Exclusive Ring Rust Radio interview with WWE Hall of Fame commentator Jim Ross

The team at Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – have interviewed some of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling and this week they were able to speak to WWE Hall of Famer and prolific commentator, Jim Ross.

Ross has worked for several different wrestling companies over his long career and in many various aspects of the sport and the Ring Rust Radio team got to speak with him about working in WWE’s talent relations department, working with Vince McMahon, utilizing part-time stars like The Rock and Brock Lesnar, working as a commentator for MMA and much, much more.

Below, you can find links to the interview on YouTube as well as this week’s episode of Ring Rust Radio, featuring the interview with Jim Ross, or read the interview below.

YouTube interview

Ring Rust Radio Episode for October 28

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ringrustradio/2014/10/28/ring-rust-radio--oct-28-w-wwe-hall-of-famer-jim-ross-hell-in-a-cell-review

Donald Wood: While most fans know you as a legendary wrestling announcer, you have been quite busy since your WWE career came to an end. Between ‘The Ross Report’ on PodcastOne and your success with JR’s BarBQ, you are still very much a part of the wrestling lexicon. How has your perspective of the business changed now that you’re more on the outside looking in and do you miss being on the front lines of the industry?

Jim Ross: Well, I don’t watch as much or religiously as I used to. I’m more dependent now on my DVR rather than watching live. I try to watch as much as I feel I need to so I can maintain my accuracy and have a valid opinion for my podcast. I feel obligated to watch as much product as I can so that the Ross Report is accurate and I can give valid opinions on things I have seen. If I told you I watch just as much as I always did and was just as excited as I was when I was working in it, I would be less than truthful. I miss game day and a lot of my friends, the adrenaline rush with a live crowd. I certainly do not miss the travel in a non-seasonal business. It’s a mixed bag. I’m still a fan. I’m not bitter or angry; just busy. I just don’t have the time to make sure I’m watching a show live like I probably would when I was working in WWE.

Mike Chiari: In addition to your announcing you played a key role on the talent relations side with WWE and were responsible for bringing in several legendary Superstars. Of all the signings you made in WWE, which sticks out to you as the biggest coup and the one you’re most proud of today?

Jim Ross: Well, it’s a difficult question. You’re essentially asking someone to select their favorite child. I think the biggest steal that we got was signing Stone Cold Steve Austin. Vince didn’t really have any familiarity with him, but I did when we worked together at WCW. When he was available and healthy after a short run in ECW, I thought that was a big get and a steal.

The biggest overachiever I hired was Mick Foley. He was another guy WWE did not want. I finally through dog named salesmanship, convinced Vince to give him a try. We were running out of heels for Undertaker to work with at the time. It’s very challenging when you have a seven foot babyface to selectively match him up with heels to work with. Mick and Undertaker knew each other from previous promotions. Undertaker thought it was a good idea to bring Mick in.

The guy that’s gone on to obviously become the biggest star of the group as it relates to his movie work and notoriety around the world is Dwayne Johnson. We had a good run there with him. Several classes were good. I saw Heyman talk about the class of 2002 on Raw Monday and that was one of our better groups with Batista, Cena, Orton and Brock. I pride myself in the fact that we were diligent in finding people, recruiting and coaching up people. We had a great staff with great instructors and great scouts. It was a total team effort. I felt very honored that I got to facilitate and open the door for some of those guys to live their dreams. It was a lot of fun.

Brandon Galvin: You've always been credited with having a fantastic eye for talent and your track record in that role speaks for itself. I'm sure you can understand how confusing it is for fans to hear people in a company talking about wrestlers like Steve Austin, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and other fan-favorites not being seen as top-tier talents. Is it possible for you to give us some insight into the decision-making of a company and why a wrestler fans deem as a top-tier talent may not be viewed in the same light?

Jim Ross: Well, it’s real difficult for me to relate to management now since I’m long gone from the WWE. I don’t know how they manage their day-to-day or how their meetings are. I had a very unique relationship with Vince back when I was hiring talent. I was talking to J.J. Dillon, who is coming up on my podcast, he would get tapes and recommendations from talent, but he always had to go through Vince. When I took over for J.J., Vince wanted me to retool and redesign the talent relations department. One of the things I had to have to make it better, in my opinion, was his trust. That my judgment and seeing talents was viable. I hired talents that Vince had never seen and he trusted me. They were my responsibility and they were on my watch. I can’t really tell you what’s going on there now. You gotta believe that WWE listens. They don’t do my ideas so they don’t listen. Well, we don’t know what they are planning next month, week, Monday, Sunday, well I don’t anyways. 

