WrestleZone Radio recently presented this exclusive interview with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross. Jim’s interview is to promote his upcoming debut as a broadcaster for New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV starting March 4th.
During the interview some of the topics Jim talks candidly about include:
- Why he chose to join the AXS TV broadcast team to call their NJPW action
- Working with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett in the broadcast booth
- His thoughts on Okada, Tanahashi, Nakamura and others on the NJPW roster
- What he likes about the NJPW product
- What he thinks is missing from broadcasting in professional wrestling
- If he thinks WWE views NJPW as competition
- How he thinks the WWE may present the NJPW wrestlers that they appear to have signed
- His thoughts on Mauro Ranallo as a pro wrestling broadcasts and his work so far in the WWE
- How close Nakamura came to signing with WWE in the past
- More…
You can find the full audio from Jim’s interview with WrestleZone Radio as well as some transcribed quotes about his thoughts on what he thinks it below:
On what he thinks is missing from commentary in professional wrestling these days:
JR: I think that too many of the broadcasters… and I’ve been guilty of it as well, I am not immune to this criticism…. they speak one thing but the audio doesn’t follow the video. Simple as that. I see one thing on my TV and I am hearing another thing in my ears. There’s a disconnect. I don’t understand why that continues to be. It’s a habitual thing. You’ve got to pick your spots for when you’re going to slip in your extemporaneous mentions. The Twitter trending and live events and what’s coming up next, “Still to come tonight on AXS TV.” That type of thing. You’ve got to do it at the right time. You don’t want to do it when there’s movement. You’ve got to pick your spots. I think that the bottom line is that people aren’t calling what we’re seeing. It’s a disconnect. I think that’s industry wide. That will not happen on AXS TV. That’s just not going to happen. Not from me anyway. I’m going to call the match. I’m going to get you invested emotionally in the match. I’m going to make you glad that you took an hour of your week and gave it to us to entertain you. I’m going to approach it just like I would if it was an MMA fight or a football game or anything else. I am not going to disrespect the business by rolling my eyes and eyebrows up and going, “this is vaudeville.” It’s not vaudeville to me. It’s forty years of my life and I have great respect for the wrestlers, the athletes, and I want to document what they are doing as best as I possibly can. I want to stick with what you are seeing and document that. Also, by the way, it’s television. We don’t have to talk wall-to-wall. You find that you’re talking wall-to-wall. Especially when you have commentary that is comprised of three man broadcast teams. Everybody seems to be motivated to get their stuff in. As if they’re being paid by the word and they are not. I think that’s an issue. Let things breathe. Call what you are seeing and get you to forget what you did earlier today and later tonight. You get lost in the hour. That’s the goal.
Related: Jim Ross Officially Returning to Pro Wrestling Broadcasting
You can listen to the full archives for WrestleZone Radioin the embedded audio player below:
