To many fans, Jim Ross is the voice of wrestling and is attached to some of the most memorable moments in WWE history. He continues to lend his voice to matches doing work for NJPW and promotions such as WCPW.
The wrestling business is cyclical and Ross has seen wrestling’s popularity rise and fall several times throughout the course of his career. The WWE Hall of Famer recently spoke to the Orlando Sentinel to promote his one man shows at Plaza Live on April 1 and 2 and he talked about the career he’s hand and what fans can expect from his upcoming shows. When asked if he thinks wrestling’s popularity is on the rise again, he noted that he feels that right now is a great time to be a wrestling fan.
“It’s a great time to be a wrestling fan. There’s a lot of content for people to enjoy of all different types. An example is my overseas work. The U.K. is a great marketplace…the [World of Sport] special I just did for ITV, if anything comes from that, it could be the show with the biggest potential audience of anything I ever worked on. Think about that. It’s the power of a terrestrial network in a big market, plus the power of the Internet. There are opportunities out there, is my point. It’s a great time to be in the business and a great time to be a fan. As ubiquitous as WWE is, and they’re the big dogs, but they’re not the only dogs. The others are not in WWE’s yard, but there’s room for others. People want variety. WWE has the [streaming] network, which scratches a lot of people’s itches, but they still want diversity.”
Fans who watch NJPW on AXS TV know that Jim Ross is just as sharp as he’s ever been. In regards to what the future holds for him, Ross noted that he’s always interested in pursuing new commentary based opportunities.
“I always say I should have a sign, “Will talk for food.” I feel young and I’m feeling good. … I do work in an environment that can be very competitive, and I’m good at it. If you understand the business at all, in the world of independent contractors and egocentric bosses, you’ve got to have a little bit of an ego to survive. When you work with Cowboy Bill Watts and Ole Anderson, it’s not always peace and love. But I can do these shows. I did shows in November in Toronto, took December off, then did Phoenix and San Antonio in January, now I’m off until I come [to Orlando]. But the uniqueness is the diversity of the audience. We don’t care what religion you are, what race, gender, orientation. You can leave all of your prejudices and all of those big divisions at the door. We’re fans, first and foremost.”
