INTERVIEW CLASSIC (10 YRS AGO): Jim Ross on WM32, return of Sting and Dudleys, working with Savage, Vince McMahon, NXT, Paul Boesch library

In this week’s Interview Classic episode from ten years ago (8-27-2015), PWTorch editor Wade Keller talked live with Jim Ross on WrestleMania 32, return of Sting and Dudleys, working with Randy Savage, Vince McMahon, NXT, Paul Boesch library, New Japan, Lucha Underground, and much more including 38 minutes of a previously VIP-exclusive segment at the end.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 2 (01:05):
Now PW Torch and Spreaker bring you the Wade Keller
Pro Wrestling Podcast. It's time for this week's Interview Classic,
where Wade Killer interviews one of Pro Wrestling's newsmakers.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Ten years ago this week, I interviewed Jim Ross and
we talked for almost two hours about a wide array
of topics, including the return of Sting in the Dudleys,
working with Randy Savage, Vincick Mahn, NXT, the Paul Bosch Library,
New Japan, luch Underground, and much more. This includes the
previously VP exclusive after show portion running nearly forty minutes

(01:42):
at the end. This originally live streamed on August twenty seventh,
twenty fifteen, and it is today's Wade Keller Pro Wrestling
Podcast Interview Classic for Saturday, August thirtieth, twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
All Right, welcome to thep W Torch Live cast. I
am Wade Keller, editor and publisher of the Pro Wrestling
Torch Weekly newsletter and pwtorch dot Com and the PW torchapp,
along with mmatorch dot Com and the MMA Torch app.
We are working from a non stereo set up today

(02:29):
as blog Talk Radio is upgrading some things behind the
scenes today, so we should be back to our normal
standards by next show. But we appreciate you joining us
today and look forward to a really good show here
on Interview Thursday on August twenty seventh, two thousand fifteen.

(02:50):
Today's guest is going to be Jim Ross, the one
and only Jim Ross, the greatest wrestling announcer of this generation,
and I can speak to I can't speak to the
early nineteen hundreds, but I think those who have heard
all the wrestling announcers over the years certainly have him
at the top or pretty much tied with one or

(03:11):
two other grades over the years, and so we're really
looking forward to our time with Jim Ross today. I
do want to begin with a note about one of
our sponsors, and that is direct TV. Direct TV gets
you more pro wrestling, more live usc more live boxing,
and more sports including NFL Sunday Ticket and we'd like
to thank our sponsored check that out when you when

(03:34):
you get a chance, if you're in the market for
an upgrade to your cable service, we're just trying to
figure out going up. Jim, is this you? It is excellent,
Welcome to the program. Sorry for the all two common
technical problems. It seems like company you when you're on
the show, and I'm not blaming you, It just happens
to line up when we're doing some upgrades behind the

(03:54):
scenes that you happen to be the guest, but welcome
to the show. It's a great time to have you
on the show. It was great scene you last month.
I can't believe it was last month. It feels like
longer ago now. But in Waterloo, Iowa for the National
Hall of Fame, and I want to thank you publicly
for volunteering your time and and being present for a
really special night for me and I know so many

(04:15):
other people who were there who were either being honored
or just present to see that Hall of Fame ceremony
in Waterloo, I was. I was so impressed with the
uh with that dangable museum. I just think that's a
great place. And I really and I strongly did back
when I came back from the trip Gym. But I
just continue to rave about it to people and encourage
them to go next year.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
I will hardly agree. It's a it's a real good
secret that a lot of wrestling fans are to wear.
Waterloo's is not the easiest place to get to, but
it's certainly worth the effort to make the trip. Like
all fans will enjoy it once they once they arrive,
and it's a lot like that function and U Waterloo

(05:00):
reminiscent of the same function with the Qualifier Alley Club
in Las Vegas. They're both really good organizations and they
need more support from fans. And I think a lot
of fans would support them more if they just were
more aware of it. So, uh, but it was a
good saying. The Ink and uh well deserved honor and

(05:21):
and and I. I try to make it there every
every July. You know, you try to try to get there,
and it's never seemingly for me, it's never easy, uh,
you know, for one reason or another, but nonetheless it's
always worth the effort.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Where did you fly into before driving there?

Speaker 4 (05:44):
I was. I flew into to the Moine, Okay, and
I and I flew into the Wine from Atlanta, where
I flew in from Memphis, where I flew in from Dallas,
where I flew from Oklahoma City. Wow, Oh that's a
big dog. I had a work day that day doing

(06:05):
two K sixteen video game voiceovers with Lawlor in Memphis.
So then from Memphis I went to Atlanta, and Atlanta
I went to Des Moines and then mid Drive. So
it was a rever long day. Yeah, but you know
it was It's always worth it.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
You know.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
And it was nice at the highway patrol greeted you,
Jim when you arrived.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Yeah. Yeah, that was just one hundred and nineteen dollars.
So my contribution I went farther in the hole. So
as that's fine, you know, it's good, it's it was
not enough people give back to the business, and I
think that's maybe a societal thing and that we should
all think about a little bit more closely.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, no, I'm with you on that. And it made
it more a more special night for me that you
were there to be the master of ceremonies when I
was given the honor of the Jim Melbie Journalism Awards.
So again I thank you for being there. It was
a tremendous, tremendous weekend of wrestling about his newsworthy as
three days of WWE programming yet Saturday with the NFC

(07:09):
Takeover special, Sunday, Summer Slam, Monday a really eventful Raw
with Sting making his return to Raw. Jim, you have
called Sting's career pretty close to the from the very beginning.
I mean there's a little bit of Memphis in California
matches he had that I don't think you called but
from mid South to WCW. You know you've paralleled and

(07:30):
obviously calling him in now in well not now in WW,
but calling him along during some of his peak matches
with Rick Flair along the way, did you imagine that
in twenty fifteen, with Sting in his mid fifties that
he'd still be in the mix as a Essentially it
looks like a challenger to a world heavyweight champion. I
mean his longevity is is I won't say unmatched, but

(07:51):
pretty close to unmatched.

Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yeah, it's pretty impressive. I know, I don't think you
predict any mid fifty year old guy to be headlining
a pay per view of Well, it's it's very unpredictable.
It's an intriguing booking, I think based on the the
intrigue and the and the you know, it's a kind

(08:15):
of a compelling situation. It'll be interesting to see how
well the show does. I believe that will do well.
I think people are curious. Might that match has my curiosity?
Put that way, so we'll see how I tell those
two guys match, how they match up, and how their
styles blend. So it should be it should be a good,

(08:36):
interesting main event.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
I was earlier this year when you know people a thinking,
oh who should Sting wrestle, and you know people bring
it up, you know Undertaker and Triple H and various names.
I always always an advocate for Seth because I thought
that Seth, with his youth and athleticism and be kind
of that smarmy, annoying, pesky heel, would be a good
foe for Sting. And then obviously things were not even
better for Seth at Mania. I don't think that a

(08:59):
Sting would have done as much for his career as
winning the championship and holding it since then. But I
think that that Seth is a good opponent to get
the best that he can out of Sting, perhaps even
more so, or probably more so than Triple H, just because,
as Kevin Nash coined the phrase, at least the first
time I heard it, you know, he's a smaller guy

(09:21):
who can create movements in the rank. That's how Kevin
talked about working with Seawn Michaels, And I think Seth
not that he's a lot smaller than Stang. I mean
a little bit of Seizer, It's not much, but he
can create that movement and that energy and athleticism that
maybe you know, a part time wrestler like Sting at
his age, you know, he's got to kind of pick
his spots and lean on the other guy more style wise.
Are you optimistic this will be a good showing for Sting?

Speaker 4 (09:45):
I think so. I think Seths a good enough student
of the game. It's just the obvious thing is that
you just got to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of
both guys game. I mean, Seth is still growing as
a performer. He's not nearly as good as he should
get eventually. Uh So, he's still his game is still evolving. Obviously,

(10:08):
Sting is not the at his at this stage of
his career.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Isn't as.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
You know, it's not gonna have the P and V
that he had when he was younger, But you know
who does. So I think it's just a matter of
recognizing what they both do well. The great thing about
Robins is that Robins is great at feeding a comeback,
and as we saw, Sting had a real nice burst

(10:36):
when he got Robins in a corner on Monday night.
That was I thought very you know, it was well done.
So if Rollins can sell the big moves and Sting
can bounce around like we know that he can, then
that's a that's a good start for the foundation. And
then of course Sting can sell because he knows how
to sell. And so when Robins is on the offense,

(10:59):
you want, you know, it's impairtive. Both guys sell for
each other. And then but I think that they're probably okay.
I think they both know that they're each has limitations.
Like anybody gets into a match, they both have limitations.
It's the key now is for them, and they were
just putting their match together to understand those limitations and

(11:23):
simply work around them.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Absolutely, I'm intrigued too by the decision to have Sting
on Night of Champions, not WrestleMania or Summer Slam. But
I like it. I like that with the network model,
it seems like some people predicted the opposite, but that
they're going to try to make every event, you know,
Leslie was on Battleground, make every event special in some way,

(11:46):
or at least try to have like, you know, two
out of three shows feel like more than just a
commercial free episode of raw, you know, with a lot
of matches, but not that special attraction or that culmination
of a feud. I think they succeeded in doing that.
Now that they don't have that six month commitment, it
seems like, well, let's stay Sting fornight of champions. That'll
make that special. And I suspect they'll have something special
plan for the October pay per view and then November

(12:07):
will be Survivor Series. I think the twenty fifth aniversary
of Taker's debut. So a lot of a lot of
you know what. I like that strategy of kind of
spreading out the special attractions and you know, whatever drawing
power Sting has. His presence, without a doubt, makes not
a champion stand out from the crowd.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Right exactly. That's the that's some mass that's going to
create the buzz staying wrestling rollins, and so I think
it's strategically good booking, and it gives you a reason
to want to watch the show and be a part
of it. I'm going to be doing my ringside show
down there, exactly five tenths of a mile from the

(12:46):
Toyota Center, so it's a ten minute walk in a
place called Warehouse Live, So I may I may actually
sneak in and go to that pay per view. I
have friends there that has access to suites and and
I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna they're sitting down at
ringside like I did it n XT in San Jose.

(13:08):
But I'd like to. I'd like to be able to
sneak in and discreetly watch the event if possible after
my show. So because I'm curious, I'd like to. I
want to watch the I don't know what else is
going to be booked, but I am curious about the
main event I go.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
I think back to the Baltimore Bash, Great American Bash
in Baltimore nineteen ninety July nineteen ninety and twenty five
years ago. You know, just over twenty five years ago,
it was supposed to be the crowning of this Sting era,
and you know that was a passing of the torch.
It was seen as corporate WDW has there, you know,
before the phrase was used in modern day corporate champion,
the guy who kind of could compete with WWF and

(13:45):
Hulkogan and it just didn't quite work out. Sting went
on to have a lucrative career and a big star,
especially during the mont War era. But looking back to
him twenty five years ago with Sting in the news today.
What was it a lack of opponents booking support or
or was Sting just not quite ready yet to carry

(14:05):
the torch for WCW. What went wrong where Sting didn't
end up becoming the draw that I think a lot
of people in that maybe two year period leading up
to that match thought he would be.

