and was the voice of several generations of fans, as he gave decades of his life to the business. Ross has been part of numerous iconic moments in the business, and he continues to be respected even now. It appears he almost signed with TNA back in 2009.

Good ol’ JR has worked in promotions such as Mid-South Wrestling, JCP, WCW, WWE, NJPW, and AEW, but Impact Wrestling fans didn’t get the same honor. That said, there was a chance Ross was going to join the company many years ago.

While speaking on his Grilling Jr podcast, the WWE Hall Of Famer talked about the conversations he had with Dixie Carter when it came to leaving WWE and joining TNA in 2009.

“I was staying in Norman [Oklahoma] and Dixie Carter’s family has a beautiful ranch in North Texas,” Ross recalled. “They flew to Norman and picked me up. It was a 20-minute flight in a little jet, and I met the whole family down there. I was interested, and I would have taken [the job] but I had to have my terms — and my terms were I need to run it [the promotion].

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“I used the old Bill Parcells line, ‘If you want me to cook dinner, you’ve got to let me buy some groceries.’ So, I wanted to have control over the talent — totally. Because some guys had to go, they were killing the budget.

So, she didn’t pull the trigger,” Ross added. “And I’ve seen Dixie many times since then, we get along fine — I like her. But, if she wanted to change the course of TNA, there was a chance. She didn’t have the conviction to step away from a lot of her incumbents because they had built a little power struggle. It was pro wrestling. The con men had taken over, and sometimes she didn’t see it.”

Ultimately, Jim Ross never made his way to TNA and worked in WWE until his eventual release back in 2013. Fans continue to wonder how different the product would have been if Jim Ross was in TNA and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

What’s your view on what Jim Ross said? Do you think he would have flourished in TNA? Share your thoughts in the comments!