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James W. (Jim) Ross, also known as J.R., or Good Ol' J.R. (born January 3 1950 in Westville, Oklahoma), is a professional wrestling executive and a play-by-play announcer working for World Wrestling Entertainment on WWE RAW. To many peers, Ross is considered to be one of the best wrestling announcers in history.

Ross made his WWF debut at WrestleMania IX in 1993. He took over for Gorilla Monsoon as the voice of WWF Wrestling Challenge the weekend after Wrestlemania IX. Ross would work alongside Bobby "The Brain" Heenan on that show until Heenan was "thrown out" of the WWF by Gorilla Monsoon after the 1993 Survivor Series. Ironically, Monsoon would replace Heenan on the Challenge program. Ross was originally the main voice of the WWF's Pay-Per-View events when he was first brought in, calling both Wrestlemania IX and the 1993 King of the Ring with Heenan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. However, Vince McMahon soon took his place at Summerslam 1993. Ross was then issued the lead role as host of Radio WWF, which lasted a little under a year. Ross would be joined by co-hosts such as Johnny Polo and talk to various WWF superstars and fans. Nothing was out of bounds with the program as on many occasions, the WWF's competitor, World Championship Wrestling, would be a topic for discussion. Ross and Monsoon called Summerslam 1993, Survivor Series 1993 and the 1994 Royal Rumble for Radio WWF. Ross went on to host various WWF programs such as WWF Superstars, Action Zone, Monday Night RAW, Smackdown and Shotgun Saturday Night. Ross became the "voice" of the WWF beginning at the 1997 Survivor Series. He was "fired" from his job on RAW as play-by-play announcer by Vince and Linda McMahon on the October 10th, 2005 edition of RAW and replaced by Jonathan Coachman and later Joey Styles. The reason for this was because Ross was in need of Colon Surgery. After recovering from his surgery he returned to call Saturday Night's Main Event then the RAW matches at Wrestlemania 22, and most recently WWE Backlash. When Joey Styles ended his stint as RAW announcer on May 1, 2006, Ross was confirmed by WWE.com as returning back to his old job as RAW's play-by-play announcer starting May 8.

He is known to be a sufferer of Bell's palsy, which sometimes results in temporary paralysis of Ross' facial muscles. In early 1999, Ross was absent from RAW following the death of his mother. The effects of Ross' grief reportedly worsened his Bell's palsy, thus future SmackDown! host Michael Cole filled in for Ross for the time being. Ross though, was well enough to call the main event at WrestleMania XV. Despite his condition, Ross has established himself as one of the all-time greatest wrestling commentators, often compared to the legendary late Gordon Solie. Ross has his own brand of barbeque sauce and his own selection of cookbooks.

Career

Early career

Ross started as a referee for Leroy McGuirk's Tri-State Wrestling in the early to mid 70's. When McGuirk's booker Bill Watts split the territory and started Mid-South Wrestling in 1979, McGuirk made Jim Ross his lead announcer on the show. He stayed there until 1982, when Watts bought out McGuirk. Shortly after, Ross went to work for Watts in Mid-South.

In 1986, Ross became the company's lead play-by-play man. It would be re-named Universal Wrestling Federation in the spring of 1986. The first World's Title match that he called was between Ric Flair and Ted DiBiase. When Jim Crockett bought the UWF and merged it with his Jim Crockett Promotions group, Ross joined the new company and eventually supplanted Gordon Solie and Tony Schiavone as lead play-by-play man for the National Wrestling Alliance. Ross continued to hone his skills and build his legacy until his eventual falling out with the NWA.

Ross left World Championship Wrestling in 1993 following a conflict with the upper management. Besides his play-by-play work, Ross had worked his way up to the job of Executive Vice President of Broadcasting for WCW. According to Ross, Eric Bischoff, who had reported to him, had done a really good job selling himself to executives at WCW's then ownership Turner Broadcasting. According to Bischoff, Ross mistreated him and once Eric was promoted to executive producer in 1993, he justly fired Ross from the company. Either way, Ross had an air-tight three year contract with Turner Broadcasting, yet took the buy-out for fear that McMahon wouldn't hire him after a long hiatus.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Having been fired on-screen several times before, Ross was "fired" once and for all as a commentator on RAW on October 10, 2005. Vince McMahon had beckoned Ross and co-announcers Coachman and Lawler to the ring to demand an apology for their inaction during Austin's Stone Cold Stunner rampage against the McMahon family on the WWE Homecoming broadcast a week earlier. He accepted apologies from Coachman and Lawler, but refused to accept Ross' apology. Instead, Vince called Stephanie McMahon to the ring so Ross could make an in-person apology. Afterward, Linda McMahon came to the ring, seemingly to admonish Vince and Stephanie for publicly reprimanding Ross, only for her to make her surprise heel turn.