Speaker 4 (14:15):
I don't know that he was provided the very best
of the commitment, of the commitment was really there for him, unfortunately.
I don't know if that was just more political issues
or what it might be. I think that as far
as his n ring work, he was I don't think
that was an issue. But you look at the opponents

(14:39):
that he had, you know, after you got past Rick
and the return matches, there really wasn't There wasn't a
lot there. Yeah, they were red hot, ready for a
red hot heel ready to make a run at him.
But I just I don't I don't know. I never
have been able to ascertain, well he didn't get a

(15:01):
better shot at it, but it just seemed like it
was just cut short and he wasn't given the uh,
the opportunity that others may have gotten later on. And uh,
but that's just the needs and sometimes it's a it's
a Booker creative committee, whatever needs your kind of reaction,
you know, uh, and it's uh when things go wrong,

(15:25):
you you know, you will will change the title as
if that's going to be the cure all and he's
just and more often it isn't. Isn't the issue at all.
So I don't really know what to do. Was I
don't think anything to do this ability. I thought he
was ready personally and uh, and the crowd loved him,
and he just needed to he just needed to get
a he needed, he needed time, he needed he needed

(15:47):
to hold the belt for a while and and and
they need to have a plan. I don't think we
ever had a great plan. Okay, he's gonna he's gonna
be the champion until blank and then we're gonna If
he's doing great, then we're coop. If he's not, we're
gonna thlirt on so and so, Yeah, there's got to
be a gotta be a game plan. You gotta have
a you got to have a maintenance plan, you gotta

(16:07):
have an exit strategy. But I just think that at
that time, saying things seemed and again that's twenty five
years ago. So my memory I was good. It just
seemed like thanks for done very uh short term and
any time you find yourself into a short term pattern
of booking, generally more poor creative decisions are made then

(16:29):
than are the better ones.

Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
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Speaker 3 (17:04):
If you're just joining us. Jim Ross is the guest
of the PETERWG Torch Live cast here and interview Thursday
on wood Keller. Listen to the show on Tuesday. Torchslivecast
at gmail dot com. Let's start with an email question
just be a little different, and then we'll go to
a call next in fact seven, one, eight, and eight
one to three will be the first two callers on deck.
But first let's go to Anthony from Australia, he says,

(17:25):
looking at where things are now, does Jim Ross think
the rest of many a thirty two card can live
up to expectations and draw one hundred thousand plus. I'm
fairly sure they will get there, as having traveled from
Australia to San Jose myself, it's just an amazing experience.
But with a possible Taker Lesner match and maybe Seth
against Triple h by then is that enticing enough? Are

(17:47):
they going to have to pull a few more rabbits
out of the hat? And then he also Part two
wants to know if you, Jim, planned to bring your
one man show to Australia. He said, Unfortunately, I couldn't
make it in San Jose as I was with my
young son and we had three sessions of Access plus
Wressell Kahn and the Hall of Fame to go to
that day.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Well, we are. We talked to promoters in Australia, so
that's that's uh. I'd say it's on the radar, but
there's no date set because that's a huge commitment in
time travel and then almost as long we'll get into Waterloo.
Yeah well yeah, maybe maybe less less drive might be

(18:28):
less yeah so but I so that's on the on
the on the drawing board. At some point we hope
to play Australia. Uh for sure. The I'm really not
worried about. I mean to think, here, it is August
twenty seventh, and to think about a card the first

(18:51):
weekend in April, it's hard for.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
Me to do.

Speaker 4 (18:56):
I know this. I know that company wide, I'm sure
that every department knows that this will be the most
thoroughly marketed promoted. They'll spend more money on this show
to promote it and to load it up with things
that people that will create a buzz than any show

(19:19):
in recent memory. In WWE. They want to do the
one hundred thousand plus. I think that they will. WW
will be successful with it. You know, I don't get
paid to book their cards, so I don't know what.

Speaker 5 (19:33):
You know.

Speaker 4 (19:33):
We all have our own flavor of ice cream that
we want to sample. But I just believe that this
is going to be an extremely well marketed event. I
think at the events has probably meant it very clear
to everybody in the company that of how high a
priority this one hundred thousand north of one hundred thousand

(19:55):
mark is, and I personally believe that they will achieve
it if you look at the things other than just
a wrestling. You've got great hotels in Dallas. You've got
a DFW airport that you can fly into NonStop from
virtually anywhere in the world on American You've got another

(20:16):
hub at love Field where you can fly NonStop into
Dallas virtually from anywhere that Southwest Airlines flies. So you've
got a very accessible market, very geographically friendly. You can
drive there from a lot of places that's you know, doable.

(20:38):
So I just think that there's a lot of positive
things going for it, and I don't care. I'm not
really worried about who wrestles who. You know, if it's
going to be Undertaker and Brock, that's so be it,
or or you know, Triple H and Rawlins. I don't
know what the card's going to be. I don't know.
I don't think anybody does. We can all guess, but

(20:58):
guessing on today's creative is to me is not very
I don't know's it doesn't seem like it's a very
good use of our time. Based on today's creative, we're
gonna the card's going to be blank. I think the
car could change a great deal and and yeah, they're
gonna have to pull out all the stops. They're going
to pat you know, I'd find a role for Shawn Michaels,

(21:20):
I'd find a role for Steve Austin. It wouldn't be wrestling,
because not the ever want to wrestle. Yeah, but I'd
find a roll of some kind where they were actively
involved in the in the event and in some shape
form or fashion. And uh, I think if the Untertaker
is ever going to retire and you want to have
a retirement match, and then that would be another tremendous

(21:42):
feature to promote his last match if that were to
be the case. But but whatever the whatever the attraction is,
way are the attractions. Uh Ronda Rouse's first time back
in the first time in a wrestling ring and a
quote unquote officially, whether that's a mixed tag are singles match.

(22:02):
So they're going to do all the can to fill
it up. And I just think that they'll do one
hundred thousand plus. I really do.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
The way they drop Ronda Rousey's name now I mean
tough enough last week Raw Summer Star. I mean it's
like you can't get through a week at WWE programming
without her name being mentioned. I wonder if they're doing
that in part because they're hoping that she is available
and that she does get a green light, inasmuch as
that's necessary to be part of that show, because WWE

(22:31):
is doing a lot to promote her name value. I
know she's a big star in basically a household name
at this point, but I don't think it hurts at
WWE is promoting her and touting her as the best
woman female athlete in the country right now, in the
world right now. It's interesting to see that dance play
out over the next handful of months between now and
when the WrestleMania card is announced, because obviously she would

(22:53):
she'd make a difference to selling tickets no matter what
role she's in.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
Well, the ise you is that if you're Dana White,
you have to understand that she's not going to get
hurt doing anything in the in the ring. They're not
going to put her in a position to do anything
other than she wouldn't do much need to do much
more than the hip lock. She gave triple h. You're

(23:19):
looking to find the armbreaker or the arm bar, but
I think that the publicity of her leading up to
her in that event would be a phenomenal you'r Dana White.
Here's what you get. You get your top star in
a headlining position before one hundred thousand people, with a

(23:41):
worldwide audience, with plenty of USC mentions, the fact she's
the USC bettam White Champion, and she gets to make
a seven figure plus payday without fail, and she's going
to get to go do an event that she's been
attached to or attracted to since she was young. She's

(24:01):
been a fan forever, so she's made happy creatively, she's
made happy financially. You get that stretch, the media stretch
with her coming back your way, So to me, it
makes all the common sense in the world. And I
still of the belief that the only person that she
should work with is Stephanie, because Stephanie is the best

(24:24):
heel female on the roster, and her to work with
a somebody that's more ambitious and younger and all these things,
unless it might be Natty, but Stephanie is the best
heel and Stephanie can stack the deck and can name
her husband the referee, and name the big show er second,

(24:45):
and do all these kinds of things to stack the
deck against Ronda Rowsey or she or could be Stephanie
interpolation in a mixed tag with Rock and Rousey. Who knows.
There's a lot of ways to skin the cat, but
I can. But the original question was will they have enough?
Of course they'll have enough to sell out or to

(25:07):
fill they want.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
They want to break.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
They want to go north of one hundred thousand. I
haven't heard any other number, but so I believe that
they will get north of one hundred thousand. And the
other thing, too, is that you know I have It
would be interesting to see what how they scale the
house price wise. You'll be able to get a great
indicator of what they're of, what serious they are, and
their game plan when you see the lowest priced ticket,

(25:31):
what that is and what left be? So uh, they'll be,
They'll be. I really believe they'll be fine. And I'm
not being an apologist for them. I just think the
events cann be so well promoted. It's in such a
spectacular palace. I've been to events there. Uh uh, several
ball games, uh, it's there's nothing.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Like in the world.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Nothing, nothing comes close and uh and it's accessible no
matter where you live on Earth, you can get to doubt.
If you don't believe me, just go walk down Terminal D,
the International Terminal. Look where all these flights are departing for.
It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. So I just see it

(26:13):
doing very well, and I see the downtown Dallas merchants
of falling in love with WrestleMania, and I know it's
going to be a big deal. And I know my group,
my little team is working feverishly to get all of
our issues addressed and we're going to have a much
bigger play in what the things I do at WrestleMania

(26:37):
this year. And we just are waiting to finalize our venue,
our host venue, our headquarters, and we think we've were
close on that, and then we'll start getting tickets on sale.
So I'm going to get way ahead of the ahead
of the game on this deal this time, so that
like that guy from Australia won't miss my show because
he's going to three ungodly sessions of access.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Excellent, excellent. All right, let's go to phone calls now,
six four six is the number FW you want to
get in line on the switchboard. I got nearly a
dozen people on hold. We'll get to as many of
you as we can, and now's the time to call
if you want to get in line. Let's go first,
as promise to Eric, code seven and then seven eight.

(27:21):
I'm gonna put you back on hold and I'll try
you again. Let's try to get rid of the background noise,
because that was that was not acceptable. All right, Let's
go to eight one three eight one three. Thanks for holding.
Please state your name and where you're calling from.

Speaker 6 (27:35):
Hey, Wade and Jim, this is Jamie from Tampla Bey Jay.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Good to hear from you. What have you got for
Jim today?

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Hey?

Speaker 6 (27:43):
I had two quick questions here. I'm mostly going to
UH one of the NXT shows tonight and then I'll
be at the roll here in Tampa on Monday. Two
questions for Jim was one is who do you feel
list see UH has the next potential with some of

(28:03):
the UH the newer commentators.

Speaker 7 (28:07):
UH.

Speaker 6 (28:08):
I mean I as far as anybody knew right now,
I really like the the way Corey Graves does the some.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
Of the color. I guess he does color.

Speaker 6 (28:20):
My second question was for Jim, is there any current
talents on on anybody's roster right now that you feel
that you could have really gotten behind. I mean, I
know you definitely helped to build a lot of careers
that I I mean, that's why the way I feel that.

Speaker 5 (28:42):
I've been watching it for a long time and the
way you.

Speaker 6 (28:44):
Call matches, and it really seemed to elevate that person
and the match. So that was my second question. Is
there any any current talent on the roster that you
feel like you wish you could really get behind that person?

Speaker 3 (28:58):
Great?

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Well, I think Uh. I think Tom Phillis is doing
a nice job on SmackDown. Uh, very green and it
still has you know, Miles Ago, but he's got potential
and a great work ethic. He's a bright young guy.
And uh. The also the announced group down at NXT

(29:20):
does a good job.

Speaker 5 (29:22):
You know.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
I think that's Rich.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
Yeah, they don't get the credit they deserve. Rich does
a real good job. And I know he prepares hard
and I respect that Corey is making the most of
his opportunity after being sidelined with the concussion issues. He
knows this is his key to the future. If he
wants to stay in WWE, at least for now, it's
going to be as a broadcaster. And he's got a

(29:47):
heasy yet young got a unique look and uh and.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
He's cool, you know he. I think he connects with
him punk type audience, the people who love me.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
So yeah, So I think he's got a he's got
a good shot at being successful. He just got continue
to study his craft and and uh talking sound bites
and uh you know, uh be entertaining when he needs
to be. And it's a field thing. So I think
he'll be.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
I think he's going to do fine and and uh
but far you know I I uh, I don't. I
would not have any issues getting behind. I don't know
who I wouldn't get behind. I mean, if you call,
you can only call the match based on what the
guys are giving you. And you get somebody that's really
given you a good match, then you you you they're

(30:34):
making the music and and the announcers are providing the lyrics.
You can't be off key here. So if a team,
if they're doing comedy, you can't do serious commentary. It
doesn't fit. Uh So if they're doing serious, if they're
doing serious wrestling and they're not being uh, they're not
being trying to be funny, then then you should call

(30:57):
it accordingly. So, uh, I don't know who I wouldn't
embrace if I was in that role. You've got to
call you what they give you. So, you know, there's
a lot of guys on the roster that are you know,
ww's is a transitional period, so there's a lot of
guys that are continuing to grow. They're just not ready yet,

(31:18):
but they're getting close and that's a neat thing. A
lot of young guys are getting close, and that's that's
got to be encouraging for the company.