At the end of the day, the cream will rise to the top. The fans will steer the course and support their favorites. The business in general, is in a near crisis situation when it comes to have an adequate amount of skilled main event talent depth. There is skilled main event talent no question, but the depth issue is startling. I think fans right now are ready for something new. Some of the guys you mentioned, I believe, have significant potential to be main event stars. They have to be given the ball and they gotta be built. There is a process you have to go through, commitments gotta be made by the company, long-term planning in effect and they have to have confidence in the talent. There are other issues you and I are not aware of. There could be issues internally that within the company that for whatever reason they don’t have confidence in the talent. Maybe those reasons are kept private for confidentiality reasons or legal reasons or whatever. The issue is that I’d rather look at the glass half full. Life is too challenging to go through wondering and bitching and moaning about this that and the other. 

If the guy steers the course, and they prove themselves as good locker room leaders and good members of the team, improve their skill set, and add things to their game, then they have a chance to move up the ladder to the main event level and make more money. For some guys it comes late, some guys it comes easy, it will come if it’s meant to be. There’s no magic formula or secret clandestine meetings. For God’s sake, the WWE is not so aloof that they are going to say, “Well we’re going to do this because we like it and we don’t care what our customer’s like.” That thought is just so immature and so stupid for anyone to think that. There are some fans that reach out to me on Twitter that do think that. They think that the WWE is so omnipotent that they can do whatever they want whether you like it or not. Where would be the advantage to doing that? There is none. So I can’t answer your question but at least I can give you a little background on it.

Donald Wood: As one of the top play-by-play announcers in wrestling history, you have worked next to several of the most entertaining color commentators the business has ever seen. If you could commentate one final wrestling match with any color commentator of your choice, who would it be and why?

Jim Ross: Oh gosh, you know I don’t know. That’s another tough one. No matter what I say, that’s the thing about these interviews; whatever I say is gonna be dissected. I wrote a blog today about these rumors about me and New Japan. But no matter what I say, some people are going to read into it what they choose. My longest tenured run was with Jerry Lawler. We could go back to work tomorrow, probably call any sport or entity, and be entertaining. The partner that agitated me and knew the buttons to push and was a combustible delivery and presentation was Paul Heyman. The partner that goes off the radar and was absolutely outstanding was Jim Cornette. Much like JBL and myself working together, we would be considered by the mainstream TV world as being too southern, so that will never happen. Cornette would be awesome. JBL would be very good. Taz would get such a contrast in sound. I love working with Terry Funk is the most underrated guy I worked with. Bob Caudle by far the most underrated announcer in the history of the business. I love working with Bobby Heenan. Gorilla Monsoon was like an uncle.

What I’m saying about all these guys is I have a relationship with these people, friendships with all these people. So it’s harder for me to say. The question “you got one more match and you can work with anyone you want, who would it be?” Well then the next question is “what would that match be?” Well hell, I don’t know, beats me. “Where would that match be?” Well WrestleMania of course. “What arena would it be?” So that’s where you are, there is no right answer. I love all those guys, they all made me better, and I was blessed to work with some very, very talented people. I loved working with, though it was limited and at the end of his run while he was dealing with issues, I really enjoyed my experience working with Gordon Solie. I never did get to work with Lance Russell, which I would have loved to have done. Quite frankly, the one I had the most chemistry with and fun with from day one is Chael Sonnen. We only worked once and it was a natural fit.

So I don’t know if I can answer that question for you because of those reasons. These guys are like family members to me. You boys are young and you’re going to learn this maybe the hard way some day. When you get older, you’ll be able to count all your great friends on one hand. Trust me. There’s a lot of guys I named on that commentator list and I hope at the end of the day I can still call them my friends till the day they put us all away. They all made me better and I hope I contributed to making them better too.

Mike Chiari: You and your voice are synonymous with a lot of the greatest and most memorable moments in wrestling history. But what is the one match or moment that you didn’t call from the announce table that you’d like to if you could go back in time and make it happen?

Jim Ross: Well I think probably the one I would have liked to call was the main event of WrestleMania 3. It was such a ground breaking event. If you’re going to be a part of a ground breaking event, you want to be a part of the main event. I would say Hogan and Andre at WrestleMania 3. It was such a simplistic match to call, it would have been very easy to call it from a stand point of what they did, but the drama one could add to the moment and to what the match meant. Some broadcasters show up, do their gig, and leave. They are just there to collect a payday. I always looked at it more than that and the big picture. The big picture for the Hulk and Andre match was that it was really going to create a buzz in the business. It was going to make the business better for everybody and create a great awareness of pro-wrestling. So I would say Hogan and Andre WrestleMania 3 would have been a real fun match to have called.

