Jim Ross recently posted the latest blog entry to his JRsBBQ website; the latest Jim Ross blog talks about ESPN’s WWE Behind The Curtain special, Roman Reigns on WWE 24, recent NXT roster injuries, and more. You can read a few excerpts below:
Ross’ opinion of the WWE / ESPN special:
Enjoyed the E60 piece on ESPN Tuesday night and Ben Howser did a great job producing this one hour story that he worked on for parts of two years. It was an intriguing look behind the scenes and proved that wrestlers are better “cast” or “booked” when they are as close to the real person as possible. The Adam Rose character is a great example of that opinion. The real life person is much more compelling than the fictional, TV persona that the South African portrays. Casting or “booking” is a delicate matter but any “booker,” if that role even exists in today’s world of TV wrestling, has a better chance of finding the next, viable or big thing if the TV personas are closely related to the individual portraying the TV character.
Nonetheless, the story told on ESPN was excellently done and all involved should feel good about i as I believe it helped WWE and certainly added more credibility to the value of the Performance Center which is truly the heartbeat of the WWE and the key driver to the future of the company. Fans pay to see stars and developing stars as stars make every championship viable, or not, and are the key components to any storyline written.
Ross on the recent WWE 24: Roman Reigns special:
…WWE did a fantastic job on the recent, Roman Reigns feature on the WWE Network. This show was excellent and did as much for Reigns as any thing WWE has done for him to date IMO. One has to wonder how much it would have helped Reigns if something like this show aired prior to WM31 and, specifically, on a three hour RAW before if aired on the Network. With the popularity of these close up look shows at various fighters and MMA stars, I would consider putting a shortened version, 10-15 minutes, of these types of shows within the three hour RAW’s as it would greatly enhance getting talents over and creating the emotional investment the fans must have for a talent to become a star and do it in front of WWE’s biggest audience plus serve as a great promo to encourage fans to see more of it on WWE Network.
NXT injuries:
The current rash of injuries hitting the NXT roster is obviously problematic. Can they be considered ‘fate’ or is it simply the high risk style of leaving one’s feet multiple times in virtually every match and the lack of applying wrestling holds that’s beginning to catch up with the talent? This is far from a WWE only issue but because they are the biggest dog in the yard, WWE gets the most attention. Plus, I’d surmise some indie wrestlers perform out of necessity and put off surgeries that they need but can’t afford to undergo.