Speaker 8 (31:32):
In twenty twelve, NXT transitioned into the developmental system and
ultimately the brand you see today. On the Torch VIP
podcast NXT eight Years Back, we'll be taking a weekly
look at this page in NXT's early history.

Speaker 9 (31:48):
Join Kelly Wells and me Tom Stout from PWT Talks
NXT every Saturday as we go eight years back to
the day to track NXT's rising talents and why they
did or didn't work out exclusively for PW Torch v
I p members.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
I think Part two of Jay was got young guys
who are ready. I think he meant wrestlers ready to
to maybe make it up to you know, w W
in the big spotlight? Are anybody that you know there?

Speaker 4 (32:16):
I don't. I don't, I don't. There's so many variables.
You can't this stamp ook. If this guy's ready, how
are you gonna introduce him? Who's is it gonna be
a Betty Facer? Is he going to be a heel?
Who's he going to work with this first program?

Speaker 10 (32:28):
How?

Speaker 4 (32:28):
How does he how does he get introduced to the
to the audience? Is it impactfully? Is it done in
a three or four week period? A six or eight
week period? Uh, there's so many variables that there are
plenty of people in n x T. Finn Valor is ready,
but but he but the key to Finn Valor being
and some Ojoe is ready for God's sakes, Yeah, they

(32:50):
don't need to wait since they're seasoned, they're ready. But
if they're not going to be, they don't. If they
don't have a plan to introduce them that's impactful and meaningful,
then both those gentlemen are better off staying at NXT
until that plan is developed and cultivated on you know,
to take them to the next step up. So that's

(33:11):
the key right now to me is not who's going
to be ready, but how are you going to introduce them?

Speaker 3 (33:17):
And I've reached that a lot gym to people who go,
you know, why haven't they call this guy? Why they
call that guy? Why isn't she up? Why isn't she up?
And it's not like I think you just said it,
really well, it's not who's ready alone. I mean, yes,
that you have to be ready, but part of it
is you don't want to be called up until Vince
McMahon is excited about using you in the right way
and has a plan, because without that, you're gonna end

(33:39):
up getting lost. If you're an NXT, the last thing
you want is to get called up because somebody pushes
you on Vince. You want to get called up because
Vince has seen enough of you that he's excited on
how he wants to utilize you exactly.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
So the entrance is very very important. The entrance and
to the next level, it is very very important.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
Yeah, if you're just joining us in progress here live
on Thursday August twenty seven, twenty fifteen. Jim Ross is
the guest here on PW Torch Livecast's Interview Thursday. I'm
Moyd Keller hosting. By the way, I've had a lot
of people asking about email and Twitter when my show
with Steve Austin will go up on The Steve Austin Show,
We're going to be recording that probably Saturday, and we'll

(34:19):
be talking about the whole weekend. I've assigned him the
duty of watching Sasha Banks against Bailey from Saturday night.
He said, I was not the first, but he's been
real busy with some other things. So's we're going to
end up recording the show over the weekend and it
should drop on Tuesday. And I know a lot of
you look forward to Steve and I talking about pay
per views, so the plan is to look for that
on Tuesday. And it'll be nice in this case because

(34:40):
we'll get to kind of reflect on a week of television,
you know, Raw and SmackDown following SummerSlam, to kind of
put it all in perspective, because man, Jim SummerSlam on Sunday,
the finishes of those two matches were huge conversation pieces
for twenty four hours, and Raw really addressed both of them.
I think in a way that that met most people's approval.

(35:02):
How did you feel Sunday night following John Stewart costing
Sina a chance to unify his US with the world
title and with the controversial finish as by design of
Undertaker and lesnar did were you skeptical of the finishes
Sunday and then liked them Monday or vice versa. How

(35:22):
did that process go with you? Because I know I
went through that process over the course of Sunday night
through Monday night.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
I thought the the finish of Les Undertaker was reminded
me a lot of Bill Watch's thinking. I thought it
was good. Both guys were protected. You got a winner.
You didn't get a count out or a disqualification. You
got a winner. Both guys had had a legit bitch

(35:52):
uh they they chose to exercise it. So I had
no issue with that whatsoever. H And as far as
the John Stewart thing, the only thing I had no
idea he looked, you know, obviously it looked awkward. It
was awkward, It was a little timid, and I was

(36:15):
only hoping, and I wrote this on my blog about
the event that this may be, it may be a
lot better than we perceive it to be tonight if
it is explained fully on Monday, And they explained it
on Monday. So yeah, that's the key thing is that.
But you get a lot of people that are people
have no patience, like the call up question earlier. You know, well,

(36:40):
I've been waiting, this guy's been here for this long
or whatever. That's like driving through the twenty four, you know,
the features thirty minutes or it's free deal. People have
no patience anymore. So I had no issues. I had
no issues with the finish. I had no issues with
the Undertaker tapping. I didn't think it hurt his character
whatsoever because she human uh, and they and and and uh.

(37:04):
You know it was hit us season made uh tapouts,
you know, mmas made tapouts. You know, it's just part
of the game. So I had no.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Problem with it.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
I had no problem with out of one. I like
to finish the Undertaker and Brock and uh. I would
have put Brock over, but that's me. I had a
different plan in place in my head. But I thought
that Undertaker going over was a little predictable because it
sets up the inevitable rubber match. And uh, I can
see where some people say, well, if lets are one

(37:36):
the first two, then there's just no reason they have
a third match, and I totally disagree with that, so uh,
But in any event, I had no problem with I
thought the finishes were fine and uh, and I was
just I just wanted the show to be to not
have any non finishes in those two matches. So I
got my wish, so I had nothing to complain about.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was. I was swayed to your
side of of having going against convention and having Lesnar
win again. I liked your argument. I thought it was interesting.
Steve Austin gave his side, which was a very logical
approach to to doing it also, but I think your
approach of going of Undertaker going h and two it
was a little less conventional, but I think it did

(38:21):
have a little more meat on the bones to to
put Undertaker in jeopardy in a third match of losing
three in a row. What does that mean versus getting
a you know, perhaps at WrestleMania, a big win that
in that context probably means more than winning the second match,
because his back would be against the wall going on

(38:42):
in three. And there's a lot of stories you can
tell with that. I thought it was an interesting discussion
going into Sunday, and I'm it was. It was fun
that both you and Steve gave, you know, different viewpoints
on that and and made good cases for both.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Also, it's very subjective. That's the that's the Nights for
the Beast, very subjective. There's there's a lot of I've
said this before, there are a lot of right ways
to do something good in pro wrestling.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Yeah, that's where fantasy booking gets a little I haven't
been a you know, I'm not a big proponent of it.
People know you don't call the show and fantasy book
and give us your ideas because when you get too specific,
you're presuming that you found the key that will unlock
the door, that there's one key that fits, and that's
just not the way it is. There's there's a whole array.
There's dozens of, if not hundreds, of ways you can

(39:28):
approach bake matches, and a lot of them are good
and a lot of them aren't. And a lot of
good ones can be ruined if they're not done well,
and a lot of bad ideas can be made okay,
if there's something kind of novel and clever about the
way they're executed. So, you know, like you say about WrestleMania,
speculating about the lineup, there's dozens of ways to use
the top stars right now in a really effective way.
There's not just one lineup that's going to work. And so,

(39:52):
you know, the more people realize that, then I think
the more open minded they can be to something going
a little different than what they may be imagine or
propose themselves. Let's go back to the calls. We'll go
to six one, six and five one three next, beginning
with six one six. Please state your name in the
city you're calling from.

Speaker 11 (40:09):
Hell.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, this is you.

Speaker 5 (40:10):
Yeah, I'm sorry.

Speaker 12 (40:11):
I didn't hear you.

Speaker 10 (40:12):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 13 (40:12):
I didn't he was there from Grand Rapids. I didn't.
I didn't know you came to me.

Speaker 12 (40:16):
I'm sorry, No problem, no problem at all.

Speaker 5 (40:17):
Ahead, Hey, why why?

Speaker 13 (40:19):
I want to ask Jim, Well, what was the deal
with breaking up the Rock and Roke Express and with
the York croudation. I don't know if he was there
at that time, but I had said this question about that,
and then I then I wondered why they ever gave
Gary Hart a chance. I never really liked him to
begin to begin with. And that's why I got thank you.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Thanks Eric Boy. I disagree on Gary Hart.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
I didn't get the what about Gary Hart?

Speaker 3 (40:42):
He said, why did you Why did Gary Hart get
a chance period? I think as a manager because he
didn't think he didn't like him. But anyway, oh, okay,
well a lot of people did. Yeah, yeah, Gary. Gary
wasn't especially like Paul Hayman, Bobby Heen and Jim Cornett.
He was more along the lines of JJ Dillon, but
Bruce Mitchell. On Bruce Mitchell Audio for VP members this
weekend just at a whole, you can imagine Jim a

(41:05):
long detailed history of managers in the various roles they
played in actually having managerial duties behind the scenes with
their wrestlers. And we talked about Jim Cornett kind of
coming up with moves and scouting talent and coming up
with ideas, and JJ Dillon being having the role that
he had behind the scenes, and talked about Paul Ellering
and the Road Warriors and doing the business side of things.

(41:25):
Gary Hart was among the most involved in his own
talents actual business affairs.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
He was a heel and he enjoyed being a villain
and I think he was a very very effective manager,
very menacing, you know, uh, just and had a good
had a good booker's head for a heat if you're
a territory that had a where you wanted your your

(41:52):
he had a string of heels. He was good in
the booking area. That But I thought Gary Hart was
a very very good managed re Quite frankly, I don't
remember the uh the situation was Morton and Gibson breaking up, well,
and I got I want to say it was was
it because of an injury or uh? I don't remember

(42:16):
the York Foundation thing with Richard. I remember it, but
I don't remember what brought us to that point.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
Well, let me bring Eric back in if he's still there, Eric,
do you remember that the storyline out of the breakup,
because I'm a little hazy with me too. I mean
I watched all the shows, but it was a long
time ago.

Speaker 13 (42:31):
No, No, I just want I just wondered why, why
why he joined the Foundation? And then just what just
wondered about that was there? I wonder if there was
an injury, That's what I was wondering to.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
Okay, yeah, I'd have to go back and actually, well,
if you're a via team of Eric. You can read
the back issue, match it up to that timeframe and
get the inside story in the newsletter, because the print
editions of the back issues of The Torch have a
better memory than I do. But that was where you know,
he became Richard Morton and Alexander York, you know, accompanied
him to the ring and it was Terrence Taylor and
you know that kind of era. But yeah, I don't

(43:01):
remember it was an injury gym or just a chance
to do something different with Ricky at that point.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
It might have been the fact that they want, you know,
the booking committee or whatever whoever the booker was that week,
wanted to you know, wanted to try something new with
the rock and roll. I don't know. Maybe they'd been together,
they thought they had done all they could with them.

Speaker 11 (43:22):
You know.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
It's just always been a head scratcher to me. When
you get really, really good talent and you get a
great team and then you run out things to do
with him, that's to me, that's an indictment on the
creative group, not the talent. And so I just I
don't really remember. I just it had to be you know,
it was twenty five years Ago as well, so I

(43:45):
don't know what the cause of that was.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
It's a good transition into the talking about the return
of the Dudley's, which I thought was handled really well
on Monday's Raw. The Dudleys are an example of a
team that I think, as an act, are better off
together than separate, you know, And I think they've tried
to do single They've tried to go singles, and Bullie
Ray had a really great run I think of cutting
great promos. He got in the best shape of his life,
best shape of his career, had some good matches in TNA.