Brandon Galvin: To piggyback off Mike's question, is there a match or moment that you called that you wish you could re-do?

Jim Ross: Probably a lot of them if I go back and listen to them. I am my own worst critic. One of the advantages I have enjoyed of the WWE Network, that I subscribe to since day one and I certainly am renewing, I can go back and listen to some of my work on those old Pay-Per-Views from WCW and WWE. Right now, I’m working on my auto-biography and we’re getting close to the part where I talk about the death of Owen Hart. I have to go back and watch that segment of Pay-Per-View from 1999, and I have never looked at it ever. I’m kind of dreading that to be honest with you. I purposefully never looked at it, I didn’t want to see it again, I already lived it and that was enough.

I think I could have done a better job calling the Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair retirement match. It just seemed that our timing at the table that night was off for me. I always look back at that match, it was Ric’s last match in WWE, Shawn was in the ring with him, and it was a big deal. I was the third guy in the booth that night with Lawler and Cole. I’m not a big three men in the booth type of guy. Not that it can’t work, it can, but it seems to not work more often than not to me. I would say the Flair-Michaels match from WrestleMania 24 I would have liked to have had another shot at it.

Donald Wood: It’s well documented that you’ve had a tumultuous relationship with Vince McMahon and the WWE over the years. How would you describe the relationship between yourself and Mr. McMahon now?

Jim Ross: It’s actually pretty good. We text from time to time and talk on the phone from time to time now. Not a lot, not regularly, but you know, it’s fine. Vince and I got along and had a tremendous relationship. People have to understand where our relationship started. From day one, what we have built and what we survived at the time when the company was almost bankrupt. We were laying off people left and right, pay cuts, lot of people were bailing. Those of us that stayed loyal were rewarded financially. I signed at one point in the mid 90’s a ten year contract. I don’t know anyone that had a ten year contract with Vince and kept it. I have this thing about keeping my commitments and keeping my word. I kept my word and fulfilled my ten years and he paid me very, very well. 

I made more money with him than I did with anyone else combined. He told me if I stayed with him I would have nothing to worry about financially when I got older. Our issues were mainly philosophic. It was like two football coaches who wanted to run a 3-4 defense and the other wants to run a 4-3. I could plead my case why the 3-4 is better cause I got four great linebackers I can use and he could tell me why the 4-3 is better because he’s got four defense lineman that are outstanding. Our stuff was more philosophical more than anything else. At the end of the day, he won the argument more often than not because he owned the company. My dad taught me a long time ago, if you’re going to work for somebody and you’re going to take their money, you need to do what they tell you to do. So the day when you can’t look yourself in the mirror and do what they want you to do, you need to quit cashing their checks. I just cashed a WWE check the other day so I got no issues with them whatsoever. A lot of that stuff about McMahon and I has been blown out of proportion. 

He knows I take myself too seriously. He knows I wear my feelings on my sleeve, and he likes to be able to get under my skin. He gets a kick out of it and I can understand that, I get it. No one should mistake what I am saying that we talk regularly because we do not. But we still communicate, like have a few laughs in a text message or special occasions come up. We accomplished a great deal together. That talent roster that he gave me the ability to hire, they are still using those guys. John Cena last time I looked, Randy Orton last time I looked, Batista and the Rock in and out. We did accomplish a lot of great things together and I never worked with anyone that worked harder. Now, I’m not kissing his ass or anything like I need a job, cause I don’t need a job, I got plenty to do.

I watched a lot of my peers go through their money with cocaine, marijuana, booze, wives, and more. I decided I was going to save my money. I was going to retire at 55, I’m 62 now, and having more fun than I ever have since the Attitude Era. Yeah, we butted heads, had our pissing contest, but there is still a lot of respect there. He knows that if there is a jam, I am a phone call away and vice versa. Was it tumultuous? Sure. Did we hate each other? Absolutely not. I had the balls at the time to say when I thought he was wrong in a polite way. He had a lot of people that he paid a lot of money that took the path of least resistance. They would bitch about it afterwards when the decision had been made instead of being polite, diplomatic, and conversing when given the opportunity. Some of those guys are still there now which I would assume they are. Some though should be ashamed of themselves. Vince paid them damn good money to be honest. It’s just the fact that some of them just don’t have good presentation skills and don’t know how to present themselves while making a point. That’s just the art of communicating.     

