WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross dropped his weekly ‘Ross Report’ podcast this past Tuesday along with guest Bryan Alvarez of The Wrestling Observer. JR and BA broke down last Sunday’s Royal Rumble, and below are some of JR’s highlights (keep in mind, JR records these shows before Monday Night Raw).
On Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose:
“I thought that the Rumble had an auspicious start with the Last Man Standing match. I got some thoughts on that. You know – I wrote a blog this week on my website where I said that the only thing in hindsight that I’d look at, as far as that situation, was the obvious things: It’s hard in a PG environment to have a bloodless Last Man Standing match, but, they pulled it off, and those guys (Ambrose and Owens) did a great job. I might have had the US title match go on first and saved the gimmicks and tables and chairs and all that for a little bit deeper in the card, because everybody had to follow that. So I was concerned.”
…”I’m saying this – I really enjoyed the match. I have great respect for Ambrose and Owens. I think that they can be a lot more of an asset on the talent roster than they are. They still have not been officially and universally received by the audience, but they’re really good, and they can be big time players if the presentation remains in place. All I’m saying is that in today’s PG world there’s some matches that need to be reevaluated, because we have to be really creative to maintain a PG structure based on the structure and the stipulations of the match.”
On New Day vs Usos (Tag Team Title match):
(Speaking on New Day) “…Here’s the deal – because I know all three of the guys on a personal level from my tenure there at the WWE, I look at it a little different than most people, but I want them to succeed. I think that they are very entertaining – sometimes they are a little obnoxious (not that that’s a bad thing in the entertainment world) – but, I can’t make myself look at them with antagonist angst. I just don’t feel it.”
…“I liked the finish. I know it was challenging – It’s just tough when you’re getting cheered and you’re supposed to be heel, and the Usos are getting booed and they ain’t done nothing wrong. I don’t understand that dichotomy. It just got me stumped.”
On Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio (US Title match):
…”Early in the process (two or three days ago) I thought that Kalisto would win, and I didn’t know – I didn’t have any inside information – but I just looked at it from what I would do if I were doing it that seemed to be the most logical based on the information that I had.”
…”I didn’t think that Alberto needed the US title in his group unless they were all going to have something that was viable. I thought that the League of Nations was a nice TV persona for him. I thought that having an underdog, baby face champion was not a bad thing. I thought that having a Hispanic, fan-favorite star was very smart marketing. So, I looked at all of the wins that you get out of Kalisto being there: the fact that he’s beatable, the fact that he’s a little bit unique, and he always has a good match on the house shows, or live shows. So, it just felt like it made sense to me, and I didn’t think losing the US title hurt Alberto Del Rio whatsoever.
On How WWE Talent Should Handle Their Gripes With Vincent Kennedy McMahon:
…”My only advice was this – I want you to walk in there and converse and not confront. You will not get what you want by confronting that alpha male, and so those who followed my advice generally had a positive interaction. Those who didn’t – got nowhere. It’s a matter of having confidence in your ability to communicate. It is not the end of the world to walk into his office and give him your side of the story and him not buy it or him not go that direction. If it’s well placed, and it’s well presented, he generally likes it. He likes the process that you went through to do it, because I used to tell him all the time, “Guys are scared to death of you …because you are the most powerful man in the world in this business…”