(44:13):
You know, Devon has done his own thing, Reverend Devon
and that kind of thing. But really, I think everybody
who's watched everything the Dudley's have done individually and as
a team would say there's something about them together that's
greater than the sum of their parts. And the way
they just dropped right back into WWE on Monday and
it was like they hand skipped a beat. They look
the same, They looked like the Dudleys. They don't look

(44:33):
a lot older or run down. They're able to do
their spots. It was crowd pleasing. I talked about this
on the Keller Hotline Monday. It's a lesson to Daniel Bryan,
I think, or a message to it Daniel Brian that
you know, when you kind of get certain things down
as an act that the fans want to see, the
yes chant and different submission moves, you don't have to

(44:54):
do things that take this huge physical toll and are
really risky and you're serving the fans by doing that.
The Dudleys have figured out there's certain things that they
can do that at their age in their mid forties,
still work and still pop the crowd. Jim. I just
thought that was handled really well by WWE, and I
think the Dudleys are one of those kind of attitude
era acts that that have some legs left for whatever

(45:16):
they plan to do with them this fall and beyond.

Speaker 4 (45:19):
Well, they add credibility to the tag team division. Any
tag team that works with them in the ring, it's
gonna get better. They're also veteran guys, but they've their
school down in Florida, so consequently they're going to be
good mentors. They're at the stage where they got it there,
they're at the giving backstage. It's not all about our

(45:42):
next run. It can't be all about our next run.
They've got to be there for more of the reasons
than that. At this stage of the game. They want
the ww is gonna want their leadership. There be mentors,
coach these kids up, help them out, have solid matches
on the road. They got a good name, and Danity
is a good hire. I think it was a good hire,

(46:04):
good get for WW you and I'm happy that the
Dudles were back, and I agree with you it was.
It was well done and I'm happy for all involved.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Absolutely yep, thanks for downloading today's show. Take it to
the next level with a VIP membership. Get shows like this,
the way Keller Prosing Podcast, Weykeller Prosing post show, and
the PW Torch daily casts on our PW Torch VIP
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(46:33):
exclusive shows that I host with Rich Fan and Todd Martin,
Everything with Rich Fan and The Fix with Todd Martin
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So go vip here in twenty twenty two and enjoy
all the benefits, all the bonus content and the ad
free listening experience pw torch dot com, slash go VIP.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
All right, well let's go next to five one three
and then on deck six four six five one three,
Please state you name the city you're calling from.

Speaker 12 (47:01):
Hi, this is Brian from Cincinnati. Pleasure to take both
of you.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Yeah, what have you got for Jim?

Speaker 12 (47:08):
Well, Jim, first off, I just want to ask her,
a you're going to be coming to Cincinnati anytime soon?

Speaker 14 (47:13):
We're missing out soon.

Speaker 4 (47:15):
No, but we want to start to do our show there.
I was on the Bill Cunningham Show the other day.
We did talk about that a little bit on WLW.

Speaker 3 (47:24):
I missed that.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
I missed that we're going to try to find a
spot for Cincinnati because I I like the Montgomery Inne
and the Skyline Chili, so I'm a foodie, so I uh,
I'll look forward to doing that, and uh so we'll
we'll definitely play Cincinnati with these ringside shows. I just
slowed down a lot during football season because I'd.

Speaker 5 (47:48):
Say, what about it?

Speaker 12 (47:49):
What about Saturday night after a game or something? I'm
trying to if you're not coming to Cincinnati, shoar, I
don't think.

Speaker 4 (47:55):
Well, I'm doing I'm doing I'm doing one at on
a thirdday night, September the tenth in Knoxville, which is
the week at Oklahoma plays Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday,
so I'm doing my show there on Thursday night. So
I just I'd rather go to watch oh you play

(48:15):
football than to go make a payday. And when football
is over, then I will go resume the bookings as
long as they're under control. You know, I just don't
want to. I'm not going to be on the road
as much as Mick Foley, for example. I'm just not
and I'm I'm the podcast is. My podcast is doing

(48:36):
very well and I like to devot a little time
to that. Plus I'm in the process of with two
other gentlemen of writing my autobiography, so that's also time consuming.
So but Cincinnati's definitely. We'll definitely play Cincinnati at some point.
I would say it'll probably after football season before that happens.

Speaker 12 (48:56):
And one other thought, Jr. Just you mentioned earlier about
the other it now now now kind of an immediate gratification,
and perhaps that's one reason why no one knows you.
Barbecues low and slow, and perhaps that's why no one
knows of Connecticut barbecue.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
All right, I've never had any great barbecue Connecticut, but
I do hear that they some of my friends that
will still live there, say that they have gotten a
couple of places. So they didn't have anyone I lived there.
I can tell you that.

Speaker 12 (49:25):
But they don't do a whole lot low and slow there,
that's for sure.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
Brian.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
All right, Brian, are you were broadcasting? You got a
You have a really good voice.

Speaker 12 (49:35):
Actually I did part time many many years ago.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Yeah. I can tell you people getting broadcasting and they
just get a certain way about about speaking, and it's
pretty noticeable. Well, thank you, Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, plee,
thanks very I appreciate the call.

Speaker 5 (49:50):
Call again, thank you, thanks your you bet, buddy.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
All right, all right, let's go to six four six next.
By the way, if you want to get on the
phone lines, we might get your call. We're moving through
colleg pretty swiftly. Here six four six seven two one
nine A two eight six four six seven two one
nine eighty scheduled. All right, back to the phone lines
we go, and as promised, six four six is up.
Next six four six, Please state your name and where
you're calling from six four six. Hello, yep, this is you.

Speaker 10 (50:21):
Oh I'm sorry cause I didn't hear the beep. Mi
Nelson from Bronx, the RVIP member.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
Hey Nelson, thanks for calling and thank for being a
VIP member.

Speaker 10 (50:29):
It's a great honor to talk to Hall of famers.
You have no idea for me, but I have two
questions for for mister Jim Ross. Uh. You know Gordon Solely,
You know, he was the epitome of a great announcemis
from the nineteen seventies and unfortunately I was born a
little later in nineteen seventy seven. So Jim Ross is
like my answer to uh, mister Gordon Solely. Uh, when

(50:51):
you went to the World Repslinks Federation in nineteen ninety three,
I mean, you've brought such credibility to the WWS. When
you made your debut at WrestleMania nine, you mentioned in
the past that you and Randy Savage. Uh, you know,
you guys didn't mesh and I and I just wanted
to know what did Randy duke so that you guys,
you know, didn't get along. So because when I watched

(51:12):
you guys do commentary, Uh, and on Monday night rolling
on the pay per views. You guys.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
You know, I thought you.

Speaker 10 (51:17):
Guys did a great job and did and uh and
did well. And now I have another question out if
you can answer the first question.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
Wait sure, yeah, go ahead, Jim.

Speaker 4 (51:26):
Well, I never said that we didn't get along. I
just said we didn't have great chemistry, okay, because he
was very uh unpredictable with his banter and with where
he was taking where he would take certain aspects of
a match that I just never quite got in rhythm with.
But uh, I never I never had any personal issues

(51:49):
with him whatsoever. Uh we I don't, I don't, I don't.
I never thought that we really jailed uh And but
I'm not blaming him for that. It just it takes
two to two. So uh, it's just his style and
my style. And you know, you've you've got to trust,
You've got to trust your partner. And I was new

(52:09):
and I'd come from w c W and I was
the voice of the enemy. I don't know that he
fully trust me ever, so uh, you know, it's just
one of those things. But it wasn't the end of
the world deal. You know, we when we get we
went on the air. We you know, we we we
tried to deliver as best we could, and I'm glad
you liked our work, and I think our work could

(52:30):
have been better, but we just we didn't work together
long enough for that chemistry to really build. But I
never I've never indicated anybody that I didn't like Randy
or whatever. He was hard to get to know. He
was a unique guy, and I was never I didn't
run in his circles. So you know, we we had
a business relationship, and that's pretty well where it started

(52:53):
and ended.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
Jim, let me interject before Nelson asked the second question.
Was there anybody that you did the commentary with that
you developed good rapport with that in the earliest stages
you thought, oh, I don't know that this is going
to work, you know, not not again, not a personal thing,
just a kind of a chemistry and a report thing
on air? Was there? Did you get off to a
rocky start with anyone who ended up feeling really comfortable

(53:16):
with later?

Speaker 4 (53:17):
Well, I got off I think I got off to
a rocky start with Hayman when I when I when
I named Haiman my partner in w c W, because
he had no experience and he he he had a
lot of energy and a lot of creativity and a
lot of talent, but he he needed structure. So we

(53:37):
there were some issues there with structure that were could
be frustrating, but it was all a part of the
learning process. And and he generally, once he got past
an issue, never made the same mistake twice.

Speaker 10 (53:52):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (53:52):
And I knew that he was going to be really,
really good, which is why I wanted him to be
my partner. I thought we would have a very good team.
And I was ego centric enough and and competitive enough
that I wanted us to be the best team that
we could be. And the booking committee was absolutely a
static that they didn't to screw with him anymore, and
that I that I he would be would be my responsibility.

(54:14):
So I uh, I'm good with that. So but he
was he was challenging at first because he just he
wanted he wanted to go faster than he needed to go,
and he was very bright, and they just needed time
and experience to learn some of the fundamental stuff.

Speaker 5 (54:34):
That's all.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
Very good. I'll go ahead, Nelson with your second topic.

Speaker 10 (54:39):
Well, I just well, before I answer the second question,
I just want to say thank you so much for
you know, being with the World Wrestling Federation in w CW.

Speaker 5 (54:46):
I really hope one.

Speaker 10 (54:46):
Day maybe able to run Wrestle Media. Maybe next year.
Who never knows that you can call one more match
with the WWE with the King Jerry Waller. Okay, My
second question is you faced Triple h in Madison Square
Garden in two thousand and five, and I was there
in person, and my question is was that the probably
was that the highlight of your career meeting in Madison

(55:07):
Square Garden And was that the first time that you
were ever busted open? Because when I saw you busted
open in person, I was like, oh, man, not the
great Jim Ross. You know, I was kind of ticked
off about that because I mean, you know, I was
just like hard for me to see. And I was like, yeah, I'm.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
Sorry, who's creator's idea. I mean, Vin's blessed it. It
was simply a way to get Batista married a triple
h uh, and they wanted you know, it shows you
that they thought that I had they could get sympathy
and our empathy on the character the blackhat guy.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (55:46):
And so because I got gotten quartered there, you know,
I got a lot of a lot of blood and
uh in these of stitches, but they glued it shut.
So what I bled before and uh, But the whole
thing was I was just basically a conduit, a facilitator,
and that was that role all along, where I would

(56:09):
come off the off the announced table and get in
the ring and work matches. I never volunteered. I never
I never really enjoyed being in any of those scenarios.
I didn't think I was good at it. I still
don't think I was very good at it. But you know,
you're trying to be a team player. So that's what
you do. And whether I liked it or I didn't

(56:31):
like it is irrelevant. You go out and you can't
you can't you get a practice what you preach if
you're ahead of the talent department. And that's what I
tried to do that even though again I wasn't my chosen,
chosen responsibility. I was not my thing, but it would
I did. I've had a center block broken over my

(56:53):
head by Bishoff. Get bishof heat and get him over.
I've had kiss Miss mcman's ass. I've been punched out
by the Undertaker. I've been ankle locked by curd angle.
I've been beat up by Stone Cold and bloodied and
I've been bloodied by Triple H. But you know, I'm
not one of those guys that's going to say, oh yeah,
I sold out the garden and went on last and

(57:16):
I got color and I went over. It's not really
it's not really my claim the fame. Shall we say,
but you're a team player, you're not. That's the way
I look at it, and uh that's how I That's
how I always did it. I the stuff I did
later on with Michael Cole was hideous. I was.