Mike Chiari: One thing that many wrestling fans are critical of is WWE’s usage of and dependence on part-time Superstars such as Brock Lesnar or The Rock when he’s an active competitor. What is your overall opinion on the emergence of the part-time Superstar in wrestling today, and how well do you feel WWE utilizes them?

Jim Ross: Well, I think until you get some guys close to getting over, you gotta do all you can to get as many eyeballs watching your vehicle as you can. Whether it’s Monday Night Raw, Pay-Per-View, or subscribing to the Network, whatever it may be. I think using some of these established stars in reoccurring roles has absolutely nothing wrong with it. I think if you plan long term, you can use them more effectively with the thought in mind that they are there to help someone get better whether as an ally or an enemy. Does that mean let your returning baby come back and lose? Not necessarily. If you think that is the only way then you’re not really a student of the game. You are pretending you understand the business. I called a lot of matches where the guy losing was a lot better off leaving the ring as a loser then entering the ring on their introduction. I think it’s the smart thing to do to draw eyeballs to your television set. They can be more strategic in how they use these individuals and help enhance the young guys around them in a multitude of ways.

Like recently when Rusev was in the ring with the Rock. I love the rub, but I didn’t like the bumps. An old school booker would have never allowed a part-time guy to come in and bump his budding heel around the ring. It was unnecessary. You got them together, looking at each other ready to go, and you had Lana. All you had to do was have her step in the middle of them and order the Russian to leave, or Bulgarian whatever the hell he is this week. He would have had heat because he took orders from a woman, he would have backed out of the ring with a glare in his eyes looking at the Rock in the ring who stood his ground and was ready to go. Rock would not have laid a hand on the female, maybe given her a verbal lashing, but never a physical one. Then the heel would have left backing out of the ring, backing up the ramp, and he would have retained some heat. Then the announcer could say, “He is picking his spots. Discretion on this day is a better part of valor. If you think Rusev is afraid of the Rock then you are mighty wrong. Rusev is only doing what he is told by this woman who obviously has a bigger hold over Rusev then we ever would have dreamed. That someday somewhere the situation can manifest itself and that’s when the talking will be over.”

So easy to tell those stories and that’s from a booking philosophy. I could go to Vince and tell him I think were screwing up by having Rock punch this kid and then he takes the big bump over the top rope and then stand eight feet away on the outside fuming with the Rock looking down at him. Why wouldn’t he fight him now? What is there an invisible force field to keep them apart? It’s bad booking in my view and philosophically the wrong thing to do. But if the boss says that is what he wants to do, then I’m the first guy at the head of the line saying I am going to go commentate it and try to make it the best I possibly can. 

The issue is at the end of the day is the announcers making sure they know who the guy getting taken care of is the heel. He’s the one that’s getting over. The other guy is already over if you haven’t noticed. Those are the ways to get the rub and how you do it and it’s very subjective. It’s like saying what your favorite color of blue is. Navy? Carolina? Pale? I don’t have an issue with them using established guys that way. You think people are gonna bitch and raise hell if Austin comes back at WrestleMania in a year or two? “Oh that’s a travesty it’s just horrible oh God.  He’s taking someone’s spot that should be on the card.  I’ve been a wrestling fan for 15 years, I’m 17 years old, I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was 2 years old and I know this is wrong.” Alright, take it easy there, tiger.

Brandon Galvin: Many fans today have noticed that there appears to be a lack of focus on the wrestlers, the match and even the storylines from the commentators. Is this something you pick up on as well and could you explain why commentators may  stray from what many feel is their ultimate task in putting over the wrestlers or match? 

Jim Ross: Well, I still have my hearing so I can hear what you are saying, I’m not that old. Is it what I prefer to hear? Nope. Is it what I prefer to broadcast? Nope. Why are they doing it then? Well it’s because it’s how it’s produced and that’s what the boss wants them to do. So the announcers are doing what they are instructed to do and that is what they should do. Once people get out and get a full time job and people that have full time jobs will know what I mean. Sometimes your boss tells you to do things that you don’t feel, but he is the boss and he is paying your checks so it’s smart to do what you’re told to do. I thought I told stories pretty well, but now people say, “JR is old school, play by play wrestling announcer, time has passed him by.” These guys today are modern day story tellers. I thought I told stories as well, but some think I didn’t.