He claimed off-air (after RAW ended, footage is on WWE's unlimited service) that he was fired because Vince did not have the "balls" to fire Stone Cold, but did not harbor ill feelings toward Stone Cold for being scapegoated that way.

It was revealed on WWE.com, that Ross underwent surgery to remove a blockage from his colon. Ross has been mentioned or parodied on recent RAW shows (such as Jonathan Coachman mocking Ross by wearing his traditional black cowboy hat, and Vince McMahon's "surgery" on Ross' colon), and wrote a tribute to Eddie Guerrero on WWE.com, which would further lend credence to this being a work. However one could be confused as previous superstars, like Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage, have been mocked on air after a departure from the company.

TV shows leading up to the November 1, 2005 pay-per-view Taboo Tuesday indicated that Stone Cold Steve Austin would face Jonathan Coachman with Ross being "re-hired" if Austin won the match. However, Austin allegedly backed out when WWE decided he would job to Coachman. Coachman (along with new allies, Goldust and Vader) faced Batista at the PPV instead with Batista winning, but nothing was said about Ross.

On March 13, 2006, WWE.com announced that Ross would be returning to television to be a commentator for WWE's NBC Special, WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on March 18, 2006.

It was reported on March 27, 2006 that Ross would be announcing the RAW matches at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago *. It had been announced earlier that Ross would only have one match to be announcing, which J.R. believed to be McMahon vs HBK. Prior to this he was the originally planned to emcee the Hall of Fame. However the plans changed, and Jerry Lawler became the one to emcee the Hall of Fame. Ross claimed to be "excited and exhilarated." However, he felt some apprehension regarding Joey Styles. Styles learned he would not be announcing at WrestleMania 22 when he arrived at RAW on March 27, 2006. Styles claimed to feel upset at first but later acknowledged the fact that Jim Ross was more experienced than he and that he was sure he would host just as many WrestleManias in the future. However, in a last minute decision, it was decided that Styles would announce one match at WrestleMania. Styles would call the Edge vs Mick Foley hardcore match. This was due to Styles' previous experience during his time in ECW, after considering Styles request to call this match. Ross also announced WWE Backlash on April 30, 2006 and rumors quickly circulated that he would be coming back to RAW. This was confirmed on May 1, 2006 when Styles quit as part of a worked shoot, that ended in Ross coming back.

Jim Ross returned to the RAW announcer's booth, alongside Jerry Lawler, on the May 8th edition of RAW and is now the permanent play-by-play announcer for the show

Oklahoma

Oklahoma was an on-air wrestling character portrayed by former WWE head writer Ed Ferrera when Ferrera was working for rival company WCW, the purpose of which was to mock Ross, down to imitating his Bell's Palsy. The Oklahoma character was eventually retired, but not before winning (in an obvious jab at Ross' obesity problem), the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Ferrera and Russo later apologized to Ross for the impersonation, some years after Ross's friend Jim Cornette had spat in the face of Ferrera in a show of contempt.

Matches

Ross has participated in seven wrestling matches during his time in WWE, and has a current win/loss/draw record of 4-2-1:

Other storyline confrontations

Ross has suffered multiple (kayfabe) injuries and indignities, mainly during in-ring interviews, including:

Job titles

  • WWE Executive Vice President of Business Strategies
  • Former WCW Executive Vice President of Broadcasting
  • Former WWE Executive Vice President Of Talent Relations
  • WWE Pay-Per-View Play-By-Play Announcer
  • WWE RAW Play-By-Play Announcer
  • Former WWE SmackDown! Play-By-Play Announcer
  • Former WWF LiveWire Show Host
  • Former WCW Saturday Night Play-By-Play Announcer
  • Former UWF/Mid-South Play-By-Play Announcer
  • Former XFL Play-by-Play Announcer

Championships and accomplishments

Awards

Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1999)
  • 1988 Best Television Announcer
  • 1989 Best Television Announcer
  • 1990 Best Television Announcer
  • 1991 Best Television Announcer
  • 1992 Best Television Announcer
  • 1993 Best Television Announcer
  • 1998 Best Television Announcer
  • 1999 Best Television Announcer
  • 2000 Best Television Announcer
  • 2001 Best Television Announcer
Gerweck.net
  • 2005 Announcer of the year

Trivia

  • January 24, 2005 was officially named "Jim Ross Day" in Oklahoma by Governor Brad Henry
  • Ross makes an appearance in the film about the life of Andy Kaufman, Man On The Moon.
  • Ross, despite not being a wrestler, has not been defeated by Triple H in the two matches they have had together.
  • Also wears a black cowboy hat.
  • The first JR WWF action figure was made with a defect; on JR's jacket it was supposed to say, "War Zone" but instead it said, "War Tony."
  • JR was the last voice heard on the very last WCW Monday Nitro.

External links

Professional wrestling announcers | Professional wrestling executives | People from Oklahoma | 1950 births | Living people

ジム・ロス

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Jim Ross".

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