Speaker 5 (57:37):
I was hideous.

Speaker 4 (57:39):
I'm not saying he was hideous. I was hideous and
I didn't know I shouldn't have been doing it, but uh,
you know, I uh I did and because I guess
somebody liked it, and so I it's just it's not
how I would have booked me. I would let me alone.
I would have described the matches and and I went

(57:59):
on my business Nelson.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
Any closing words, It was.

Speaker 10 (58:04):
The pleasure to talk to you, mister Keller, mister Ross.
Everybody go VIP and everybody please listen to the Ross
Report on podcast when it's one of the greatest podcast
shows I've ever listened to. Have a good eving gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
Hey, thanks a lot. Caller of the day, as we
like to say, Adam Elson, Thanks Nelson. If you aren't
VIP member, as Nelson mentioned, you can become one. Go
to pw torch dot com slash go vi ip to
sign up. It's ten bucks a month or just ninety
nine dollars for full year of access ad free to
pw torch dot com slash members access to the daily

(58:36):
weight Killer hotline the week and quality of audio from
the PW torch staff and archives. So check that out.
Pw torch dot com flash Go v IP. Let's go
back to the phone lines and go to ericode nine
to one four, next nine one four. Thanks for holding.
Please staate your name and where you're calling.

Speaker 14 (58:54):
Hey, guys, it's Sean calling from Stanford, Connecticut.

Speaker 5 (58:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (58:59):
Want to say, I'm really really enjoying the show and
I'm a big fan of Jim Ross's. I've listened to
every single show on Podcasts one. I'm a subscriber. I
love the show, and I just have a guest suggestion
and a question. I'm sure you get a million suggestions,
but what about Jimmy Valiant the Boogie Woogie Man for

(59:20):
a possible episode of The Ross Report.

Speaker 4 (59:23):
Yeah, that can happen, you know, that could happen. I
do get I get a lot of suggestions and I
don't and I always appreciate them.

Speaker 13 (59:31):
You know.

Speaker 4 (59:31):
I I'm a little different than some people in that
regard that it's like signing an autograph. I rarely turn
down anybody that wants an autograph unless I'm standing out
a urinal. But the h it's easier to sign it
than it is to explain why you don't want to
sign it. Uge And and my name is only seven letters,

(59:56):
and if I'm in a hurry, it could be too.
So uh, it's just really simple, you know. But I uh,
I like, I don't my life the suggestions, and I
my podcast is a little bit different slant than a
lot of other guys. And uh, but my format works,
you know. I I I evergreen. My interviews and my

(01:00:17):
interviews are in the can right now through the first
week of October. And uh, but I go in on
Mondays and I take my open and my clothes that
that drop the next day, so I stay I'm more
current now than I was. Uh, that's just started, like
in the last week. So my my format will be

(01:00:40):
to uh do evergreen interviews with some interesting people and
then I'll I'll go in on Monday nights and uh
uh then I'll do my opening clothes and sometimes we
just we just watch my producer and I we'll just
watch for raw together in the at the at the
radio station that we do it at. And then that

(01:01:01):
way my remarks are are somewhat current and applicable to
what's going on. So uh but I just I'm not
gonna do I'm still gonna do one show a week.
That's plenty and it's doing good, and I just don't
want to become a slave to that second show. My
ball friend in California, Stone Cold, has told me all

(01:01:24):
about the second show. They's rugged. So I'm I'm I'm
happy with the one show and uh so it's gonna
be that's that's that's the way that is that I
I do appreciate the suggestions. They they help and they
Jimmy would be interesting and he's had a very interesting career.

(01:01:44):
I saw him briefly at the at the mid Atlantic
our NWA Legends fan fest, where we deviewed that movie.
I narrated The mid Atlantic Memories, which was a nice
project to work on and and ceasly well received. Have
you seen it, Wade?

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
I haven't yet.

Speaker 4 (01:02:04):
You'll enjoy it's only oh yeah, well seventy minutes long.
That's that's the one that Bruce Mitchell should review because
he lived all that stuff, you know, being a North Carolinian.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Yeah. John Bruce did talk about it on a recent
Bruce mitchelladio show, so I got to hear about it,
but I haven't seen it yet.

Speaker 4 (01:02:21):
Yeah, see, I think you like it. It's good. I
encourage people to check it out at NWA legends dot com.
You know it's I'm not making any extra money by
telling you that, so it's not I don't have an agenda,
but it's a fun documentary on that territory. So Jimmy's
valiant suggestions. I heard it, and I will. We'll see

(01:02:43):
what we can do on that going forward.

Speaker 11 (01:02:53):
Are you a fan of the EW looking to sit back,
relax and listen to some like minded podcasters who share
your passion? Do you want to be topped off the
ledge after a segment that has you wondering what the
heck are they thinking?

Speaker 15 (01:03:05):
Do you want to join a discussion on what AW
is doing right and what they could do to improve,
Then join me Joel and me Greg for the All of.

Speaker 11 (01:03:13):
The Conversation Club every Friday on the PW torch Live Cast.
Fee search pw torch in your podcast app and subscribe
to PW torch Daily Cast or streamer shows directly from
pw torch dot com. Find full details on the PW
Torchdailycast lineup at pw torchdailycast dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
And I know that second show that Steve does is
a challenge. I do between eleven and sixteen shows per week,
so I talk a lot of wrestling, But I know
what you guys put into each of those hours and
with everything else that you and him are doing. I'm
not filming a reality show. I'm not doing one man shows.
I'm not going to owe you football games. I'm not
dealing with airports like both of you are. But yeah,

(01:04:03):
it's been really fun the last few years watching and
listening mostly obviously two different people who have been staples
of wrestling for so long, with so many great stories
to tell and people to talk to to get involved
in the podcasting game and the radio business. But this
podcasting is not new for you in the sense that
you did Jim Ross Radio back. I think your show

(01:04:24):
started in ninety three when it went syndicated nationally, and
I can't remember the timeline up doing it on Atlanta Radio.
I think it was before it went national. You were
doing one based out of Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
Yeah, WSV it was in thirty seven states, so it
was heard in thirty seven states on Sunday Night, and
Dennis Brent has a copy of every one of those shows.
So we've thought about trying to figure out a way
to monetize them. We haven't figured that out yet, but
we've got some really cool one hour shows from those

(01:04:57):
WSV days and we had great guests out Pan was
some groundbreaking stuff because that's where we made the announcement
that I was leading w CW and going to WWE
and had vents on us my guest that's right. Yeah,
everybody freaked out that, uh, you know, a w c

(01:05:20):
W made the call. They you know, I use this
as my one man show that you know. Bill Shaw
told me that I was too Southern to build a
national brand around, and I said, you're you're And this
is a guy that runs works at a station that
runs multiple Andy Griffithe runs every day, and you're telling me,

(01:05:40):
I'm too Southern program Your programming is a Southern event.
It was a BS deal, you know, obviously it was
just he was. It was just another typical bullshit deal
from Turners uh lieutenants who had no respect for wrestling
and UH hated to be associated with it. By and large, Yeah,

(01:06:00):
there were some exceptions to the rule, but uh, it
was just another lame, impotite, flaccid excuse from from Bill
Shaw and those guys. They violated their own contract. My
contract called me to be the host of Saturday night
wrestling and the pay per views and the classes. By

(01:06:22):
their it was their contract. They violated their own agreement.
So they owed me three years of pretty good money.
And uh, I wanted to get back in the game,
and so that's when I took the offer from WWE
to go there, and so Turner got out of and
having to pay me. I should have I really screwed
that deal up, because I should have got a lawyer
and worked out some kind of settlement. Yeah, and then

(01:06:45):
take then taken the job. You look, you're you get
wiser the older you get. And I didn't. That wasn't
a good decision for me and I The decision a
go w W was a great decision, but I should
have taken some more intensi of money with me when
I went.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
Yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense. All right, let's
go to speaking of Atlanta, jim Let's go to seven
seven on next seven son, hopefully state your name and
where you're calling from.

Speaker 7 (01:07:10):
Jimmy from Atlanta, Georgia.

Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
Thanks for calling, Jimmy. What have you got for Jim today?

Speaker 7 (01:07:14):
I got three quick questions. One is do you think
if we got rid of the US title or Intercontinental
title and evaluate the other it would think it come
up and be more important?

Speaker 4 (01:07:25):
If you if you if you got rid of the
US the Intercontinental would have make the WW title mean more?
Is so what you're saying?

Speaker 7 (01:07:32):
No, I'm sorry, if you got rid of either the
Intercontinental or the US, would the other one become more important?

Speaker 9 (01:07:38):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
Okay, what you're saying, Uh, maybe maybe less might be
more if they have they can't figure out a way
to get the titles. Uh, in a program with a
strong champion, and I you know, I look at it
as a real good looking tool, So I I I

(01:08:02):
probably would rather go the other route and try to
make both those titles have more meaning. Uh before I
would uh retire one of them. That's that's that would
be my indicate my uh my, my take on that deal. So,
uh but you may be right, you know they right
now neither of them mean a lot, but the one

(01:08:24):
with the US title, when Sena had it was starting
to make mean more than it had meant in a
long time. John did a real good job of rehabilitating
the title. So but if they're not going to be used,
they're not gonna be programmed, they're not gonna be seen
to be important, then uh, then you know they're they're
just a prop at that point, and you certainly do

(01:08:47):
not want that.

Speaker 7 (01:08:50):
Yes, sir, I apologize.

Speaker 14 (01:08:52):
I'm really nervous.

Speaker 7 (01:08:52):
You're always doing one of my idols, So.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
Please bear with me. That's okay. I totally understand. Oh
you mean jim Ross. Sorry, Jimmy, go ahead.

Speaker 7 (01:09:01):
My second question for you, Joem is do you have
any plans of coming and the ringside with summer sorry
Survivor series in Atlanta this year.

Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
We talked about that a little bit, uh, nothing firm,
you know, I'd love to play Center Stage or the
Fox Theater would be cool. Uh but I you know,
I I of all the cities that we lived in,
uh well, i've been on the road, Atlanta was my favorite.
I think my wife would probably agree with that as well.

(01:09:35):
Uh but but I I we don't have anything booked Jimmy,
but that that could change very easily.

Speaker 10 (01:09:42):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:09:43):
I just you just gotta be careful around the w
w E H booking around their big events, because if
you don't want to go head to head. I went
head to head with them in New York. Uh and
uh this fast Saturday and they won. I lost, So
I don't want to I don't That's not my goal

(01:10:03):
was to run opposition to the WWE. But when I
booked my show in the Grammarcy that Saturday night was
clean and then they added and wisely so I've done
the same thing the NXT event and it killed my
show for all practical teen purposes. So we had a
great crowd, but we had to sell out crowd. If

(01:10:25):
if they didn't have a fifteen thousand people where it
was going to NXT SO and the Drink of Honor show.
So I don't know, I would have to see how
the lay of the land was in Atlanta. What'd you
do it on? Could you do it on Saturday night?
Or are they going to have a NXT show on
Saturday night in association with the Survivor series. So, but

(01:10:50):
no decision made yet, but it could happen. It could happen.

Speaker 7 (01:10:55):
Mean a third topic, Yes, sir, My last question is
not even some of the people who leave did not
say nothing bad about Vince McMahon. Is he really is
good of a person as everybody puts him off to be,
or is that because he's really the most popular person
in the game.

Speaker 3 (01:11:10):
There's a loaded question, Jim.

Speaker 4 (01:11:13):
Yeah, I uh, I don't. I don't know exactly what
you're looking for there. I don't have any I just
you know, I've gotten past all the all the you know,
he and I have never always agreed philosophically on things.
But I cashed all of his checks he ever wrote me,
every one of them, and I and I put him

(01:11:34):
in the bank. So my dad's theory was, if you're
gonna take a man's money, do his work as he
wants it done, and so I did that. It's real
simple concept. Quite frankly, so, I I never have had
the issues that a lot of the wrestling the world
believes I've had with Vince.

Speaker 5 (01:11:55):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
I don't I know that if I called him today
and I needed something in a big way, that I
would get it. Uh So, But have we always agreed?

Speaker 9 (01:12:05):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:12:05):
I never always agreed with Bill Watts. I never always
agree with Ollie Anderson. There's again the resting business is
so subjective that there's a lot of right ways to
do something. So uh Uh I can't speak for everybody else.
I just can speak that when when people were quitting

(01:12:25):
and and Vince said I want to cut your pay
or I'll release you whatever you want, I said, I'll stay.
And he said, if you stay, I will find you
will be taken care of financially. And he kept his word.
He did everything he said he'd do. When I left
w W, I didn't have to work anymore. I work

(01:12:46):
now because I like to. And uh but I I
really came out whole once the comntany went public. I
was in great shape. So I don't have I don't
know what I would say bad about him.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
Did we do?

Speaker 4 (01:12:59):
We do we have argue? Occasionally?

Speaker 5 (01:13:01):
Sure?

Speaker 4 (01:13:01):
We did? Did he did he question some of the
guys I hired, of course he did. But that's but
when we were one on one, we had some really
great meetings. We've made some great decisions, and I thought
that we that roster that we've put together helped the
company stabilize and roll into one hundred and sixty million

(01:13:22):
dollar IPO. So we did a lot more good things
together than the negative things that have been portrayed. So
that's the best I can tell you. You know, I just
I don't live my life with all of the grudges
and animosities and ill will, and the older you get,
you find that that's just nothing but an utter waste

(01:13:43):
of time, and it's just it's not healthy. So I
got no issues with him, and I'm writing my book.
I can say the thing I want about it. And
if people are looking for salacious dirt and filth and
the underbelly of the legend of this mcmaon, they're not

(01:14:04):
getting it from me.

Speaker 3 (01:14:07):
Makes sense. Let's take one more call here, seven one eight.
I promise i'd go back to you if we didn't
have so much background noise. Thanks for your patience. It
took me a while. State your name and where you're
calling from.

Speaker 5 (01:14:16):
Hello, how you doing mister Jim rawls this mic from
Brooklyn I saw apologized earlier on no.

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
Problem at all that happens. Go ahead, Mike, though, what
have you got for Jim?

Speaker 5 (01:14:25):
Proble thing always is always an absolute pleasure, you know,
and my eyes and my father eyes Jyll is the
greatest all time, you know, thank you, sir. They also,
I mean I got three questions. First question, you know,
I actuated this earlier in the week. What do you

(01:14:46):
think you know of the possibility of Steing actually winning
the championship at you know, Knight of Champions and holding it,
you know, maybe to the next paper view or per se.
You know, all Survivor says not good.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
Yeah, it's hard to imagine they would make Sting the
guy to and Seth's run, but there's some unexpected things
that they've done. Jim, I mean, how do you think
it would matter to Sting? Knowing him as well as
you have over the years to be an ex WWE
champion in addition to the ww history he has. Even
if it was to win it in September and drop

(01:15:22):
it in October or November, it wouldn't make me a difference.
Yeah or nay?

Speaker 4 (01:15:27):
Yeah, he's well past that. Yeah, I play me, pay me,
and he'll be a lot more concerned about having a
great performance than he will on the outcome of the man.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
And I think five benefits and Seth benefits from being
in the ring with somebody who's you know, you talk
about the Dudley's giving back. This is Sting giving back
to Seth. And I think Seth is as big of
a piece of WWE's future as anybody on that roster
right now. Looking at the next ten years and having
Seth have a chance to be in there with staying
given Sting's history, is I think a big boost to

(01:16:05):
Seth too. I mean, I think that's what that's what
Sting is going to feel better about than a title
run probably at this stage, I agree.

Speaker 4 (01:16:13):
But I don't think the chance the answer the question
I see Robins retaining.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
Anytime you're watching ww E Raw or SmackDown or AEW
Dynamite in particular, send us an email if you've got
thoughts on the show or a topic you want us
to address or a question for us. Wade Keller Podcast
at pw torch dot com. Wadkeller Podcast at pewtorch dot com.
If there's anything else going on in pro wrestling that
you want us to address on our main podcast during

(01:16:43):
our mailbank segments. That same email applies Wade Keller podcast
at PW torch dot com. We invite that interaction. Let
us know what you think of what we're saying, and
let us know what you want us to talk about
and ask us specific questions. Wade Keller Podcast at PW
torch dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
Go ahead, out with number two, Mike.

Speaker 5 (01:17:02):
Okay, number two is just a little bit, you know,
just playing around fantasy book and thinking that has like
right now at the current stance of you know, w W,
what would you see or view as you know, the
World Heavyweight Title match going into Dallas.

Speaker 3 (01:17:23):
Hey, Mike, go ahead and ask your last question. We'll
put you on holding and address both of those.

Speaker 5 (01:17:26):
Okay, I asked the third question and listen. Also, you know,
with September Looman there, you know, and the uncertainty you
know of CNA probably being on Destination in America. You know,
I just want to know which I think their champions
are are survival on that network?

Speaker 3 (01:17:45):
Great, Mike, appreciate the topics. Jimmy kind of talked about
it earlier. You're a little uh dubious about predicting matches
this far out from Mania thirty two, if Seth still
has the championship, because I wanted to frame this a
little tighter, if Seth is still champion convers thirty two.
Is there somebody that jumps out who you think is
a WrestleMania challenger worthy opponent for him at the stage,

(01:18:06):
at that stage, looking at where the landscape is today.

Speaker 4 (01:18:10):
Well, you would hope that by then some of these
younger guys will be, like, maybe Rains might be over
to the level that he could that he could be
a challenger. You might have different roles. You may have
Rains as the authorities guy and Rollin's being exercised out
of the authority camp and being a babyface. That could

(01:18:32):
certainly happen. But I don't, I don't know. I mean,
there's just there's a there's just so many, so many
possibilities that you could look at. You know, somebody could
could turn They could make bray White a baby face,
he could get red hot. Who knows. I don't have
a clue. You know, maybe maybe it's a lessner with

(01:18:53):
some you know, with somebody or or lesser and the
undertaker or you know, I just I just don't know
what the what it might be. And and as far
as T and A is concerned, you know, to me,
I think that's a it's obvious that they they have
they must have a domestic television clearance on a cable

(01:19:15):
network somewhere, and they may have to go the route
of uh, you know, re evaluating the rights fee for
UH philosophy. Is it more important to be on TV
or is it more important to and and get and
just be on TV? Or do you have to have

(01:19:38):
a rights fee, uh our significant rights fee? I wonder,
you know, I think maybe they may have to settle
compromising the rights fee philosophy to where the rights fees
or they got to may they got to monetize that
that two hours of prime time programming on national cable

(01:19:59):
and and think more about building a once or twice
a year of pay per view or are running live
events or whatever the case may be. I don't know,
but they have to have a domestic television clearance and
to get it in this marketplace, based on what numbers
are earning right now, Destination America is going to be
very challenging.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
And the bad news for them is they started drawing
the same among the percentage of homes that could get TNA.
When they moved the Destination in America, they were drawing
the same share of those homes. Their viewership was in half,
but the homes they were in weren't was cut in half.
But now they're actually down two thirds, even though so

(01:20:41):
they're down a greater proportion than they were in terms
of lost homes, and so they've driven people away the
last few months, they've lost some viewers, and that's a
bad sign too for them that even combining the first
airing and the second airing, the East Coast and West
coast airing, so to speak. You know that last night
show did about three hundred and sixty two thousand viewers
in total, and they were doing close to a million,

(01:21:02):
actually averaged a million in the last months on Spike.
And they're available in half the home, so they should
be doing five hundred thousand viewers, but they're well under that,
and you know that that's that's a that's an ominous
sign in terms of the booking and the stars and
the support that they've had from Destination America. It's it's
going to be a tough climback for them to become
more relevant. I mean, we haven't even talked a lot
about it, Jim and and But the NXT brand I

(01:21:25):
think has easily surpassed TNA as the number two brand
and roster, even though it is certainly under the auspices
of WWE. People see it as a separate entity with
separate titles and storylines and TV.

Speaker 4 (01:21:38):
I agree, And you know, the production values are top shelf,
and yeah, the TV's written very it's easy to follow,
so forth. Uh, yeah, I agree with that it's going
to be I hope that I, like a lot of fans,
I want to see all these from these companies be
successful because you know, I've got ends that work for them,

(01:22:01):
and they have families and they have a you know,
they want to live their dream just like I've lived
mine and like you lived yours. You it's good for
your business, for for T and A to stay in business.
You have more to cover, more to talk about, more
to follow and speculate on and so forth and so on.
So I'm I'm I'm for them making it, but they

(01:22:25):
really it's it's gonna They're going to make a miraculous comeback.
I think to to to stay afloat. Even though they've
they've cut their losses a lot, and they've cut their
overhead a lot, things of that nature, You're still going
to be challenging for them and I can only hope
that they make it. That's why I really do. I

(01:22:45):
really hope that they make it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:47):
Jim, we've kept you a long time. Do you have
a couple of minutes just to tackle a couple more
email questions before we wrap up?

Speaker 4 (01:22:52):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (01:22:53):
Okay? Uh speaking of NXT. Got a question from Tom
s and he says, uh, wait, does really going to
be able to call in from the UK? Today? But
I unfortunately won't be able to. So these are my
two topics. One, we're in a time where wrestling fans
are gushing about NXT and are listing problems with Vince McMahon.
One day Vince won't be the head of WWE, and
I know fans will miss a lot about him. But

(01:23:14):
in twenty fifteen, what does jamals think Vince McMahon is
better at than anyone else in pro wrestling?

Speaker 5 (01:23:23):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:23:23):
Well, he's he's the captain of the biggest ship that's
out there on the sea, so he has he has
great I think vision. But really what he does, depending
on how he wants to direct it is he's a
great motivator and he's great. He's a great leader in
that regard. If he can be your you know, a
patter on the ash from him means a whole lot

(01:23:44):
more than it means from just from anybody else in
the business, because he's the he's the most omnique present
person in the business. He's intimidating to a lot of people.
And I've missed that to him. He didn't like to
hear that. But it's just a fact, the fact he
is intimidating to a lot of guys because with a

(01:24:06):
with the with the other end of his pencil, that
being the eraser. Uh, he can make major changes in
your career and so forth. But uh, but you know,
I uh, i'd say, you know, leadership, vision.

Speaker 5 (01:24:21):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:24:22):
You know, he's there's nobody more dedicated to the product
than him. He don't have any hobbies. This is it.
So uh, I say leadership and uh and and and
being h in wisdom. You know, he's seventy years old.
Now this is his life. So uh, you know that's
how I look at it is.

Speaker 5 (01:24:44):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:24:45):
You know, he's he's he sees the big picture very
very well. And uh and but I'm not going to
tell you that I agree with how the the the
A lot of the kids are, a lot of talents
are working. I think I think could improve their entering
product significantly if they chose to well.

Speaker 3 (01:25:09):
Tom has part two of his question. It might touch
on that aspect. He goes, if USA Network told Vince
but they wanted something more like NXT than what Rock
currently presents, does vincic Mann have the ability to look
and lead a purer wrestling product or is he so
far down the so called sports entertainment road that he
wouldn't have the nous? Is that a UK term? I'm

(01:25:32):
not sure. The bigger question here is how much of
a pro wrestling fan is Vince McMahon. That question has
been asked me a lot over the years. Jim, is
vincig Mann the type of guy who would watch Sasha
Banks against Bailey on Saturday Night on NXT Takeover in
Brooklyn and be as enamored and emotionally drawn into the
near falls, the athleticism, the drama as the average fan

(01:25:53):
at home or a lot of the wrestlers who were
watching that I've talked to about that match, Who are
praising it? Or is Vince while watching the match thinking
about other things that a promoter has to think about.
Does he get wrapped up on matches?