My sense of it is the fellas are doing what they are instructed to do as it was done in the production meetings. From what they hear in their headsets, they are following the instructions of the boss and how he wants his product represented. I don’t remember the last time I talked to Lawler, Cole, or JBL. I don’t know if I have talked to them this year. Maybe I have and I forgot. I feel bad people throw them under the bus and verbally beat them up on Twitter and other social media sites.

Ask Foley or Taz how challenging it could be. Michael Cole has the most challenging job any of us have ever had sitting in that middle chair. With all the social media, the Network, the things you have to promote, my style would not fit in today’s product. I’m very happy and lucky that Michael is the one doing the lead story telling now instead of me. I would not enjoy going to work every day. Like a shopping mall, having to promote everything. JBL and Lawler do some of it, but Cole does the majority of it. I admire what Michael does considering the hand that he was dealt. He started out many years ago working with me when styles were different and he knows the styles. He knows what it’s like to run the wishbone, but now they are running the spread offense. He is in a tough situation and a lot of fans don’t like what they hear, but that’s what the announcers are told to do.

Donald Wood: Earlier this month you announced for Battlegrounds MMA alongside UFC legend Chael Sonnen. What were your thoughts on that experience and what were some of the differences between calling a wrestling match and a MMA fight?

Jim Ross: Well, part of it there was a lot of wrestling matches that I did not know the outcome. I didn’t want to know it. I stopped a lot of agents mid-sentence, “Hey, this is what we’re going to do tonight,” and I would ask if there was one small nuance I needed to know that was imperative to the story. If not, I’d rather call it as I see it. People think I knew everything that happened. Are you kidding me? You think I would remember every high spot, every false finish? And every zig zag in a wrestling match with the volume of product we had every week? I’d be in a rubber room somewhere. I’d rather call it like a sporting event. Put it on the monitor and I’ll call it as I see it. Chael and I will be doing more MMA together. We are actually getting inquires on MMA and boxing. We have agents and representatives that are having talks and I have the sense were going to be doing a lot of things together. We like working together and we have great chemistry together. 

They brought me in first because this group was an Oklahoma group and grew up listening to me. So I recommended Chael, they liked it, and they brought him in. I didn’t prepare a lot differently. I told Chael I would talk about the fighters like they are human beings: Who they are, what they are, where they are from, why I should care about them, why I should give a damn. You talk about the fighters as a fighter: What they’re good at, their strengths, weakness, what their game plan should be. Every fight isn’t the greatest ever. We didn’t crap on them, but we did have a little fun. We added some levity to it, I mean come in, its entertainment. It’s not like we were narrating our broadcast like a funeral treatment. It’s MMA, some of its fun, some of its serious and its challenging.

Calling MMA is like calling old school pro wrestling in Mid-South or NWA era, but it’s a lot more challenging than boxing. Boxing is easier than MMA. Boxing you get hit with a right hand, or a left hand, maybe a head butt. With pro wrestling and MMA the attack can come from anywhere. It was definitely bucket list item and I’d love to do more.

Mike Chiari: Even though WWE and professional wrestling as a whole may not be in an ideal state currently, I think most would agree that there’s a ton of talent involved in the business today. With that said, if you were tasked with building a wrestling company from the ground up, who would you choose as your cornerstone guy and why?

Jim Ross: The cornerstone guy would be someone with a lot of money because I’m not gonna spend my money on doing it. I don’t think it’s very feasible. It would have to be an investment group with a lot of money. You just can’t go pluck a guy out of mid-air and say that’s gonna be my guy. People say, “I can’t believe you didn’t say CM Punk automatically. JR is disconnected, he’s not with it anymore.” I’m not saying I wouldn’t want CM Punk or Steve Austin involved, that wouldn’t be very bright.

There is two elements to making a wrestling territory successful and its talent and television. There is enough talent out there to get a roster jump started especially if you change the procedure. I want to have time limits, more finishes, and rules. I’m not going to go back to the 1920’s, but how are you supposed to have an athletic contest with no rules? It’s ludacris. How are heels gonna be heels if there are no rules to break? It’s illogical.

So the first guy you want to have is a conglomerate with a lot of money and patience to allow you to build your television audience. You want to use any name identity to get you over the hump while you are getting young stars over. The guys that would be getting the most time would be guys in their 20’s. They would be young, athletic, would have a little bit of that All Japan style back in the day so when someone deliver a body tackle or clothesline there was impact. We would be using great finishers for high spots.

