Jim Ross On The Importance Of WrestleMania And More

Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald has an interview with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, who was promoting the release of his one-man “RINGSIDE: An Afternoon with Jim Ross” show next Saturday, March 28th at the Rockbar Theater in San Jose, California. Below are some highlights:

Working in talent relations in WWE:

“Vince was really confident in my ability to hire talent. I was talking to J.J. Dillon after my show in Philadelphia. I asked him if he was able to hire talents without running it by Vince. He said no. When I got the job, Vince wanted to change the talent relations department and steam line it and make it more effective. I ran some concepts by him that he liked. One of them was signing talent. Sometimes timing is everything. He said, ‘I’m going to leave that to you. I trust your judgment.’….Our track record by and large has stood the test of time. I’m very proud of the talent our team brought in…I don’t actually know when John Laurinaitis took the job how he exchanged with Vince, but I got the feeling they tried to replicate what I was doing in that particular facet of the business.”

Excitement for this year’s WrestleMania:

“I think the business in general I would like to see more momentum at this point in time. However, I think our expectations sometimes get out of balance. I think before we get to March 29 there will be plenty of anticipation for the event. The momentum is going to continue to grow as time goes on. It’s still WrestleMania. It’s like emotionally investing in watching the Super Bowl and the team you support is not in the game. It’s still the Super Bowl. If you are a fan of football, you know that is the game, the last game. Now this is not WWE’s last pay-per-view or big show, but nothing else they do all year is going to approach the significance of WrestleMania. That’s the way it is, SummerSlam included. WrestleMania is its own unique entity. Any of us who have been in the game at a WrestleMania know the importance and significance of it, as it’s hard to factor that out of your system.”