Speaker 4 (01:26:04):
Yeah, that's a that's a tough one because I guess
like you got to read his mind to get the
right answer.

Speaker 3 (01:26:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:26:10):
I would think that for a seventy year old guy
who's got a lot on his plate, I'm sure that
he probably enjoyed that match as much as the next guy,
the next seventy year old guy, you know. But he
loves the product, but he has visions of what the
product should be and what the product needs to be

(01:26:32):
that we all don't agree with. Some do, some don't.

Speaker 3 (01:26:36):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:26:36):
And I just my issues are not so much with
who's wrestling who or who's the champion or I believe
that he this today's audience that to have a disqualification
or a count out finish, it needs to there needs
to be a reason for it. In other words, it's

(01:26:57):
going you're taking that finish and wording a storyline and
getting to the next the next place. Uh. And So
I believe that I think that the the the fact
that the talents are made are not don't sell much
is a mistake because that's the fundamental aspect of the business.

(01:27:21):
So uh uh and I think that you know, we've
we've heard Austin say the same thing, and other guys.
I've talked to Ricky Steamboat, I saw him in Charlotte,
other guys. Jim Cornett has this very colorful take on it.
But you know, what are what is a finish hold?
And and and uh you know, sometimes they're they're they're

(01:27:43):
so very uh you know, sparsely casually. And the other
thing is when a guy sometimes a guy's expression doesn't
change when he loses. He still need to be about
winning and losing. Yeah, And I don't hear the announcers
or the talking about it enough. And I don't see

(01:28:05):
the wrestlers having you know, if you lose, the despondency
or the body english change or facial expressions change. Because
seemingly wins and losses are not nearly as vital or
as important as they used to be. There are just
some fundamental things that I don't see in most promotions.

(01:28:29):
It's not a WWE exclusive.

Speaker 5 (01:28:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:28:32):
Ring of Honor has their issues too, and they got
a hard work and roster. But you know, those guys
work so fast that how do you process everything? How
do you process it all? I'm not and I realized too,
I'm not in their demographic. It didn't really matter if
I watch it or not because I'm not eighteen to
thirty four, eighteen to forty nine. So maybe it doesn't

(01:28:54):
make a damn.

Speaker 5 (01:28:55):
But I.

Speaker 4 (01:28:58):
Can't process the match if it's just vam vam vam
vam vam, and there's ten punches and there's all these
you know, all these things are going on and I
don't know. You know, how do you?

Speaker 5 (01:29:11):
How do you? How do you?

Speaker 4 (01:29:13):
How do you monetize them? How do you feel about them?
If I'm an announcer and you hit a guy ten
times in the face, which those ten punches? Should I
sell for you? The two, four, six and eight, one, three,
five and seven? What I don't get it?

Speaker 5 (01:29:28):
You know?

Speaker 11 (01:29:28):
So?

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
Uh, That's what Bailey and Sasha I thought stood out
on Saturday is the amount of matt work that they
did that worked and that the crowd was into. I
thought that they succeeded in having a lot of submission
attempts and Matt holds that looked like they were actually
trying to twist each other's heads off and not just
take a break before the next high spot.

Speaker 4 (01:29:50):
I think they have. Sarah del Ray gets said should
get more credit than she does. She's probably she may
be the best agent, slash producer slash code in the company. Yeah,
the women that she's developed and the help that she
gives the men as well, but certainly looking at the women,

(01:30:10):
which has been her primary responsibility down a n XT,
just the end result of product has been pretty amazing.
The work she's done, and I watched her in action,
I've watched her coach and washed her teach, and she's
just absolutely very gifted at it. So she doesn't get

(01:30:30):
the credit she deserves. I don't think from the general
public on just how skill she is and teaching these
young women the fundamentals and the slow down and to
sell and you know.

Speaker 3 (01:30:45):
Making every account as you say, yeah, yeah, don't.

Speaker 4 (01:30:49):
Just don't throw things away. So she's really good at that.
So but I think Vince is pays attention to to
that product. But can't he pay as much attention to
one match as other guys on the staff. Of course
not they have more, He has more in his plate
than anybody. He's the chairman of the board of this

(01:31:12):
massive company and and so you know you could say, well,
maybe you should be in that role, Well maybe not,
but he's the that's he enjoys that role more than
anything else he does. He has to do the other
stuff he wants to do the creative.

Speaker 15 (01:31:27):
Yeah, longing for some nostalgia or maybe you want to
learn some wrestling history, don't miss the Nineties Pass cast
every Friday on the PW Torch Daly Cast feed. Alex
and Patrick will transport you thirty years into the past
by taking you through the Torch issue from that very

(01:31:49):
weak follow news from the WWF and WCW and all
the happenings from across the wrestling industry in real time
as The Torch reported it thirty years ago. That's the
nineties Pass cast every Friday on the PW Towards Daily
Cast feed.

Speaker 4 (01:32:13):
That's always in my take on he has fun doing it. Yeah,
And I actually believe that I hit him up one
time a couple of years ago. I said, I was
one of those raw reunion things. I said, why don't
you and me and you and King and I do
one match like we did back in the day and
he's kind of got a gleam in his eye. He

(01:32:34):
thought about it, but we never pulled it off. But
you know, he's he's uh, he likes to engage in
the things that are fun. And I can relate to
that right now because all the projects that I'm doing,
you know, my one Man shows the September tenth in
Knoxville and September twentieth and Houston. I do him because

(01:32:54):
I enjoy them. I'm writing this down. This book is
a little bit more arduous and a little bit yeah,
this is tough, but uh but I love doing that.
I love doing the podcast and my podcast this week,
you know, I said a tweet. I looked at it
a while ago and it was it was number ten
and uh an all of iTunes forts and recreation charts

(01:33:15):
and uh and it was the highest rated of the
wrestling podcast. Now this afternoon, those were that could be
all changed.

Speaker 3 (01:33:22):
I could know the now you're still number one today.
I just I just I'm just refreshing it now. So
it's you're you're head of Jericho and j R. And
Flair and uh even the p W Torch live cast today.

Speaker 4 (01:33:33):
Jump oh man, Well there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:33:36):
But but you know, now that you're on the p
W Torch live cast, maybe uh, maybe we'll shoot up again.

Speaker 4 (01:33:41):
Yeah, maybe I'm cannibalizing my own audience exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:33:45):
Yeah, Mitchell, I think might cannibalize the live cast next month.

Speaker 4 (01:33:51):
Yeah, Mitchell a cannibal. He The last time I saw him,
he looked like he was eating something. I don't know
what it was. He's like me, he never met a
meal didn't like. And uh, but he's he's going to
be on one of my Uh, he's gonna be with
me after the Houston show. He's going to be on
my podcast to analyze the uh the nine Champions, which

(01:34:12):
I'm looking forward to take on it and visit with him.
And we actually can understand each other because we're both southern.

Speaker 5 (01:34:20):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:34:21):
You couldn't build a national brand around either of us,
but we're both southern and we're looking forward to this.
It'll be good. But I'm uh, you know what's funny
about that card in Houston where we talked about Sting
and Seth. Isn't it funny that nobody is going crazy
right now wondering what else is going to be on
that card that everybody seems to be pretty content that

(01:34:42):
they got the main event, and it's an intriguing main event.
It's a new main event that everybody's not clamoring as to, well,
what else is going to be on that pay per view?

Speaker 3 (01:34:52):
Well, everybody I noticed too, you know, I noticed too,
and I talked about this earlier this week. He's either
with Jason Paul and the live cast run on of
the VF shows how the Battleground poster was. The word
battleground was in small print at the bottom of the
poster and instead it was Lesner versus Rawlins and big
giant letters with pictures, big pictures of Lesner and Seth,

(01:35:15):
and that was it ww Battleground small print at the bottom.
And I think for years a lot of us have
been talking about that. You look at USC, nobody's gonna
buy USC one eighty seven because they like the numbers
one eighty seven, and it's gonna buy Battleground or Survivor
series even because they like the words Battleground of Survivor series.
So I bet the Night of Champions poster and I

(01:35:35):
don't know if they've released one yet, but when they
do release a new one, it's gonna be Seth versus
sting and big print, and I bet Knight of Champions
is pretty small print.

Speaker 4 (01:35:46):
I could see that, and I wouldn't have any problem
with that whatsoever.

Speaker 3 (01:35:49):
Run around that, you're gonna want her name big, you
want big? Yeah. Yeah, So I like I like that.
I like that theory.

Speaker 4 (01:36:00):
And uh, but you know, there's there's a there's a
lot of interesting storylines that could develop between you know,
that will develop, and they'll put on that card. But
certainly staying in rollins is enough to get your attention
and to draw more viewers to the uh, to the
WW network. And and I think that's that's that's the money.

(01:36:20):
I mean, that's that's the future of their company is
building that network. And uh, the program whoever, whoever comes.
I don't even know who's programming the network now. I mean,
obviously Vince has a major hand in it, but uh,
I don't know who the I don't know for sure
who the who the programmer is of it. But I
know that the only complain I get, and maybe just

(01:36:42):
because it's me, uh, people wondering why the more of
the older stuff isn't more readily available And I can't
answer the question. I don't have I don't have any idea.
I watched the network. I like the the documentary, so
that the DVDs like the Hayman documentary I liked. I
liked the Lawer one. Uh but uh, you know, I

(01:37:03):
think that they there are so many more things they
can do that network. It's not even funny. And and
so it's it's got a lot of potential. You know,
I tell you something else has got a lot of potential.
And we maybe doing some projects with them. We're talking,
we're just talking. It's in the talking stages now. But
that monetizing the the Paul Bosch Library, Yeah, the n

(01:37:24):
n w A Classics, Yep, we're looking at some really
interesting things involving that. And I got it. I got
the library. Uh a list of the library. It's it's
absolutely amazing. There's like fifty n w A title matches
over all these era and and there and and then

(01:37:44):
of course you know, uh, as you know, Paul Bosh,
hues Backwinkle Backnkle is actually a partner in that promotion
for for a long time. So the a w A
guys had got there, the NDWA guys came into there. Uh,
it's some really an Neclectic Library plus Paul's primary show.

(01:38:05):
I think it was a ninety minute show, then he
had a one hour show, then Mid South came along
in that eighty something. But it's really a if you're
a fan, it's kind of like it's like discovering the Lost.

Speaker 9 (01:38:22):
Ed and.

Speaker 4 (01:38:23):
Steve Sable NFL Films Library. Yeah, it's really good entertaining
stuff and some really there's some gimmick matches, you know,
the bathtub matches and the paint Me Yellow matches and
all these crazy crazy things. But if you play them,
if you play the build up to it and then
you deliver the payoff of the match, then it makes

(01:38:47):
it makes sense. Just to have the match without the
build up, it makes no sense. But because Boss produced
very good episodic television, then you know you got to
you can you can tell these stories pretty pretty vividly.
So we're looking at getting involved in that. I'm not

(01:39:07):
sure exactly what level, but it'd be a it'd be
a network at Kart Kostia two ninety nine or three
ninety nine a month, and uh, there's just some really
bruis of Brody matches and have Doulam matches and Wahoo
and Johnny Valentine and these guys are younger. I mean
they were they could you see a whole different style.

(01:39:28):
You see, Okay, I get this, and then you know,
if I go on there and do I can open
or clothes and point out certain things on them. When
you watch this match, be sure keeping on this or that.
It's almost like a you know, the fundamentals were certainly
stronger than they are now. I'm not being oh, that's
just old school jr. You know, you bitching about something,

(01:39:50):
but the fundamentals in this in that era were better
fundamentals than a lot of the guys used now.