Now I’m not saying slow everything down to where you lay in a headlock for 30 minutes. Just get back to the fundamentals instead of a spot fest and encourage guys to learn the art form of how to sell and take their time. One of my big pet peeves is when a wrestler mounts a second turnbuckle and hits his opponent ten times in the face. That’s just one of the great exposés of wrestling. Number one, the guy doesn’t fall until he is hit the tenth time, number two, there is no marks on his face where he got hit, number three, the guy throwing the punches isn’t even selling his untapped hand after ten punches. That all tells me a lot of those guys doing that haven’t ever been in a fight. You can’t hit a guy ten times in the face and not hurt your own hand, it’s essentially impossible. 

We would be more modernized and basic fundamentals, but build young, athletic, and physical wrestlers; that would be my mantra. The most important element of building a company is your backers with deep, deep pockets and preferably with a television network. So you’re not preempted and you got a great television time. You certainly wouldn’t do a show over two hours. When you start, one hour should be your calling card. Maybe once a quarter do a two hour special or something. An hour doesn’t kill me and I can get everything in in one hour.

Brandon Galvin: You were the voice of the Attitude Era, which was spear-headed by Stone Cold Steve Austin playing a beloved anti-hero. The topic of a John Cena heel turn has been discussed for more than five years with fans yearning for more of an edge from Cena. Do you think the hatred towards Cena is fair with him trying to work as a babyface in the confines of a PG Era?

Jim Ross: Well if John Cena turns heel, would the people booing him now cheer him? I don’t know the logic or the answer. “Let’s go Cena, Cena sucks.” He still sells more merchandise than anyone on the roster. For whatever he is, I think part of that stuff is just trendy. I need a really good reason to turn Cena heel and it wouldn’t be because of crowd chants. Ticket sales, live event business, kids merchandise, things like that are a very good indicator. I’m not a major fan of turning him heel, but I’m not opposed to it. All those things have to be done for the right reasons.

Right now we have a wrestling public that has very little patience. I heard someone the other day say they couldn’t believe that Sheamus and the Usos have been in three six-man tag matches and how much longer do they have to watch this. That’s like saying, “Why would you want to watch Rock and Austin at WrestleMania three times?” Once is enough don’t you think?

I read a story that out of 52 Wednesdays, Dory Funk Sr. wrestled Iron Mike DiBiase 37 times. They changed the match up, they are performers, and they changed up the presentation every time. I find it somewhat head scratching that people call themselves wrestling fans and students of the game automatically get turned off if someone wrestlers more than once. I have seen a lot of Orton and Cena, I signed both of those guys, and have no regrets. I am so excited and they have made a lot of money and secured their futures through the jobs that we secured for them. I’m very proud of both of those guys, but I’m also very tired of them wrestling each other. I’d like to see them wrestle other people and it would help invigorate them.

Now that’s not saying anything bad about those guys. I’m not riding the fence, but if you’re tired of something after three matches, you could easily say it wasn’t very good, you didn’t like it and three times is enough for me. Quite frankly that’s not a good gauge of something in that regard but that’s where we are. That’s why we have to have more people on the roster trying to get over and get their shots. 

That’s why when they bring in guys from NXT, they gotta bring them in as main event level guys so if they go down a notch or two they are still in the hunt. They bring them in as just another guy it’s a long journey to go from just another guy to a main eventer. They gotta come in with a game plan. I’m concerned about the lack of main event depth, but until you get more of that you’re gonna see a lot of those rematches, tag matches, and things of that nature. I’d like to see less handicap matches. They are getting a little old but used to be special. When you saw a handicap match, it used to put the baby face in jeopardy and a lot of trouble. Now a days it’s just another match, and nothing should ever be just another match. It should always have a story or a reason. Things are always short term or quickly and there isn’t a reason behind it. It comes back to long term planning which is non-existent or incredibly sporadic.

Brock Lesnar and the WWE Championship

For the first time in a long time, the future of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is in a state of the unknown. It’s often not too difficult to discern who is next in line to hold the coveted championship, but after the events of SummerSlam this past Sunday, its future is very ambiguous.

At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar – a former NCAA, UFC, IWGP and WWE champion – defeated John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. Though, saying that he “defeated” Cena would hardly be doing Brock justice. Lesnar mauled Cena. Lesnar annihilated Cena. Lesnar conquered Cena. For the first time in a long time, John Cena, a 15-time WWE Champion, looked weak and vulnerable – words with which John Cena has almost never been described in his WWE career. Over-rated, maybe. Over-exposed, sure. But “weak” and “vulnerable?” No, I can’t ever really recall a time that the WWE has booked John Cena – their resident Superman – to look so utterly ineffectual and downright powerless.

Brock Lesnar has a unique mystique in the landscape of the today’s WWE. Lesnar was last WWE Champion over a decade ago, in 2003. Since then he’s won the New Japan Pro Wrestling IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in 2005 and the UFC Heavyweight championship in 2008. Not only has he been able to earn gold in a completely different professional wrestling atmosphere but he has proven that he can be successful in the legitimate combat sport of mixed-martial arts as well which lends Lesnar an incredibly daunting aura that almost no other athlete in the WWE or in the world can match up against. 

Brock Lesnar was presented with the brand new WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt last Monday on Raw

If Brock Lesnar and John Cena had a back-and-forth battle at SummerSlam for the WWE Championship, it would be easy to assume that Cena could realistically win the title back at Night of Champions (the next Pay-Per-View) or at any time, really. But Brock utterly decimated Cena at SummerSlam. Their match at SummerSlam, which was about 15 minutes long, consisted of Brock hitting his finishing move, the F5, mere minutes into the match, followed by not one, not two but FIFTEEN German Suplexes on Cena, tossing the champion around like a ragdoll.

This victory follows Brock’s domination of The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30, snapping Taker’s undefeated streak, which his advocate, Paul Heyman, eloquently reminds fans that he is “The one behind the one in ‘one and twenty-one.’” Beating John Cena as viciously as he did at SummerSlam is not quite as huge in the grand scheme of events as snapping the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania – but if beating Taker at Wrestlemania is #1 on Lesnar’s list of amazing feats, dominating John Cena in a championship match is easily #2.

Brock doing his best Undertaker
impersonation at SummerSlam

Which leads me to why for the first time, in a long time, the future of the WWE Championship is so uncertain. It’s been a long time since there’s been such an utterly dominant champion as Brock Lesnar is in his current run. He’s dominated every foe he’s faced – which in the past year and a half includes Triple H, CM Punk, The Big Show, The Undertaker and John Cena – in such a convincing fashion that WWE will need to play the next few months of storyline very carefully in order to build a believable contender to Brock Lesnar. He broke the streak and utterly destroyed Cena, pinning him cleanly in a championship match. It will be hard for ANY wrestler in WWE to look like a believable threat to the beast that is Brock Lesnar.

The internet dirtsheets are reporting that Vince McMahon wants The Rock to face Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31 and that Triple H wants Roman Reigns to be Brock’s opponent. None of the reports have indicated that those matches would be for the title but with all the evidence stated above, you’d be hard-pressed to find or build a worthy contender to Brock’s championship between now and Wrestlemania.

And while none of the dirtsheets have mentioned this specifically, I would hope that WWE is also considering Daniel Bryan as the man to take down the beast. Since having vacated the title after Extreme Rules, Bryan has been suffering myriad health problems requiring multiple surgeries and extensive rehab. The hope is that he will be able to return by the Royal Rumble, which is slated to take place in January 2015. Using a storyline that closely resembled his run to the championship while opposing the Authority, someone like Daniel Bryan, who has had overwhelming fan support, would be the perfect foil for Brock Lesnar. The “David vs Goliath” story of Bryan vs Lesnar would be almost as good, if not better than his conflict with the Authority which led to his title win at Wrestlemania 30.

It was announced on Main Event on Tuesday night that John Cena will have his rematch for the WWE Championship against Brock at the Night of Champions PPV in Nashville on September 21 and it will be interesting to see if he fares any differently against Lesnar than he did at SummerSlam. But as it stands right now, Brock Lesnar is the king of the mountain in the WWE and it will take some clever booking and a little bit of luck to create a challenger who can take the title from the Beast.

Indy Minute - Weekly independent wrestling new round up

  Welcome back to the Delco Elbow Drop for the extended Indy Minute – all the great indy wrestling news you heard on the Ring Rust Radio podcast and a whole lot more.

  The signing of KENTA is helping to build the NXT brand in Japan. Reports are that NXT will soon start airing on J Sports, a satellite company in Japan, and it's believed that KENTA will debut in NXT in September.  WWE also just signed a deal to bring NXT, Raw, Smackdown, Main Event, and all PPVs to OSN which serves North Africa and the Middle East.