Speaker 3 (01:39:56):
Yeah, if you agree with that or not, but oh
of course, yeah, you know, uh, just the b I mean,
I think there's things guys do better today. Guys. You know,
women and men do better today than back in the day.
But back in the day. I mean, I think there's
so much to learn from watching old, older tapes and
seeing what worked and what was effective back then. And man,

(01:40:17):
there's so many things that were so efficient and believable
that I think can be incorporated into the more modern
style where there's a certain you know, different set of
expectations fans have for matches. Today, in part because of
UFC and part because just like in the NFL and
the NBA, the pace of the game is faster. But
you don't write off everything that was done back in
the day. There are things absolutely to incorporate into today's

(01:40:40):
product that that almost nobody's doing.

Speaker 4 (01:40:43):
Yeah, it's like the game is faster, the NFL is faster.
It's quarterback league. And that's why corner cornerbacks get paid
so much money. It's a passing league. It's a quarterback yes. Yeah,
so you've got to be able to run. You still
got to be able to do two things. Throw a
catch and still it's basically fundamental football. You still got

(01:41:03):
to throw and catch in today's game. And then you
do it with more frequency and you do it with
a lot more speed, but you still got to learn
to throw and catch. And in wrestling, you still got
to learn to sell, you got to learn to come back,
you got to you know, psychology is imperative. So we're
looking at some projects like that that might be kind

(01:41:24):
of fun. And and I really like the historical side
of that stuff. And uh, and it's the only I
guess it's I'm not sure it's one of the last
major libraries that the WW doesn't own. I know, Uh,
they tried to buy it a couple of times. I
don't know what happened. I don't know how the balls
dropped there, but somebody certainly did.

Speaker 10 (01:41:46):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:41:46):
There was at one time a minor discrepancy and the
clear ownership of it, but I think that was that
was obviously was all rectified. And the guy that's in
charge of the end of you now, Bruce Tharp, is
the owner of the library, and and we've been doing
some brainstorming and trying to see how we might be

(01:42:07):
able to to monetize it. And uh, it seems like,
you know, with so many companies now becoming so expertly
versed in distributing digital audio and video, Uh, it's you know,
it's it's there's there are things you can do to
to to really make it work and and to make

(01:42:28):
it affordable, make it affordable where it's it's uh, you know,
you get something, you continue to get something new. There
There was like there's like five somewhere between five and
seven hundred matches, so you got a lot of product,
you know. Uh, and and you would if you could
present them with a new code of paint and a

(01:42:49):
little bit of explanation. Uh, it might they may be marketable.
Uh so we're looking at things like that that might
be kind of fun and.

Speaker 3 (01:42:58):
Yeah, so much of that stuff is framing it for
a newer fan and not just you know, throwing it
out there out of context. And that's where you would
be real valuable, I mean real valuable in that regard.

Speaker 1 (01:43:09):
We're about to go to a commercial break. Why listen
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(01:43:30):
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Speaker 3 (01:43:42):
Let's let's do one last email question, because this was
not a problem that Paul Basha had to deal with,
but it's one that you have the challenge of dealing
with despite the not despite because of how long you've
been around. This comes from Brian Allison of Fair Hope, Alabama.
We'll get to that. He says, what is the best
and the world. In the biggest challenge of doing WWE
two K sixteen voiceovers, Jr. Has to record a year's

(01:44:06):
worth of commentary for matches that haven't happened this year release.
This year's release is tots touted as having the most
wrestlers of any wrestling game ever. That's part one. Part
two is would he reconsider turning heel and becoming a
Baylor fan? We'd love to have him.

Speaker 4 (01:44:22):
On the last one. I definitely know. I'm glad Baylor
is relevant because for years about the only thing that
was relevant with Baylor athletics is their women's basketball team.
That's not true anymore. They have a great football program
and they may be they're in the hunt to win
a national championship. So I off stick with my Sooners

(01:44:43):
and it won't be a I'm not jumping off the bandwagon.
So I'm a Sooner fan period. The hardest thing, well,
this is every year this system has changed, and this
year it was really cool on how it was changed
because they had all the wrestlers in these in this

(01:45:06):
game mode on a on a TV screen, but they
all looked like they'd all look like androids and so,
but Lawler and I did all the Austin matches and
there were tons of them from and and and some
were from w CW, and some were from and a

(01:45:26):
lot from WW obviously, so we would do clips a
minute here to there, but we would do generally about
three or four hours worth of voiceovers and they would
give you the outline of who was in the matches.
But we called the matches just like we would if

(01:45:47):
we were at the arena. So it was like we
read a script. So it was just us doing it
and that was good because you know, it was we
got back on our groove and we did to read
somebody else's words and it was it worked out pretty good. So,
uh that this year was easier, easier because we were
actually seeing video and then we were doing uh, the

(01:46:10):
commentary over the video. Then of course we did have
some we were we were reading just lines and that
was fun because we you know, that was just a
him planning off me and me planing off him. That
was a that was a fun thing. So this year
was easier. But the game is a lot more detailed,
it's a lot more involved. And I'm not a gaming expert,

(01:46:36):
nor do I claim to be, but based on what
I saw and based on the information that I've read, uh,
this could very easily be the, without question, of the
very best game that they've ever done. Uh, based on
what I've seen, and I loved the uh, the the game,
the the wrestling mode that Austen was in, that was

(01:46:56):
just a really good stuff. And the graphics that I've
seen are are they look like real people? I mean,
it's it's pretty cool. So that was good and it
was just really no you know, we did them in
Memphis in the studio, Jerry and I sitting side by side,
and it was it was just like the old days.

(01:47:17):
It was uh, you know, we just we had fun
and it was we rekindled our our our our partnership,
and it was good to reconnect as friends. Not that
we weren't friends, but you know, when you don't see somebody,
when you're seeing somebody every week for years and then
you stop, you know, it's it's a change. And uh

(01:47:39):
So getting hook hooked back up and you know, getting
ale to being able to go to lunch or go
to dinner at night, or eat lunch, you know before
we started or whatever, it was always those it was good.
So it was a really good experience for me. I
think we I think we did some some really nice
work and I think the fans are going to notice it.

Speaker 3 (01:47:59):
Jim, thank you for your time once again. This time
nearly two hours just flew by, as it always does
with you, so thank you so much. I could do
two more hours and still only scratch the surface of
all the topics that are out there today and obviously
the history questions. But it's always great when you're on
the programming. I appreciate your time very much. Oh, no problem.

Speaker 4 (01:48:17):
I'm glad that you're glad to be on. And again,
I got two shows coming up in September.

Speaker 3 (01:48:24):
Only two.

Speaker 4 (01:48:26):
September, the tenth in Knoxville at the International on Thursday
night the tenth, that's a week with Oklahom plays Tennessee
eight o'clock show tickets at ticketweb dot com, and then
my four o'clock show on Sunday the afternoon of night A.
Champions is a ten minute walk from the Toyota Center,

(01:48:47):
a great opportunity to come through my show, and then
you'll be out plenty of time to get to make
that little ten minute walk right back to the Toyota
Center and enjoy Night A Champions and tickets for that
eventor on seven ticket fly dot com, and they start
at twenty bucks, so I think the show is affordable,
it's casual, it's fun. The Q and A's are all

(01:49:09):
usually pretty intriguing, and I try to custom each market.
I'll tell some Knoxville resting stories in Knoxville, and I'll
tell some probably some Houston and Paul Bosch stories in
Houston obviously, so you kind of customize them to the market,
and then you go into the Q and A and
then all of a sudden, the Q and A is

(01:49:29):
a different ball game altogether.

Speaker 3 (01:49:30):
So it'll be fun.

Speaker 4 (01:49:32):
And I appreciate you let me plug my podcast on
podcast one, where good Old Stone Cold is going to
be and you guys are going to be doing your thing,
so best luck on that, and I appreciate having me on.

Speaker 3 (01:49:45):
Jim. I thank you very much again for your time,
and again it was great seeing you again after it
had been too long last month in Waterloo. I work
for the Hall of Fame. And if I don't see
you sooner, hopefully we'll see you next year in Waterloo.
Also and yeah, yeah, find you mouth the on podcast
one dot com or just go to iTunes. You can
find it there. Enter the uh Jim Rosh Show on
any kind of podcast app and it will pop up

(01:50:07):
and it sounds like you've got some good interview do
you do you did you divulge the list of interviews
you have coming up? You said you've got you know,
four or five in the camp.

Speaker 4 (01:50:14):
They're all on the home page on my website.

Speaker 3 (01:50:16):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:50:18):
So people can check that out at Jr's barbecrs v
A r VQ dot com where they find my blogs.
On the home page, I have my uh my schedule
of podcast guests.

Speaker 3 (01:50:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:50:29):
So we'll be adding some more because I've got three
or four new ones in the can. So it's a
it's good. It's all good. Yeah, life is good. I'm
feeling good.

Speaker 2 (01:50:39):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:50:40):
Football seasons here after about that and uh uh I'm
uh so no no complaints. Books come along.

Speaker 3 (01:50:48):
Well, uh so we're we're we're doing well here. We're
on pace to double our numbers from last August and
triple from the August before that. So our growth continues
here too, and uh w W and the XT are
giving us a lot to cover, even with T and
A fading a little bit. And got New Japan on
Access TV. So somebody email that asked if you're going
to be on if you've had any talked about doing

(01:51:08):
the next Wrestle Kingdom show.

Speaker 4 (01:51:11):
I have not, but I'm I'd love to have the opportunity.
You know, I don't know how that's going to go
this time, if Jeff Jared is going to be the
promoter of or the distributor of North American pay per
view for that. I know that it did well, uh
and I know we all work very diligently to make

(01:51:32):
it happen, and I know that guys like yourself were
very supportive of it. And so I'd love to do
Wrestle Kingdom ten, but I haven't been approached and in order,
but I haven't. I haven't heard it they're going to
even do the pay per view over here. So if
it made money the last time, I don't know why

(01:51:53):
you wouldn't try it again. I agree, I think, and
the fans are getting to know these new japan guys
more and uh, you know, they're they're really from top
to bottom, top of roster to bottom the roster, they're
they're hard to beat. They're just very fundamentally sound and
they do some very innovative things. They work very snug and.

Speaker 3 (01:52:17):
But a good mix of showmanship and personalities too for
people who are used to that and demand that.

Speaker 4 (01:52:22):
Absolutely absolutely, Anahashi and Knackamoora among others are very colorful
and they're very talented.

Speaker 11 (01:52:29):
So I have it.

Speaker 4 (01:52:30):
So I don't know that would be That's probably about
That's about the only way I'll probably end up doing
anymore uh wrestling, this one off? You come do this,
come do that. I had a chance to the season
finale of Lucha Underground. It's just we couldn't make it
work numbers wise and so forth. So, but that would

(01:52:50):
have been a one off type deal. And and uh
they I will say that I really enjoyed watching their
final episode of their season. They did a hell of
a job. It was a it was a very unique show,
and I thought they did a nice job. I'll to
see them back for season two, but I keep the

(01:53:11):
door open and I might do a one off here
there and I'm still looking at them, and I had
I've had a couple of boxing inquiries lately. Boxing is
trying to make a comeback, and so you know, we're
just played by ear. I got I really have enough
on my plate as this, with the podcast and the
book and the one man shows. I got really enough.

(01:53:33):
I mean, I I don't really need to be adding
to my as the late Dusty Roads saying my rep atenda.
I never I never knew what that I thought it was.
It was either a cross between repertoire or agenda. Yes, well,
came on that note again. Thanks again, that that's great. Yeah, well,

(01:53:56):
we'll always miss Dusty personality. All right, until next time
on behalf of Jim Ross Wadkeller. Thanking everybody for joining
us today. I don't forget. If you want to get
a free audiobook, including Yes by Daniel Bryan, you can
take advantage of that right now at audibletrial dot com
Slash Pro Wrestling Torch. That's Audibletrial dot Com two weeks
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(01:54:18):
Torch dot com, Slash go vi I p check out
Bruce Mitchell and Travis Brian tomorrow on the free PW
Torch Live cast at pw torch livecast dot com. Thank
you everybody, and I'm that note. Wadkeller signing off for now.

Speaker 1 (01:54:40):
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Speaker 16 (01:55:02):
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