  Kevin Steen has wrestled his final dates for Ring of Honor. Steen defeated Tomasso Ciampa in Minneapolis, lost to Silas Young in a no DQ match in Cincinnati, and defeated Steve Corino in Dearborn in his final match.

  Several matches have been announced for Ring of Honor’s return to The Armory in Philadelphia on August 9. In addition to the Young Bucks versus Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and Michael Elgin taking on Cedric Alexander for the ROH World title, recently announced matches are:

            Jay Lethal vs ACH for the ROH TV title

            Silas Young vs Brian Kendrick

            Tomasso Ciampa vs Rocky Romero

            War Machine (Hanson and Rowe) vs The Briscoe Brothers

  ROH is teaming up with Preston City Wrestling in England for a 2-day, 3-show event on November 28, 29 entitled “UK Supershow of Honor.” Hit this link for more info.

  Evolve, a promotion closely associated with Dragon Gate USA, is rebooting its product starting with its upcoming events, Evolve 31, 32 and 33 on August 8-10 in Florida. With the reboot, Evolve is returning to its roots and putting more emphasis on win/loss records with regards to how matches are booked and who gets title shots and should be a great jumping off point for fans not familiar with the company.

  Word is that AR Fox suffered a wrist injury and will need surgery and be out for several months. No word on who his replacement in the PWG 2014 Battle of Los Angeles will be, though.

  Rumors that a former UFC star has been training at the WWE Performance Center. Speculation is that it's Rashad Evans, though the former light heavyweight champ has stated he wouldn't consider wrasslin’ until after he's done fighting, which he's put at another 4-5 years.

  To me, the most likely person is Chael Sonnen. Word is the person is "older than a usual WWE potential developmental wrestler" but has all the attributes of a WWE wrestler. Chael has proven to be a master on the mic and with that and his athletic prowess, he would easily be able to make the transition to WWE.

  Shannon Moore announced his retirement from pro wrestling last week. His final appearance will be at WrestleCade in North Carolina on November 29 where he will be reuniting with 3-Count partners Evan Karagias and Shane "Hurricane" Helms. Moore has wrestled for WCW, TNA and WWE in his nearly 20 year career.

 

  FWE in Brooklyn, New York will be hosting events on October 3 and 4. Announced for Night 1 is Young Bucks vs Bad Influence and Drew Galloway vs Trent? and Night 2 will see Tommy Dreamer vs Drew Galloway.

  Steven O'Neill, of Extreme Rising, sent out an odd press release last weekend claiming that Luke Hawx nor the Extreme Rising title would be at the Maryland Championship Wrestling Shamrock Cup show on Saturday July 19 - which was news to everyone involved as O'Neill hadn't contacted anyone mentioned regarding this issue. MCW president Dan McDevitt also issued a statement saying the card would run as advertised and if Hawx wanted to bring the Extreme Rising belt, he was welcome to.
  It was an odd move by O'Neill as this was his first public comments from him since numerous Extreme Rising events were cancelled out of the blue with no refunds issued to fans who had already purchased tickets. Definitely not a the way to build good will if they are planning on ever running another Rising show.

  The MCW show went on as planned and Matt Hardy is still the MCW champion and new Extreme Rising champ after defeating Luke Hawx in a crazy TLC match. Hawx also brought the Extreme Rising belt and claimed its now the "Big F'n Arms" championship since Rising is dead. Afterwards Hardy put over Hawx on the mic and said he deserved to keep the Rising belt forever and gave it back to him, since he took a risk being sued and chased by attorneys for bringing and defending it.
  Also, DROLIX is the Shamrock Cup winner, outlasting Papadon, Shane Strickland, Bolt Brady, Bo Nekoda, and Bu Ku Dao in an elimination match for the Cup. 3 time winner Christian York was there to award the winner.
 

  Apparently IWA-Mid South is promoting shows again. According to the IWA-Mid South Facebook page, they will be hosting the Ted Petty Invitational tournament on September 13 and 14 in New Albany, Indiana.

  The line up so far includes Michael Elgin, Chris Hero, Tomasso Ciampa, BJ Whitmer and two names I don’t recognize – Hy Zaya and Shane Mercer. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more participants.

  I wasn’t aware that IWA-MS had hosted a TPI in many years – or that IWA-MS was even still an active company. According to a Wikipedia page for the event, they hosted a TPI in 2013 though I don’t remember hearing about it. But before that, the last one they hosted was in 2008, as tournaments for 2009 and 2010 were announced but cancelled.